Finley

Hudson and I were at the mall playing in the play place on Friday when we met Finley. We had done a little shopping and then decided to hit his oh so favorite play place. I was sitting there keeping an eye on him and noticed he had gravitated towards a different part of the play area, so I grabbed all our bags and moved to sit closer to him. He was attempting a particularly risky maneuver on Yosemite Sam (it's Bugs Bunny themed) and I tell him to be careful. This little girl behind him says 'He did it before, I watched him and he was fine!' Then she takes her turn, and rather than climbing up and sliding down she stands up and jumps all the way down of Sam's head. I don't usually squirm or flinch but this one made me a little nervous. She stuck her landing but you could see she kind of tweaked her foot but was fine and kept playing. Hudson loved what she did and I could see in his eyes he wanted to attempt the same risky bizz she just tried. I let him climb up to see what he would do (I was sitting right there, a foot away) and he attempts to stand up on Yosemite Sam's head and he falls and slips off right on this back. He cries a blood curdling cry and I swoop him up and snuggle him. Cute curly headed girl is standing right there and trying to ask him if he's ok. He turns around and looks at her but doens't respond. She then begins talking to me.

The second she opened her mouth I grabbed by cell phone and began taking notes. Was this kid for real?

'My name is Finley and I'm 5. I like to hurt myself see, (bends wrist backwards). My favorite kind of hurt is a splinter. I LOVE when my mom takes the tweezers and pulls out a splinter, it feels sooo good.'

I said 'Oh yeah, it feels good when your mom gets it out and it's all better huh?'

'No, I like when she digs in with the tweezers and pulls it out. It's a good thing I like wood cuz I love splinters.'

(Not making ANY of this up folks)

Then she starts telling me about her dad, and her brother, his name is Talon, and how he has the same name as her daddy and she has the same name as her mommy etc. Then she sees my wedding ring and tells me her mom has one like mine and she never takes it off.

Finley's dad walks over with her brother Talon and says 'What are you ladies up to?'

Umm excuse me, I'm the only lady here, your daughter is 5 and she's creeping me out.

ANYWAYS

We make small talk for a few minutes and Talon is throwing a rip roaring tantrum so dad takes him and Finley out to get a drink at the water fountain.

Five minutes later Finley comes bounding back into the play place and right over to us. She and Hudson run off together and then she comes back, but I don't see him right away. Then I hear him, he's screaming again crying. Normally I'd assumed he tripped and fell but the demonic nature of this little girl has me terrified and convinced she pushed him or something. I brush it off and let them keep playing, but I keep a more watchful eye.

Then Finley comes up to me and says 'My daddy wants to know where Hudson goes to school?' and my immediate thought was you're NUTS child if you think I'm telling you this. Your whole family creeps me out.

So I said 'Oh he goes to a pre-school by our house.'  (Thinking that would be sufficient)

It wasn't.

'What's it called?' She asks me.

'Oh just a little daycare.'

'No, like the name of it?'

This girl is relentless. I tell her it's called like Kidz Zone (which it's not) but that at least satisfies her and she runs off.

Hudson and I leave to go have dinner but I can't stop thinking about the poor creepy children I just met. Maybe they're just fine and perfectly normal, maybe I shouldn't be judging a a 5 year old or a dad trying to juggle two intense kiddos. But I did.