The Magical Bunny Ears

More than 4 years ago, I bought a pair of bunny ears for my littlest.

They were purchased so that pictures for Easter that I will later torture her with could be taken.

Recently and for no explainable reason, she has rediscovered these ears.

They are magical ears in her mind.

One night last month she came out of her bedroom wearing her hot pink snow cap. In her hands she held the bunny ears.

To see her in the 90+ degree weather wearing a snow cap...in the house...late at night was funny enough. Of course I felt inclined to ask her about the cap. She looked at me serenely, smiled, said nothing, and slipped those bunny ears on top of the snow cap.

How could one not laugh?

She went about playing as if this were the most normal thing ever. Doesn't everyone wear snow caps and bunny ears while walking around the house in September?

I quickly dismissed images of her walking around later in life pushing a shopping cart and talking to herself about horses and the color purple.

Over the past month, the bunny ears have become a nightly thing. No snow cap. That now serves as a baby basket for her smallest ponies and horses.

Late at night, right before bed time, those magical bunny ears come out.

Here's where the magic kicks in...

She is calm and serene until she puts them on.

Suddenly, on with the ears, out with the sanity.

She then runs around the house tormenting her brother as a fit of squeals and screams erupt from her as she hides behind pieces of furniture, hoping to avoid his view.

She is much like a cat in her hiding. Sometimes we see nothing but the ears.

Most of the time she just cracks herself up and doesn't care if we join in or not.

I think because we looked at her in a stupor when she first starting doing this and then cracked up as she went nuts, she thinks that it's OK to go wild as long as she has those ears on.

The other day she realized that there are "sticks" in the ears which make them stay up.

She said, "Momma, can I get real bunny ears?"

"Real bunny ears?"

"Yeah. These have sticks in them."

"So you want me to find a bunny and take its ears?"

"Yeah", she said with an excited smile as if I could run right out and do that. I secretly wonder if she has recently seen 'Dances With Wolves' or some such horror flick.

"S, don't you think it will hurt the bunny if we take his ears?"

"No."

"Would it hurt you if someone came and took your ears?"

She thinks for a moment. She sighs deeply. "Yesssssssss."

"So if it hurts you, don't you think it would hurt the bunny?"

Her baby lip comes out. Her eyes do that weepy thing. "I don't want to hurt the bunnies!"

She looks down at her bunny ears. "These are better."

"They are?"

"Yeah. If we cut off the bunny ears there would be blood on them. That's gross!"

"Yeah, hon. It really is."

She slides the bunny ears back on her head.

"Mama?"

"Yeah, baby?"

"Can I get a horsey?"

I raise my eyebrow at her and she bursts into a fit of giggles and starts running around like an ADHD kid with a crack-and-Mountain Dew milkshake.

Last night as we were getting ready for bed she noticed that I was a little down. (I had found out earlier that a family member had passed away and was finally absorbing and processing that little bit of information.) She asked me what was wrong and I told her. She takes my hand and leads me to her bedroom. She tells me to close my eyes. I do, as she turns on the light.

There, next to her bed is her 3 ft. horse that is sound and motion activated. It is wearing the bunny ears. Upon seeing this, she bursts into another fit of giggles and the horse's head turns our way. She falls on the floor spazzing and giggling hysterically.

How can I compete with that?

I broke into hysterical giggles too and let her tell me about how funny what just happened was.

Some days are like that.