Ode to the Bubble MONSTER

Ode to the Bubble MONSTER - September 15, 2008

I had to commit the terrorizing bubble monster to memory forever for my poor daughter who for the last year has been terrified of this 'creature' at bath time.

Bath time all started innocently enough with a half-gallon size of bubble concoction from the latest retail store. Generic and not too bubbly for that matter. So, in my quest to make things as bubblicious as possible for my then 3-year-old daughter, I bought one of my old standards... "Mr. Bubble". I went to pour it into the bath and I made a comment about "Mr. Bubble" who was pictured on the outside of the bottle. She started to scream and wanted to flee the bath as fast as possible. She did not want me to use the "bubble monster" soap.

Of course, I may have instigated a tad when she asked if the bubble guy on the bottle was real, and I said that he is a big bubble who comes out in the bath and likes to 'tickle your toes'... after all, don't we like to foster active imaginations? This was well after she had already shown signs of believing that the bubble guy was a horrible creature.

This escalated into a battle of wills at bath time, because she wanted bubbles, but NOT the bubble monster bubbles. I even had a friend who suggested a small rhyme that she should say at bath time to her archrival..."Bubble Monster, Bubble Monster, Go A-WAY!" chanting over and over... and this worked. It conquered the Monster and sent him away.

Then later that year we got some bubbles for Christmas or a holiday of some sort, and they were Barbie bubbles... Now the Barbie bubbles and the Bubble Monster were in an all-out war for territory in my 3-year-old's bath. If I used a tad bit of both, then Barbie always won in the ever menacing battle for bathtime territory in Miss Sarah's bath.

Amazing how an active imagination and a bottle of bubbles can provide hours of terror for a preschooler and hours of side-splitting hysterics for mom and dad.

Just recently we ran out of this never-ending bottle of bubbles (I had gotten the economy size which lasted nearly a year). And it was a bitter-sweet parting when we took the manacing bottle which sported the terrifying photo and threw it in the trash. Good-bye to the Bubble Monster. Sarah may not miss him, but we will always remind her of her year as a three year old who was horror-stricken by cute little innocent "Mr. Bubble" - hehe

Please - no "Mr. Bubble" bubble bath for gifts!! tee hee - But then again...