Pig Drama

One of Sienna's favorite things to do is to "make something." She asks daily, sometimes twice a day to "make something." Sometimes I'll have a nice craft prepared with fun materials, that goes with the season or holiday. But more often I use a website (such as DLTK) and find a quick craft. The busy, preoccupied, lazy me usually looks for an easy template that she can do almost entirely by herself: color, cut, glue/tape, voila! A happy kid and free time for mom.

Yesterday she wanted to make a pig while Bryan was mowing the lawn, so she could show him when he was done. She couldn't decide which template she liked better, so she wanted to make two. She spent a good hour on them, making sure the colors were just right, even cutting out scrap paper to paste over a part she accidentally colored but wanted to leave white. She was quite proud of them. Bryan played the role of the very impressed father perfectly, asking for a closer look after the first quick glance.

Less than an hour later we were gathered on the couch getting ready to read, and I casually commented to Sienna that Ashley (who was sitting on the floor) was eating one of her pigs. Sienna leaped across the room and grabbed it from Ashley, then abruptly burst into a wail accompanied by genuine tears. Oh the heartache! the distress! all that hard work now ruined! She was crushed.

My typical reaction (why can't you act like a grown-up instead of a 4 year old?) would have been something like, "it's your own fault, you left it on the floor." But I was in a mood. As I called Sienna to me to comfort her and reassure her that we could make another one tomorrow, I struggled to hold back my laughter. I couldn't stop giggling. By the time Bryan came into the room to ask what the fuss was about, I was the one in tears and could barely spit out "Ashley ate Sienna's pig!"

It hardly seems worth a chuckle right now. But at the time, it was so hilarious that a paper pig could cause such dramatic, genuine, pitiful despair.

If this were Colby, my laughter probably would have just made him more upset. But after a few minutes Sienna was laughing at herself, although I don't think she realized what was so funny.

And yes, we made another pig today.