Two-Wheeler Bicycles and Leprechaun Traps

Madeleine has been exceptionally busy this week. Yesterday she approached me and asked if she could please teach Katherine how to ride a two-wheeler bicycle. Now, it is basically negligent parenting that Katherine is five and a half and we've never attempted teaching her to ride a two wheeler. So, I smiled, handed Madeleine the bike helmets, and said, "Good luck."

Katherine isn't known for her attention span.
But Madeleine is her father's daughter, and is meticulous at whatever she sets out to do. Acting the part of "Yoda on wheels" was no exception.

There were a few set backs.

But within thirty minutes Katherine was cruising up and down the sidewalk, easy as you like.

So, today, while Katherine was riding her two-wheeler outside, Madeleine and I started putting the finishing touches on her school project that is due tomorrow: a Leprechaun Trap. Over the past couple of weeks I helped her brainstorm ideas, but ultimately Madeleine called the shots and was absolute creative director. She seemed so confident in her plan that I allowed myself to be lured into that false sense of security that parents sometimes get, assuming everything is Just Fine... when in reality it is not. Thirty minutes before bed time tonight Madeleine burst into tears and began sobbing hysterically that her trap wasn't strong enough to hold a real, actual Leprechaun.

That's when her dad finally decided to step in. Now the underlying concept of this trap is that Madeleine has decorated a cardboard box with the specific intention of luring in an unsuspecting Leprechaun. If you look closely you will notice a rainbow, Lucky Charms cereal taped in haphazard places, a paper Leprechaun that we hope looks convincingly real (we're trying to trick the real Leprechaun into making friends), a rainbow flavored lollipop, and a pot of gold (pennies).

Our original plan was to line the floor of the box with duct tape, sticky side up, in order to trap the Leprechaun inside the box. But in the final hour Madeleine concluded that the duct tape simply wasn't strong enough to keep a conniving Leprechaun down. So her dad added the blue "cup" contraption that is dangling from the ceiling. We are hoping the Leprechaun mistakes the blue cup for a chandalier, and when he steps inside the box, the cup will come crashing down and trap him inside. Two foils are better than one!

After we tucked her into bed she whispered, "Dad, maybe we should take the cup down. Maybe it won't work afterall." After enduring over an hour of her dissatisfied crying, I thought in that moment Jeremy's head might explode. But he just gave a curt nod and said, "We'll talk about it in the morning. Go to sleep."

Madeleine then confided in me that the only true evidence that her Leprechaun Trap is a success will be if she catches a REAL one. "I am dying for a pet."

I hope this is one of those monstrous parenting headaches that magically transforms into a happy memory someday.