ma petite cornichon

i lied to my kid this week. i made the comment that wren was going to turn into a pickle because she is addicted to cornichons.  she took a pause and considered life as a pickle.  she started asking questions like, 'would i have arms' to which i responded 'no'. she followed up with observations like 'i won't be able to wear my jacket if i turn into a pickle' and 'you'll have to carry me around because i won't have legs'.  thinking this was funny i took it a little farther and made the startling discovery that green patches were appearing in her hairline.  at this point she began to get a little worried and after a while wanted to know what she could do to avoid turning into a pickle.  off the top of my head i pulled out, 'you definitely need to exercise and get your blood pumping so your body can process the nutrients rather that storing them and turning green'. harmless, right? and self serving. i was trying to get work done, while simultaneously entertaining wren.

after directing her in exercise after exercise, and checking her green level periodically, i started to realize that while she was giggling, she was also quietly starting to panic. i finally came clean, and she seemed somewhat relieved, but didn't totally believe that she wasn't turning into a pickle.

throughout the day, she kept bringing it up to have me reassure her that it wasn't actually possible.  as the day progressed i started to feel a little guilty, and more than a little worried that i had ruined her love affair with pickles. to make matters worse, her questioning took on a progressively darker tone.  it went from 'were you really joking, mama?' to 'why did you lie? how come when i asked if you were serious, you lied?'.  my guilt hit its apex when wren was playing by herself, all the while dramitcally singing 'why did you lie?'.  i felt like i was in an LDS commercial from the 80's ala 'who broke my window'. rad and sad all at once.

i guess pranking doesn't become appropriate until later?

xo,
jasper hearts wren