Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Patch and the Mouse

I may have mentioned during our cross country drive, that Patch has developed an extreme fear of Mickey Mouse.

It happened when we were stopping for the night in Iowa, and we were trying to convince Patch and Maggie to stay in their beds, when they really just wanted to bounce off the walls even though it was way past bedtime.

The TV came on and there was a close up of Mickey Mouse saying hello and suddenly Patch ran from the room screaming.  He hid by the sink saying "mouse, mouse" and had to be coaxed to come back out (with the TV off).

I wasn't thrilled with his sudden fear of "the Mouse" mostly because I packed a modest amount of clothing for each child, and because of a super sale at a children's store a while back, and because Patch loved Mickey Mouse up until that moment (he fondly called him "Guy" before the incident in which he became "Mouse!"), roughly half of the shirts I'd brought for him had Mickey Mouse on them.

Over the last month, almost any time he's seen even a shadow of mouse ears (except on the shirts, which are thankfully somehow okay), he's turned and run from the room.

However in the last few days the Mouse phobia has taken a turn.  Patch has started bringing me anything that he might imagine is a phone and putting it in my hand.  Then he pushes it up to my ear and says "Mouse."

The following conversation, which he wants repeated exactly, has occurred dozens and dozens of times (I wish that was an exaggeration):


Patch: "Mouse."
Me:  "Hi Mouse.  It's Mommy.  You can't come to our house today.  At all.  Do you hear me Mouse?  You aren't allowed to come over."
Patch:  "Mouse.  Bye."
Me:  "Bye Mouse."
Patch:  "Daddy."
Me: "Hi Daddy, it me.  How are-"
Patch:  "Mouse."
Me:  "Um, Daddy I was calling to tell you that-"
Patch:  "Daddy.  Mouse.  Guy."
Me:  "I was calling to tell you that I told Mouse he can't come to our house even on the TV."
Patch:  "Bye."
Me:  "Okay, bye Daddy."

And then he smiles contently and laughs to himself and goes back to whatever he's doing.

Until tonight when he brought me my phone and demanded to see Mickey Mouse on it and then proceeded to sit down and watch an old episode of Mickey Mouse (the Three Muskateers one) on my phone.  I finally had to steal back my phone and insist that it was actually bedtime, since he very much seemed to be planning on watching the entire thing.

And now I'm hoping that this means that if he sees a picture of Mickey Mouse somewhere when we're out and about, he doesn't totally freak out...  because you never realize how often you see depictions of Mickey Mouse until you have a child who is terrified of him.

1 comment:

  1. When I was a kid there was a noontime show on called Bozo's Circus. It was a live show of comedy skits and small circus acts with a live studio audience of kids with parents. At the beginning of the show they introduced the cast: Ringmaster Ned, Oliver 'o Oliver the clown, and others, until finally, they introduced Bozo, the star of the show. He would say, "Hey, that's me!" and laugh hysterically as they zoomed in the camera so his face became huge in the T.V. screen.
    When my little brother was about Patch's age (3 or so) he saw this for the first time, he reacted like Patch did to Mickey. He ran crying from the room, and for a long time after that he quaked in terror whenever that show came on. Mostly my mom kept him out of the room when the show was coming on, and eventually he was able to overcome his fear and tolerate Bozo, as long as he didn't witness that first scene.
    I really think it's cute you get on the "phone" and tell Mickey he is not allowed to come over, even on T.V., and you have to tell Daddy too that Mickey cannot come to your house either. I guess it's not cute having to do it dozens of times, though. But this is the precious stuff of life.
    God bless. ~ Bonnie

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