A couple of weeks ago, I went down to the basement to do some laundry. Usually two little girls follow me wherever I go, but for some reason Leah was missing. After loading the wash I went to investigate. I found her at the top of the stairs looking nervous.
"I'm not going down there" she declared.
"Why not?"
"Because there's a fire down there."
"What?!" I yelped. "Did you see a fire?"
"Yes. And I'm not going down there," she repeated.
Lainy snorted, skeptically so I turned to her for clarification.
"Okay, I'll show you" Lainy said, and marched down the stairs. I followed but Leah stayed where she was.
Lainy led me to the closet under the stairs. The one that houses the hot water heater. She opened the door and pointed at this:
"We were playing in here and Leah saw this picture and now she thinks there's a fire and she will be like that guy," Lainy said all in one breath.
I was baffled. Then I studied the warning label and the depiction of a little stick figure man on fire and everything clicked.
But all my attempts at convincing Leah that it is safe to go in the basement and that there is no fire, failed. She didn't set foot in the basement for at least a week, mumbling things about "fire" and "that guy".
Currently, Leah has started venturing down into the basement again. But never alone. And always taking a good look at the closet first.
Kids are kind of hilarious.
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