The possessed monkey

Chloe got this monkey for Christmas the year before last. It has a habit of terrifying people... and animals, actually.

Isabel was still pretty little when the evil monkey appeared in our home. At one point it was sitting on the dresser and started doing it's monkey thing - swinging it's arms around and hooting like a psycho monkey does. Izzy freaked out, barking at it with her hair on end. It had to be put away for some time before we were sure she wouldn't attack it and murder it in the middle of the night.

But Izzy's reaction to the possessed little creature was nothing compared to poor Cora tonight. She was sitting on Chloe's bed playing with the whole herd of stuffed animals when suddenly the creepy monkey came to life. I sat it up in front of her so she could look at him - after all, they're about the same size. I thought maybe they could be friends. I couldn't have been more wrong. The poor child started shrieking, a look of pure terror on her face, lip turned down more than should be physically possible and she THREW herself into me, screaming all the while.

We never have figured out how to turn the sucker off. We just hide him for awhile. Chloe jumped up and grabbed him, shoved him in her closet and shut the door while I tried to console the poor baby. She finally calmed down, and she snuggled with me while we read Chloe's bedtime story, but she kept her eye on that closet door the whole time. Every so often you'd hear a muffled "ooh ooh ahhh ahhh" and her lip would tremble again.

I can't think of any better way to convince a child from early on that there really are monsters in the closet.