The Bean who Cried "Oww!"

We all know the old fable about the Boy Who Cried Wolf....

Well, my kid is the Bean Who Cried 'Oww!' I swear, no exaggeration, I hear the most pathetic, sad sounding 'Oww' there ever was uttered from my girl's mouth 15 or more times a day. When she first figured out how to say 'oww' it broke my momma heart. Seriously, she first learned it in the middle of a bad diaper rash and I was already feeling bad. I knew it hurt, it looked angry, red and swollen, and she'd cry and wriggle in pain at every diaper change. But when she said, "Owwwwww" while crying? My heart literally broke. I immediately teared up and wanted nothing more than to scoop her up and make her pain go away.

It has been months since that first utterance of the now infamous 'Oww', and sadly I don't feel the same emotion when I hear it. I still ask her/make sure she's ok, but it's lost it's urgency. Now it's like, "Oh yea? Does you butt hurt?" "Oh... do your teeth hurt?" "Baby, what hurts?" etc. She'll nod if I guessed the correct boo-boo, she'll 'nuh-huh!' if I didn't, or she'll put her finger to her chin and say, "um..................." until she gets distracted by some other toddler thought bubble.

She's a character, that one. I know that she's 'Oww'ing for attention, and I try to give it to her, but I don't like that something that should worry me doesn't anymore because I hear it all.day.long. I don't want to assume she's NOT hurt, if she is. I also don't want to make a huge deal every time she 'Oww's if she's not actually hurt. I don't need any help in her becoming a dramma llama, and I don't want her to learn that she can cry 'Oww' when she's not actually hurt. (Next thing I know she'll be yelling FIRE in a crowded theater to get attention.... I need to get a handle on this asap, peeps!)

Never fear; in between the full blown that's-a-nine-point-nine-on-the-Richter-scale toddler tantrums, the overly dramatic 'Oww's, forced fake laughs, forehead-swipes followed by 'Phew!', and ever increasingly gnarly toddler diaper changes, I get some really fun, sweet, memorable, adorable and hilarious moments with my sweet Bean girl.

fun at Gramma Mimi's house!

She makes my days so, SO, happy, even if she makes me want to pull my hair out. ♥