A Bella Belly Laugh

Bella is always asking me for gum and I am always saying no.  I don't like gum chewed in my house because somehow it always ends up on my carpet, stuck to a wall, or going through my laundry, no matter how many times I pre-admonish the child I allow to have the gum.  I am not a fan.

Nonetheless, I am only human and after days and days of asking to have a piece of gum that a friend gave her, I reluctantly gave in and allowed Bella to chew the gum.  I gave her a long list of rules about taking it out of her mouth, disposing of it properly, bubble blowing, etc.  She happily agreed to all conditions and acknowledged my threat that if that gum went anywhere other than the trash can she wouldn't get gum again for a very, very long time.

Off she skipped, delighted with her situation, chomping away.  I felt pretty good about the decision, thinking she is getting older and more responsible and perhaps it would work out this time.

Sure it would.

Not 10 minutes later I hear a minor crash downstairs and Bella comes running up the stairs sobbing her heart out and rubbing her head.  My poor, clumsy child had tripped over something and fallen on the tile; upon impact, the gum flew out of her mouth and landed who knows where. She was absolutely hysterical, thinking she would never chew gum again as long as she lived.  Poor thing, and she was trying so hard to be responsible with it.

As she was gasping for breath and shaking her head in disbelief at this turn of events, Jay told her to turn around.  She stopped crying for a second and asked why.  He told her to just do it.  Darned if that gum wasn't stuck to the back of her hair.  He pulled it out with only a minor loss of hair

I can't remember when I laughed that hard, full from the belly, tears and all.  She looked so miffed as to how this could possibly happen.  Her reaction to my laughter made me laugh even harder:  "It's not funny!"  When I assured her it was at least a little funny, she sobbed, "I don't like when it's funny!"  Finally, she capped it off with, "It's zero funny!"

Between snorts of laughter I told her that since she didn't actually lose her gum, she would not be penalized, and her relief was palpable.

Her immediate next question was, of course... "Can I rinse this off and keep chewing it?"