Adventures at Rasa Ranch #3

[Guest guest]

6/23/02 "Growling"

 

While I was washing some dishes Ananda approached me with a request

for carob chips. I said, "You know what, honey? You've been eating a

lot of sweet things today. I'd rather you choose something else."

She responded by contorting her face into the angriest mug she could

muster and let out a growl in my direction. I simply turned back

around and continued with my dish mission, but the growls, competing

with the running water and also my back, only persisted and grew

louder.

 

I shut the water off and spun on my heels. I knelt down to her and

took a hold of her chin. I told her very firmly that if she didn't

knock it off immediately I was going to put her in her room with the

door closed because I wasn't going to have that going on, not for one

more second.

 

She clammed up, disappeared for a minute or two, and then proceeded to

follow me around the house making whimpering sounds. When she was

ready to be friends again, I stopped doing my chores and sat with her

in my arms (noticing that my lap is getting smaller every day!) until

her little tear-hiccoughs subsided. Then she looked right at me and

the conversation went something like this:

 

A: Mommy, did you have a bad thought, too?

K: No.

A: Then what happened?

K: Nothing.

[a moment passed....tears rose to her eyes again]

A: Did you get angry at me?

K: Nope. I got angry at the growling.

A: Oh. [pause] Okay.

 

Next thing I knew, she was peacefully engaged in a bowl of cottage

cheese while I was engaged in jotting this down. When Jim stepped in

I shared my notes with him. He couldn't believe it had just happened

because there was absolutely no trace of it in the atmosphere of the

house.