As many of you may remember, the girls and I went to the Children’s Museum before Halloween and went through the Haunted House during “friendly hours”.  It was as much a mistake as the time I told Sara the sharks at the Zoo had died due to a water tank error.  I should have told her they up and moved to Miami; they got a good deal on condos in this wild market and couldn’t turn down a real estate bargain…heck, the developers even threw in wall to wall…seriously, those sharks capitalized on a down market and upgraded.  But NOOO, I told Sara THE TRUTH, and now I own books on sharks and sharks, sharks, sharks, she is still obsessed with sharks.  And if there is one animal I truly detest, it would be sharks…but I digress…

The Haunted House Friendly Hours were a little heavy on skeletons.  So, so many skeletons.  Like, Indiana Jones Temple of Doom…maybe they borrowed the set, I don’t know.  COVER YOUR HEART INDY!!! Kelly was petrified; I’ve seen PTSD patients coping better than Kelly has coped with her morbid fear of skeletons.  Just when Sara and I were making progress via a long series of conversations about how Halloween is over, this morning presented us with quite a setback:

Kelly loves dinosaurs as much as she hates skeletons.  She is aware that they only exist as fossils at the museum, and that brings her a great deal of comfort, as she talks, and talks, and talks, about those dinosaurs and how Stegosauruses make her laugh.  As we were watching some inane segway between cartoons this morning, some chic named Nina said to Star (an actual talking star, which, you know, seems plausible), “Let’s see what’s in our basket today Star!  LOOK!  It’s a DINOSAUR SKELETON! (pulling out a fossil of a Triceratops).”  In slow motion, Sara and I looked at each other and then looked at….ONE…HORRIFIED…KELLY.  She looked as if she might cry.  Sara immediately began, “Kelly…Kelly…Nina is WRONG.  As in…WRONG, very, very wrong. That is a FOSSIL, KELLY, not a skeleton.  That is most certainly NOT a skeleton.  It’s a FOSSIL.”  I chimed in with a reiteration of the same, but she looked perplexed, almost breathless as she said, “Yes, yes.  A fossil.  Not a skeleton.”

She’s been off all day, and who is to say if she is mulling this over or simply playing a game of “I am 2, and this crappy mood is my right.”  I’m sure we’ll find out soon enough.  After pain-staking efforts, we had her down to mentioning skeletons to about twice per week.  Thanks Segway Nina whose entire career revolves around introducing reruns of “The Berenstain Bears”.  Just so you know, if it’s been dug out of the ground, it’s a FOSSIL.  F-O-S-S-I-L.  While it isn’t entirely incorrect to call it a skeleton, it’s not common nomenclature, not too mention, it’s a CREEPY THING TO SAY.  Damnit Nina.  There…I’ve said it.  DAMNIT…NINA!