As I was enjoying my 5 minutes in the morning while listening to the humming of my electric toothbrush doing its thing to keep my teeth from falling out, noises approached and got louder and louder. Not one minute into my teeth brushing, Little Guy hopped into the bathroom with a little ball. I wasn't too surprised by this because he usually joins me in the bathroom, especially now that he's got a new skill. What I didn't expect is his brother dashing into the bathroom after him.
My bathroom has maybe a standing space of 2ft x 1ft, after you account for the toilet, the sink and the shower. That's not a lot of space. Oh and yes, the door swings into the bathroom when it opens, thereby, taking up half of that precious 2ft x 1ft standing space. I tried to ignore all the commotion behind me (yes, I'm determined to follow my dentist's instructions and brush for whole 2 minutes to keep my teeth in my mouth). Just as I'm getting to my bottom teeth, a sharp pain shoots into my left ankle.
That did it! The dragon has been unleashed! In an instant the following happened simultaneously (not in the sequence as I have written here).
Me (whipping around … too bad I no longer have my long hair, would've been great for dramatic effect, in a raised voice just below shouting pitch): Ouch! Can you guys please not play in this already impossible tiny space?!!!
Little Guy: Sorry, sorry! (This is when I realized that I had assumed incorrectly and Buddy was not the culprit.)
Buddy, without a word, turned and dashed out faster than I've ever seen him run from the scene of a crime. But, not before I had seen it … that "oh, no" fear in his eyes. I felt so guilty, especially after I realized he didn't do it.
The event continued to play in my head as I drove home after dropping them off at pre-school. The question that kept popping up was "what did I look like to Buddy at that moment when I whipped around?" Taking inspiration from their interest in dinosaurs and dragons, I realized "gosh, maybe I look like this crazy monster dinosaur" (especially since I still tower over them even though I'm only 5ft-2in). It got me thinking … do I transform into a T-rex in their imaginative mind when I get angry? How can I unleash a different dinosaur that's firm but still nurturing? Is that possible?
A quick search on "nurturing dinosaurs" pulled up a few dinosaurs that are thought to nurture their young. Maiasaura and Massospondylus were on the list as well as most birds (which are part of the dinosaur family). I'm leaning towards Maiasaura because I found many images showing them low to the ground with their young … a reminder that simply lowering myself to meet my children at their eye-level might help squash the T-rex in me.
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