worry wart

She's usually so brave, silly, out-going. But over the last year and even more so in the last several days, it's become clear that Paige is also a serious worrier.

Some of her concerns:

• While out on our boat for the first time, she worried that our boat would sink - so much so, that we had to put her in the storage closet for a time (not a good idea for those prone to motion-sickness).


• Also at the lake, worried that the boat driver would not return for the fallen skier.


• She won't go upstairs to her room at night unaccompanied.


• En route to the shower, I asked her to put Gabriel in with her, tempting him with an elephant (rubber) already in the shower. She stopped dead in her tracks, and hollered "A real one?" I thought she was just kidding, but somehow, it made sense for her to be concerned about a real live elephant in the shower.


• Worried that if her daddy doesn't call regularly from his scuba trip, that a) his boat has sunk... b) he has drown or been eaten by a shark... c) the captain of the boat has left while daddy was still under water diving - left to float about all alone in the sea.

We'll do our best to keep the boat afloat, elephants out of the shower, and the sharks from eating Daddy. In the meantime, we'll just reassure her for the 10th gazillion time that we are doing our best to keep any harm from coming to our family.