Liar liar pants on... uh, nothing, never mind

A few weeks ago, Cindy took the kids on a field trip to the fire hall. They got to meet the firemen and learned about what to do in the event of a fire, and even got to sit in the fire trucks.

This is all well and educational. Liam loved it when he was that age, so it's only logical that Mallory would too. She took the field trip a little differently, though. Mallory came home and started barking out instructions to our family. She told me I need to stop, drop and roll if I ever catch on fire, she wanted to know if we have a fire extinguisher in the house, and suddenly, she was all about making a family fire escape plan. (We now plan to congregate on our next door neighbour's front porch if we have a fire at our house. Our neighbour does not know this yet, but hopefully he's cool with it.)

So THAT was all well and good, but the thing is, Mallory's concern about fire is starting to get a little out of hand. She is really dwelling on the idea of having a fire at our house. She has asked multiple times about how to get out (any way you can; ideally, the back porch door, garage door, or front door). How would a fire start? (Maybe if we left a candle burning or the stove turned on... which we DON'T... so we should be OK.) What if a fire starts when we are eating dinner? (Get out.) What if a fire starts when I am in the bathtub? (Get out.) What if a fire starts when we are in the swimming pool? (We're already out.)

And worst of all, for any parent who has had years of sleepless nights and is JUST FINALLY getting back to the point where we generally DO get to sleep through the night again... she is waking up at night and coming into our room and saying that she has had bad dreams about fire. This has been going on for weeks now. There will be a few good nights, and then several bad nights in a row, or sometimes, one night when she is up three or four times. Arrrrghhhhhhzzzzzzzzzz. Oh, sorry, that was the sound of me nodding off... which I fear is going to happen, if I don't get to consistently sleep through the night ever again.

For the past couple of nights, as I have been tucking Mallory into bed, the routine has changed a little bit. "Mom," she will say, "I have to tell you something. There are TWO things I am afraid of." She pauses, twisting her fingers in her hair like she always does when she's anxious. "The first one is fire. And the second one is... dinosaurs." I try to convince her that the likelihood of a dinosaur coming after her is even more remote than the idea of us having a fire... but I can tell she is not buying it. It's going to be a long night.