Bad daddy!

Yesterday evening I was all set to write a glowing post about B and what a good dad he is. We had gone to the annual Keller Williams Octoberfest at Scholtz Garden - it's a big party for all the agents at the SW Market Center and their clients. We go every year, and every year the girls delight in doing the Chicken Dance along with the oompa-oompa band that's there. And this year was no different. I tried to leave at one point because Campbell was losing it, but the girls protested that they hadn't had a chance to dance yet. So we hung around another half-hour.

When it was finally time for the dance, Ella and Lily dragged B up in front of the bandstand and got in the circle. I fully expected B to bail out and just watch them dance, but he surprised me. In front of about 200 fellow-agents and clients, B did the Chicken Dance, wiggling his rear end with them and laughing the whole time. I got all misty thinking about what a good man I picked to be my husband and the father of our kids.

But then my warm, fuzzy thoughts disappeared about an hour later. The kids and I had gone home, leaving B to shmooze and socialize. I'd gotten everyone packed into bed and had sat down to work when Ella appeared at my elbow in tears. This weekend, she and B watched an old, old Bela Lugosi vampire movie called "Mark of the Vampire." It was mostly silly, and in the end the "vampires" turned out to be actors hired to scare the main character. At the time, Ella seemed to love the movie, pestering B with questions about everything.

Last night, however, she freaked out. At first I suspected the tears were a stalling tactic, but she really was distressed. She was sobbing hysterically about being scared of vampires and begging me to sit in the living room instead of in my office. I tried to talk her down, reminding her that the vampires in the movie really were actors and were make-believe. She said, "I know they are, but I'm still scared." Given my fear of UFOs, I couldn't argue with her on that point.

In an effort to calm her down, I let Ella turn on her bedroom light - Lily was already sacked out - and I turned on the TV in the living room so that it at least sounded like I was in there. Ella finally fell asleep to the sounds of the Rockies losing the second game in the world series.

I called B and gave him a big, fat "I told you so!" on the vampire movie. And when Ella woke up in the middle of the night and again at 6am, I let him deal with her. He created the situation, he can work to fix it! I'm going to make him promise not to watch any more scary movies with her.