Monster Mistakes

I think I've made a mistake. Yes, another one. Yesterday, in a particularly tired and frustrated moment that was preceded by my toddler dumping yet another box of small objects onto the floor, I told him about the Toy Monster. The Toy Monster, aptly named Hungry Hal, comes at night and eats any toys that have not been put away. You don't get that toy back until 2 or 3 days later when he poops it out.

My boy is now somewhat obsessed with this monster. What I think may have been fear yesterday (I tried to backtrack with the assurance that the monster is not real and is actually quite nice in that he helps mommy with clean up) has become fascination today. "Say about the monster, mommy," my son pleads. It looks like Hal forgot to come last night. Maybe he wasn't hungry. Or perhaps he was exhausted and fell asleep while putting his kids to bed, like Daddy and I did.