A couple weeks ago, a cricket found its way into my living room. And before I tell the rest of this story, can I just pause and insert an IN MY DEFENSE right here? Because when my husband tells this story – and oh, how he relishes telling this story – he forgets that part.
You know. The part where an outlaw cricket set up camp in my living room and terrorized me for an entire afternoon. That blasted insect chirp chirp chirped up a storm, but every time I came anywhere near him, he shut up. And so we played a very long and drawn-out game of WHERE IS THE CRICKET, the two of us.
Totally unrelated, just the two of us at the library last week.
So a few days later, when another cricket found its way into my living room, I decided to let the sucker starve to death. If I can manage to fold an entire load of laundry in twenty minutes with Baby-Zilla, Destroyer of all Folded Laundry Piles in the Universe on the loose, then I can do pretty much anything, I reasoned. And that includes listening to a cricket with a death wish chirp its little heart out for a few days.
I was not, in other words, going to waste precious energy trying to locate that annoying little turd of a cricket.
Hours passed, HOURS, and I just grinned and bared it. Chirp chirp chirp. Chirp chirp chirp. Chirp chirp chirp. I made dinner, chirp chirp chirp, and I played puzzles with Charlotte, chirp chirp chirp, and I read her a couple books, chirp chirp chirp, and set her down for the night, chirp chirp chirp.
And then Donald came home.
Once a week, Donald plays basketball after work. He comes home late on basketball nights and I wait up for him and on that night, he came home, chirp chirp chirp, to find me uploading photographs, chirp chirp chirp, and the first thing he did was ask, chirp chirp chirp, WHAT IS THAT NOISE? It’s a cricket, I told him, and it’s been at it for a few hours and if you want to look for it, BE MY GUEST.
The man listened for about thirty seconds, then walked straight over to the bookcase where Charlotte had left a bunch of her board books open on the floor. He bent down, picked up an open book, and looked at me. I think I found the cricket, he chuckled as he shut the book.
I had spent the last several hours listening to the chirp chirp chirping of a children’s book.
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Oh my! Don’t worry, my brother-in-law once attacked a toy in the middle of the night with a baseball bat, thinking it was an intruder. It happens!
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I love that book. Eventually the chirp does stop, years from now… And it’s a happy/ sad day. :-D
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Jaimey - Does it stop earlier if it lays open for a few hours?
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I have a little story about a clogged drain I’d like to share with you….
http://simplyblissful.blogspot.com/2007/11/sometimes-im-just-that-stupid.html
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Wow! That would have been a really long wait, waiting for it to starve to death.
That makes me laugh.
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Hysterical! Love it!
Yesterday, I was in Target and I kept hearing someone’s annoying LOUD cell phone ringing. It wasn’t my ring and so I just tried to ignore the phone. But everywhere in the store I went, that same cell phone rang. Either someone was following me with their cell phone or THE NOISE WAS COMING FROM INSIDE MY CART. I finally realized it was this little toy I had picked up for Bean. I had squished it with a box of cereal and so it kept making the noise over and over again.
Glad to know it’s not just me! :)
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That is so funny and so familiar!
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That is so horrible! In my office at work last year crickets kept getting in and crawling into the baseboard and would drive me insane! There is nothing worse than a cricket chirping ALL DAY
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This is what happens to our brains when we become moms! LOL I’m just sorry you had to be tortured like that all day! I could certainly see this happening to me, though!
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This made me spit out my water. You poor thing! At least you stuck to your guns. It would have “died” eventually :)
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Funny, I have a “De-Folder of All Things Folded” myself. And there is nothing more annoying than a loud, lone cricket!
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Oh, now that is too funny! Props to your husband.
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Hilarious! Fortunately for me, I got used to hearing chirps after owning a lizard that ate them so I had live crickets all the time. Glad he found the “cricket”.
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That is pretty funny! I can imagine this vividly!
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Ok first off, that is hilarious.
I myself am not a cricket hater. I love the sound of crickets, I used to have 3 pet frogs and I thought their grub made lovely background noise.
We have that book too, come to think of it, maybe I should leave mine open. Although, I think THAT would annoy me because it is REALLY constant and repetitive…
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I love this! Your post, I mean- not incessant chirping. Speaking of kid toys that make noise, my husband and I have been startled (and annoyed) more than once by those animal sound puzzles. Kids are in bed, we’re watching TV, and out of nowhere, we’ll just hear a random “Moooooo” or fake dog barking. I still don’t understand how that happens when no one is even near it. I’ve never thought it was a REAL cow or dog, though…just a burglar who broke in to play with puzzles, I guess. I suppose b/c the noise is not as realistic as The Very Quiet Cricket. :)
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This is such a cute story and too funny! I’ve had many moments like this. I look back and just laugh.
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Oh my! We have that book. I’ll try to remember this if in the future I hear a cricket chirping in the house and I’ll make sure that’s the first place I look :) Too funny!
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Defiantly sounds like something that would happen to me…too cute!! :)
We have toy monkey that’s a representation of the monkey from the “Madagascar” movie. When he moves he says three words, Africa, Check Mate & Uh-huh. A while ago my husband hit his toe on our baby girls exersaucer but before he was able to get any words of expression out we heard “Africa!“
Anyways. Love you blog-will have to come back again. Your little man is adorable!!P.S Found you at Top Baby Blogs.
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Oh Sarah. Don’t EVEN get me started on bugs. I live in a jungle. Bugs haunt my life and my dreams.
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I can totally relate with this story, except we actually did have a cricket in the house, and I did finally kill it after two days of listening to it. If I had discovered it was a toy I dont know if I would laugh or yell. I hope you werent too embarrassed by it not actually being a cricket. If anything you should feel vindicated for not being able to find an actual cricket!
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That’s funny, chirp chirp chirp!! It has been a story of all of us. The past weekend I was helping my kids to find out the cricket under their cupboard and finally we succeeded and left the little bugger out in the lawn. It’s quite however ironic as to why do crickets chirp only when they are left alone. Do they feel left-out?
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By Elin on July 27, 2010
That is too funny. Sounds like something that would happen at my house!