Why Did The Horse Go Down The Stairs...

She wanted to bring her horse downstairs...after watching "Rapunzel" she had re-named him Maximus, and she just had to have him downstairs...so bad that the tears came in streams.  Mom said, "No," and I couldn't blame her.  She didn't want to drag that rocking horse downstairs into the living room, not for a whole ten minutes of pre-bath entertainment...but the tears came, and they were tsunami-like.  It was late in the day, and Zo can't handle a crisis very well after 7pm.  Suddenly, and quite strangely, I saw a moment that we could use...annoying people call them "teachable moments," and without hesitation I pounced.

"Zoey, come here please," I said from the bedroom. "If you can give me four good reasons why your horse needs to go downstairs I'll bring him down.  You can't just cry about Mummy's decision.  Tell us why you want him downstairs and then maybe we can do it if your reasons are good enough."

So we counted reasons...and they were flimsy, but with her four fingers up, and her four good reasons, I thought it was a pretty good excuse to haul that horse downstairs...just for the lesson in communication.  Her reasons?

1. Because I want to play with him very badly.  Good enough reason for anyone.

2. Because I was going to feed him from my garbage pail  Odd, but who am I to judge his palate.

3. Because I was going to read him some of my books.  Sounds like a good idea, even if you can't read.

4. Because I was going to teach him to jump on the couch.  Well... bad idea, but I like your style kid.

Okay Zo...Maximus can go downstairs.

Do you have any idea how hard it is to drag a heavy rocking horse downstairs, while on crutches, and while wincing like it was your job?  Trust me...it's hard.  But the first thing Zo did...She fed her horse from her garbage pail.  Then she grabbed a book and sat down to read to him...and then, well, we nipped that jumping on the couch thing before it even happened, but the point is that she was good to her word.

In the end...happy girl...a lesson on communicating...a lesson on reasoning, and a painful lesson for Daddy...Don't try to carry rocking horses down stairs while on crutches. If there ever was a teachable moment, that was it.