The Legend of the Belly Popper

Two years ago, when Jacob was almost 4 years old we were living in Nashville and we drove down to Josh's folks' place for Thanksgiving. The night before Thanksgiving Day I told Jacob a story at bed time. I was trying to think of a story that would emphasize the importance of playing outside on Thanksgiving Day, and not eating too much, and the image of an evil troll with a big stick popped into my brain. I made up a story about an evil troll named the "Belly Popper," that would pop the bellies of anyone who ate too much for Thanksgiving and/or failed to play outside after dinner.

I immediately felt that my story was inappropriate, and, so, as I was telling it I got the giggles. I was laughing so hard I couldn't talk. I stopped telling the story and made up something a bit more comforting. But I couldn't get the Belly Popper out of my head.

The next day I told my story about the Belly Popper to Josh and his mom, who we call Kat. Kat was horrified, but I got the giggles again and laughed so hard I almost peed my pants. When Jacob heard us talking about the Belly Popper he got very scared. "It's not real!" Kat cried.

Last Thanksgiving came and went without too much talk about the Belly Popper. A few months ago, however, I mentioned the Belly Popper to Casey. She was terrified. She was convinced that the Belly Popper was going to come and pop her belly. She kept pulling up her shirt to make sure her belly was still there. We finally convinced her that he wasn't real----just a story her mean mom made up.

This Thanksgiving morning Jacob and I talked about the Belly Popper. Jacob said the Belly Popper would turn into a good guy this year. I hope so. Otherwise, I'm going to go down in history as the scariest mom of all time!