Monday, February 2, 2009

Sometimes My Daughter Scares Me

Laura was goofing off in my bedroom this morning, jumping around on the bed and generally trying to bring some mayhem to my day. I kept telling her to calm down, be careful, stop trying to give me a heart attack before I turn 30, etc. At one point I asked her why she was jumping like that. She stopped, looked me straight in the eye, and said, "Because that's what the voice in my head told me to do".

Seriously?

I casually began questioning her about this voice, trying to find out exactly how much therapy my daughter was going to need. Does this voice always tell her what to do? (Yes) Is the voice just her brain telling her what to do? (No) Does the voice have a name? (Umm....maybe Katie) Where does the voice come from? (The bones in my head)

Eventually she had had enough of my questions and told me that the voice was just always there to talk to her. She didn't want to talk about it anymore. I started to calm down and told her a little story about how sometimes Mommy talks to herself in her head, thinking about what she has to do that day, what she might wear, who she needs to call. To which Laura replied, "Oh. Well that's a lot different than what I do. I don't talk to myself, I have a voice in my head". Sigh. For now I comfort myself by thinking that Laura is indeed referring to her inner monologue and not Katie, the crazy daredevil who has invaded her head.

But wait, the day isn't over yet! Later as we got out of the car to go into a store, I noticed Laura's right hand was red and looked all scratched up. I asked Laura what happened to her, and she told me that she was just biting her hand while we rode in the car. I have it on good authority from the Army Man that lots of kids do this, so I wasn't as worried as I was over the voice. So I told Laura she needed to stop doing that before she hurt herself. She sighed, the kind of sigh a little girl shouldn't know how to do, and said, "But Mommy, I haven't learned yet not to do that!" I told her this was her official lesson not to do it, but she didn't buy that. She said she needs to learn on her own.

I know I say this a lot, but what is this girl going to be like as a teenager?

6 comments:

Patty said...

My voice just keeps telling me to bake cookies and then eat them all!

This Little Hen said...

WOW! That is the best.. I would be a little scared and worried too! as long as her head didn't spin you are still in the clear! LOL!

Dawn Parsons Smith said...

My lovely 6 yr old talks to a "Katie" too! Bobby and Katie to be exact! They apparently carry on conversations all day long! I agree with This Little Hen...no head spinning...I think we're good!

Michelle said...

Oh, I don't think you have much to worry about....we all have occasional thoughts running through our minds that tell us all sorts of stuff!!

Any thoughts on explaining to my 3 year old why her little brother's "parts" look different?? lol.

Claire said...

No head spinning, so I think we are good! I am always thinking to myself in my head (not to mention all the actual talking to myself that I do) but I've never, ever named my inner voice! That was a bit shocking!

Michelle-Laura is obsessed with body parts and the way the body works, so we bought one of those "Discovery Kids" type books that is all about the body. We actually bought it AFTER she went through the Army Man's college anatomy book front to back, so she was already well-versed in all of that fun stuff. And if I had had my blog about a year ago, you would have been treated to the story about Laura announcing to the kid's department at the library, "Boys have a --- and girls have a ---!" Good times!

Three Dog Days said...

How strange that two different kids both talk to Katie. I wonder if it is the same Katie? Maybe Katie is an alien who is sending them messages from a far.

Sorta creepy, I gotta say...