While I help the older two girls get to bed each night, the Toddler has a bedtime ritual of her own that involves the Spouse reading her the same couple of books before she goes to sleep. One of her favorites for the past several months has been a rhyming picture book called Firefighters to the Rescue. The bigger girls loved this one, too, and though it’s taped in many places, it has somehow survived a couple of moves and three kids thus far.
The Toddler almost has it memorized. The Spouse reads one line and she finishes the second half of each cadence. She loves the story and the excitement of the firefighters saving a dog named “Ben” at the end.
But, last week I made a big mistake. The Toddler did something that landed her in timeout in her room for a few minutes {if you can imagine}. She was mad as a hornet, and without thinking I gave her a few books to look through to help her calm herself down. Then, I left the room and got involved in doing laundry and a few other tasks. At some point around this time, I should have been suspicious of the silence. But, I assumed she was “reading.”
If only.
This is the scene I found when I returned.
She had removed her diaper, thrown a few books around, and done extensive damage to her favorite one {there were tiny shredded pieces all over the room}. I was so sad. And, when I told her she wouldn’t be able to read this anymore, she was pretty torn up about it, too. No pun intended.
Well, the Firefighters to the Rescue book is one we received in the mail as part of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library program. So, I assumed it would be easy to replace.
Silly me.
Apparently, Firefighters to the Rescue is in high demand these days. Here’s the listing as it appears on Barnes and Noble.
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