Magic Pills

One of Lauren's latest obsessions is these little capsules sold in packages at the supermarket under the name "Magic Grow." When immersed in warm water, the outside of the capsule melts and a foam animal or dinosaur emerges. Here's what the packages look like:



She is 1000% entranced with these things. She typically doesn't have a very long attention span for a single activity, at least by herself, but she will spend at least 45 minutes on her own dunking the capsules in water, patiently waiting for them to molt and then tenderly drying off the foam creatures so she can then play with them. All accompanied by constant chatter as she speaks to her new friends.

Oh, and all this for only about $2.99 a pop. Score one for Mommy.

Well, tonight, I picked up a pack while stopping at the market on my way home from work. She immediately spotted them in the bag and, well, let's just say we had no time for a bath tonight.

As she was feverishly working away on the soaking process, I called Norm and put him on speaker phone (as I do most nights) so he could speak with her for a few minutes to say goodnight. As usual, he asked her, "What are you doing?" Her response? "I'm doing magic pills, Dada." Silence on his end of the phone. "What did you say?", he incredulously asked. She grabbed the phone from my hand, put her mouth very close to the speaker, spoke slowly, and repeated, "I'm doing PILLS."

Unintentionally funny, you're thinking? Ok, at age 4, I'll give that to her. But I must admit that the overly protective, wishing-I-had-a-crystal-ball, please-let-my-child-grow-up-to-be-a-responsible-human-being part of me would much rather that I never have to hear those words (or any semblance to them) uttered from her sweet lips again.