Okay, so Bailey's taking her bath, just like normal. We got her some of those Alphabet letters over the weekend, the kind that kids can stick on the sides of the tub. They're Dora ones and I caught them on clearance, so it made it all the more exciting. She was busy playing with those and I was sitting on the floor next to the tub edge. She was playing with something, I couldn't see the actual water, and I didn't think anything of it until I got up off the floor to reach up and turn off the water and Bailey had a friend in the tub with her.
This wasn't just any friend, this was....
A SPIDER!
For anyone who knows me, I'm not a spider's biggest fan. In fact, I'm so paranoid of these things, that I check the tub for them before either one of us gets in! Well, Bailey's thrilled to have a "bug" playmate in the tub with her. Since her mother was not, she was quickly scooped out of the tub so Mommy could have a duel with the eight-legged-vermin. I won, with the help of a shampoo bottle, squishing it to the bottom of the tub. My daughter? She said, "Bye bye, bug!"
After I killed it, removed its floating body out of the water with a cup and dumped it in the toilet, Bailey wanted to return to the friendly waters, and I realized something truly alarming. I'd just reacted in the worst possible way due to my own fear. I freaked out over a spider, thinking it could bite her, because of course, all spiders are vicious little devils, and mostly because they're MY fear. This child loves bugs, she fears nothing, and who am I to push a fear on her? In front of my child, I killed something that she saw as a playmate, as creepy as that is.
Next time? I need to take the same cup and scoop the thing out and flush it or something. That way, "Bye bye bug" would be all the more appropriate and I'd feed a crocigator in the sewer.
And if there's not a next time? Well, I hope she just forgets about squishing bugs.
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