Revulsion

My middle daughter is already showing signs of being different from her older sister in a very big way: there are many things that gross her out. Yes, already, at age two. I don't know where she learned this, because there are things that disgust her that disgusts no one else here.

I don't really like bugs, especially crawly ones, but they don't gross me out. Aislinn, however, will point from her booster seat in the kitchen at a fly on the *outside* of the patio door, and say "YEEEEEUUUUWWWW!!!! Yew, yew, yew!!!" (It must have the "yuh" on the beginning, too.) Any small wet drops on the kitchen table are "yew!" Even if they are water. A single drop of milk on the floor (dripped by her, no less), though I tell her I will get it in a minute, must be pointed at with an accusing finger and pronounced "yeeeeuwww!"

Just now, she was looking outside the front door; Leo was picking up sticks in the yard in preparation for mowing, and I heard her yell, "Yew, mouse!" Wondering what rodent would show it's face in a front yard around here, I went to look. What I found was a red-fur-covered toy mouse, somehow escaped from the clutches of our indoor cats. It was indeed "yew"; it was covered in dirt and bits of crumbled leaves, and the hair was STIFF. Ick.

I brought it in, and she demanded to see it, overcome by curiosity at this disgusting object. I let her see it briefly, then said I was going to throw it away. "No!" she said.

"You want it?" I asked.

"Yew, no!" she yelled.

"Do you want to throw it away?

"Yes. NO! Umm..."

She held her hand out, but recoiled every time I tried to put it in her hand. Finally, I showed her how to use her thumb and forefinger to hold it by a bit of fur that was coming off. This way, she marched over to the trash and disposed of the offending varmint.

Maybe she'll throw out the hair on my bathroom floor for me?