Attack Of The.....

Fly! Yes, it seems my darling daughter has inherited her mother's irrational fear of bugs that can't harm you. Me..Crickets..Her..A fly.

I know, you are on the edge of your seat wondering, "How Chantel? How did you discover this?!" I'll tell you!

Sunday morning, we made our usual trip to the grocery store. Ethan wasn't with us. He'd stayed the night with my SIL to take a trip to the zoo, so it was just me, Claire and Grayson. Claire was fabulous in the store. Usually when I shop, I put Grayson in the stroller and Ethan pushes him while Claire sits in the cart. This time I let Claire walk. She stayed right next to me holding onto my pants. She smiled and said hello to everyone...Seriously, it was super. When we got to the checkout lane, I let her pick out a treat as a reward. She chose her favorite snack, rainbow colored goldfish crackers. She sat in the cart among our bags (reusable!) on our way back to the car. I buckled everyone in, opened up Claire's snack and home we went.

Now, I live about 30 minutes, 20 on a good day, away from the store. My drive is spent on long stretches of road with one stopping point. I pass one four way stop sign and a park and ride. Other than that, it's me, the occasional tractor and lots and lots of grazing cattle and cornfields. About 3 minutes after we pass the four way stop, Claire starts whining. I take a quick look in her general direction and notice she no longer has her cup. I assume this is the problem. She has a love for throwing it on the floor while I'm driving. I tell her that she's going to have to wait for me to stop driving to pick it up. And then...It happens.

Claire lets out the loudest scream I've ever heard in my life. You know those screams from horror movies? Yeah, that's what this scream was made of. I turn again to see what happened, and there is a fly buzzing around her. She's watching it. It lands on her knee. Again, she screams. I scan my surroundings, I look at the clock. I'm 4 minutes from the park and ride. She's crying. What else can I do? Three minutes to the park and ride. Why did this fly have to catch a ride in my car? She screams. Two minutes to the park and ride. Did I remember to buy lemons? She says mommy. One minute to the park and ride....And there is the park and ride. I pull in, run around the car, open her door and out goes the fly. She smiles. I smile. We are all good.

So, Claire...Not a fan of the housefly. Not at all. But, she'll probably grow out of it. Me? A cricket jumped on my foot the other day while I was digging the slip in slide out of the shed. I ran screaming...And then I cried.