Crab Spray!

This is a story of how $2.79 and a little apple cinnamon scent can overcome crabs.

Meaning, of course, bad crabs invading the dreams of a 3-year old Deondre. This kid could watch Snakes on a Plane and not have a problem. Alien vs. Predator (at his dad's on that one... not my house!). No nightmares. No nothing. But for some reason, this kid woke up in a frenzy one night screaming that there were crabs in the bed. He clawed at me, climbed on my head to get away from them, and screamed so bad that I swore for a groggy minute that there WAS in fact little snappy critters invading our bedroom. It was 5 am and it was some scary crap. So we ended up sleeping on the couch for the night, him completely on top of me. In the morning, he was hesitant to even put his feet on the ground because MAYBE the crabs made their way out to the living room and were just waaaaaiting for him....

I knew that the next night would be awful and that I might never have the opportunity to see my comfy old bed again if I didn't do something.

And it hit me. Again, he was only 3, and that lead to two important conclusions: 1) he would believe almost anything I told him and 2) he couldn't read yet. When I picked him up from day care that next day, I told him that I had did some research and found out that they had "crab spray" that we could get that would make them go away. I told him we'd make a special trip to the store to pick it up and spray it right away when we got home.

So supermarket-bound we were --- heading to the cleaning aisle. I told him that the crab spray had a red cap. And it sure did! Renuzit Apple Cinnamon home fragrance spray definitely has a RED cap. I told him that we'd be able to spray it and poof! No more crabs. He looked at me with a little face trickled with fright and hope all at once. Like magic was in that aerosol can. He believed me... he trusted me.

So we took it home and together we doused the bedroom with the scented goodness. He pointed where he thought they might go, and I sprayed. And he looked at me with huge relieved eyes and we high fived. He went hestitantly to bed that night, but no nightmares. In the morning, he sprung up and jumped all over the darn room and shouted halllujahs that they were GONE! Never again was there a crab incident in our house. True story.

Fast forward 6 years to a couple days ago. Deondre was helping me make the bed and out of the blue laughs and says "Hey mom - remember that crab spray - do we still have that?" I looked at him for a bit and broke down. I told him the real deal, that is was apple cinnamon Renuzit spray and it was a big fat lie concocted by his trusting mom.

There was a big pause as he stared me down... his eyes grew big... a smirk started out of one corner of his mouth and then BURST into laughter. YESSS! He wasn't mad. He didn't glare or yell or hit or loose faith in humanity. Lord I hope that breaking down Santa Claus will be as easy.

If anyone needs crab spray, please try your local grocery market, aisle 6 next to the Swiffers and the dishwashing liquid. It works like magic.