Chompier than Reilly

I'm listening to the sound of waves crashing about 10 yards away from our condo here in the Grand Cayman... more of that later.

Last night we had a sweet time tucking in the kiddos after a few rounds of hide-and-go-seek. I got to Shea's bed, and she was evidently tired. Yet she decided it was a good time to tell me all about the bad dream that she had the other night. You have to understand something about Shea. Shea has always been very dramatic and emotional from the time she was a baby. It is a great strength, and also can be a little over the top sometimes (like the time she tried to bite the front of the dishwasher in anger-true story). Like I said, Shea was getting tired, so in addition to her normally emotional extremes, coupled with the fact that mommy and daddy were leaving, you can imagine the intensity of her emotions. Here's the content of that bad dream:

"Mommy, it was a very bad dream and I want to tell you about it." Already I can hear the emotion coming through. It's somewhere between being on the verge of tears and feeling emphatic disgust for the "bad men". Her eyebrows are furrowed with intention.

"Mommy, there were two bad men and they were kidnapping other kids and they were chasing after Reilly and me. We ran into this restaurant and I tried to lock the door, but it wouldn't lock. So they came in."

Next comes the first part that I loved.

"I knew they were going to kidnap me because they already had like two other kids. So I told them, 'You don't want us! Our mommy even hates us!'" Then she added this to clarify. "Mommy I had to say this even though I know it is a lie. It is okay to lie when it's like this," Shea assures me in an instructional tone including the nod.

"Yes, sweetie, of course it is." I'm beginning to be amused by her story, but know that I have to maintain a stiff upper lip, lest she think I'm making fun of her.

She continues, "Then mommy, they said something to me. They said, 'We want the Chompier one!'" Here's where I had to drop my head so she couldn't see my reaction. At this point it was getting a little harder to contain. I mean, where did she get the word, "chompier"?

"Mommy, I knew that was me!"

"How did you know that?"

"I knew that they meant that I was the one that talked more and that's what 'chompier' means! They wanted to kidnap me!!"

Wow. Here I was all prepared to give her the "you're beautiful the way you are" talk...

Well, what a precious little girl and a hilarious twist to the bad dream. I finished tucking her in and assured her of our protection and that God was much more powerful than "the bad guys"...and then there's your daddy...