Elephants

For some reason Makaylee has a new obsession. Elephants. During the day time hours she loves them. She likes to watch movies with elephants and read books with pictures of elephants. But as soon as the sun sets, they are something to be feared.

It started one night as I was putting her to bed. She sat straight up in her crib and said "No Elephant! No like-a elephant." She was staring at the window with huge fearful eyes. I told her there was no elephants, but she didn't believe me. When I told her to show me the elephant she clung tight to me as I pulled her out of her crib. She pointed to her valance. It is a big puffy valance that is gathered in 3 places. I guess it could reasonably look like an elephant when it is dark at night. So I unhooked it and let the curtain fall flatly over the window. She let out an audible sigh of relief and said "Elephant all gone!"

I thought the problem was solved until we were in the car driving home in the dark tonight. I said "We're almost home." Makaylee replied "No elephants home, no like-a elephants." And sure enough, when I put her to bed I had to show her that the curtain was really just a curtain, and not an elephant at all! It reminds me of that trippy part in Dumbo where he gets drunk and has a freaky dream about colorful elephants that change sizes and sing scary songs. Maybe she had a trippy dream about elephants herself!