Those times when you REALLY shouldn't laugh...but you do anyways

Sometime within the past year, my cousin's wife gave Samantha a giant rubbermaid container full of barbies.  It was Samantha's first introduction to barbies.  I was never super into barbies as a kid so I wasn't sure what Samantha would think of them.  Well...she LOVES them.  Seriously.  She plays with the things constantly, by herself, with Zach, with me, with Chris, with the neighbor, you name it.  One of the sweetest parts of my day is Samantha's bed time.  Now I know you might be thinking "YES!!!  That's my favorite part too.  It's been a long day with an energetic 3.5 year old and now I can finally relax!"  But no, that's not why I like bedtime.  I like it because every night Samantha drags Chris upstairs to bed and begs to play barbies with him.  I love listening to the dialog (well what I can hear of it anyways) over the baby monitor and hearing Samantha's excited giggles as she shares this special one on one time with her daddy.

Tonight though it was a different story.  I heard her laughing and playing and then all of a sudden I heard her little footsteps thundering down the stairs while she is crying and screaming.  "I'm scared, I'm so scared" was all I could hear through her tears.  She raced up to me sobbing uncontrollably, so loud that she woke up Eliza who I had just gotten to sleep in my arms.  All I could make out was something about a head.  I had NO idea what was going on until Chris comes down the stairs barely able to contain his laughter.  One of Samantha's favorite Barbies is a Rapunzel doll.  She is super into princesses right now so this Rapunzel doll is one of the ones she plays with the most.  Right behind Anna and Elsa, of course!  Apparently Samantha picked up the Rapunzel doll and started her dialog, "Hello, what's your name?" like she always does so they can do their introductions.  Chris looked at the doll and realized her head was missing.  So, he replied "Oh Samantha, where is Rapunzel's head?"  Samantha looked down, did a nervous giggle, tried to be brave...really she did, and then raced out of the room screaming.  She wouldn't even look at the doll!!  My poor Samantha.  Chris and I couldn't control our laughter, I had to also control my bladder (thanks kids!), all while Samantha is still completely hysterical.

Chris told Samantha that Rapunzel was going to the hospital for the night as he tried to super glue her head back on.  Unfortunately it seems that she is permanently decapitated.  Guess I'll need to go shopping for a new Rapunzel barbie.  The last thing we'd need is for her to be playing with post hospital Rapunzel and have her head fall off again!!  I would say I wish that she would wake up in the morning with no recollection of this traumatizing event, but who are we kidding?  This is Samantha and she remembers everything!

RIP Rapunzel!!