I almost wonder

if I didn't scar Addie for life.

Although I don't know how much Addie understands, I still talk to her as if she understands everything that I say.

I do know that she understands what the washer and dryer is.

She knows that she gets to help put clothes in the washer and close the door and then take clothes out, put them in the dryer, close the door and then push the button to make the dryer "GO".

However, I don't know if Addie grasps the entire concept of what we are doing although she does know what "wash" and "dry" means from the gazillion times a day she has to wash and dry her hands. This is the kitty that my best friend got Addie for her first birthday.

Kitty has been a constant presence in Addie's room since joining the family.

Addie likes to have kitty nearby at bedtime.

Some nights Addie wants to hold kitty as she drifts off to sleep, other times, she just needs to see kitty and then other times, kitty could have packed up and left town and Addie wouldn't take notice.

It just so happened that this particular night last week, Addie needed kitty to make her boo-boo fever all better.

As I was rocking Addie, she sat up and started looking around, I asked her if she was looking for kitty and she nodded the affirmative.

Without thinking, I told Addie that I had to wash kitty and that kitty was still in the dry....err...

I tried to back track on what I was saying because as those words were coming out of my mouth, Addie quickly looked up at me with those pitiful blue eyes and a very concerned look on her face and started pointing to (what I knew was) the laundry room.

We got up and went to the laundry room, where I retrieved an almost completely dry kitty from the dryer and handed him over to Addie.

Addie examined kitty very, very closely and then looked at me wanting my reassurance.

So, then I started wondering just how much she understood and at what point in the future, I might find my sweet baby girl trying to put Alley or Thomas in the washer or dryer since she now knows that we "wash" and "dry" "kitties".

:)

Kitty magically put Addie night-night time....

and then stayed close by all night just in case she needed him again.

__Sidebar__

*No kitties were harmed in the telling of this story.*

Talk about being scarred for life...

When I was growing up we always had cats. I was a collector of any stray that came in contact with me.

One morning in the midst of getting ready for school, we (my sisters and I) all heard my Mother yell - at the top of her lungs,

"Who put their shoes in the dryer....oh my ....(insert screaming here)....the cat is in the dryer!!!! (More screaming here)"

In all the chaos of getting ready for school, somebody (I didn't do, wasn't me) had just walked into the laundry room, tossed something into the dryer, slammed the door and hit the button and walked away...never realizing kitty was in the dryer napping.

Kitty was perfectly fine - just a little ticked at the world - thank goodness he was only in there for a few seconds and thank goodness that my Mother was ticked at the world that morning too and irritated at the sound of "shoes" in the dryer,

but who knows...

just how many kitties have been saved by that experience?

I never, EVER, start the washer or dryer without checking it first.

We joke about that now.

At the time it was horrible and we all felt really, really bad, but it was one of those childhood lessons learned.

Now if I can just keep Addie-pa-tattie from wondering just how clean those kitties would be after a delicate wash or a tumble dry low.

Note to self

Have stuffed animals properly washed, dried and returned to appropriate place before night-night time.