Santa brought the kids an inflatable 5.5' punching dummy that Adam named Tito. Today we aired him up. Because he is life-like size, he required a lot of air which required a lot of water in the base to keep him standing upright. Therefore he is very heavy. The kids have a blast punching him to death.
We're even considering using Tito for punishment when they are violent with each other. You hit your brother, you hit Tito until Mom or Dad says stop. This has so many positive effects. They get a workout while working out anger.
However, I just can not get used to Tito "standing" in my office, menacingly glaring at me as I pass by. Consciously, I know exactly where he is. But everytime I enter the room and see him staring at me, I can't help but be startled. I glance at him on my way to the kitchen and 15 seconds later I catch him out of the corner of my eye and gasp again. It doesn't matter the time of day. My heart has probably missed an upwards of 100 beats since yesterday due to our newest inhabitant. He's like the creepy clown from all the horror films.
It doesn't help that Adam finds this humorous and has found ways to exploit my fear. Last night around 11:00 pm, I was turning off all the lights and getting a drink from the kitchen. Everyone was in bed. As I was pouring my glass, I could hear Tito shifting. I called out to Adam, exposing his practical joke, while attempting to convince myself that Tito is incapable of making any noise on his own. I was anticipating Adam to be hiding behind the inflated fighter, poised to jump out at me. I cautiously rounded the corner as I called out in my most brave voice, "I know you're there!" But I wasn't expecting Tito to have been moved to stand right where I rounded the corner. I turned to meet him eye to eye and gasped! Adam was snuggled up in the bed as if he was completely innocent.
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