Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?

My sweet, lovable, adorable little Toots has an addiction.

That's right...you read that correctly. My almost seven year old is in need of an intervention.

How could it have come to this without me noticing? What signs did I miss? Okay, yes, she really enjoyed it at first. I would watch The Toodle Bug get all squirmy and excited when she got it. And, okay, so maybe she would become very agitated and grumpy if by, say noontime, I had not given it to her yet. And maybe I started noticing how she would let out a very audible, relieved sigh after she got it.

So what?! How was I supposed to know it would get so bad. Now she needs it two, three times a day even. Every single day.

Her need has gotten so bad that on our last trip to Boston I forgot to pack it...Oh God! What to do, what to do?! The Toots was PISSED! She wouldn't look at Brianna or me. She wouldn't smile. There was none of her usual giggly, happy noises. She simply threw her head down and scowled. I was in a panic.

I raced from place to place to try to get her her "fix". Yes, I am an enabler now leave me alone.

I had people that worked in one store literally calling another store to see if they had it while sputtering something along the lines of, "you can't imagine how badly I need to get this!". When I went to a store that didn't have the item I guilt shopped to make up for it.

I bought The Toots dresses, pajamas, shirts, all to win back her favor. Didn't work. She was having none of it.

I finally managed to find the item in South Portland. The relief I felt was palpable. I raced out to the car with the item held high above my head yelling, "Hold on Toodies! I found it! You can have it in just a second!". Pathetic, I know.


Her addiction? The Spongebob Squarepants movie.

Yep, that's what the drama was all about....A square yellow sponge.

And the just the TV show won't do anymore. Oh no. It HAS to be the movie. I cannot figure it out. All I know is when I finally flipped down the DVD player in the van and she saw the opening credits, my Toodle Bug was back. She was all smiles, giggly, squirmy and even squealing with happiness.

I swear to God it reminds me of that show, Intervention on A&E when the druggie they are following around finally scores his/her dope. It is the craziest thing I have ever seen.

And what's worse was that when it dawned on me that I had not packed that movie, I searched from store to store all along the coast from Rockland to Portland trying to get it. I felt like a horrible mother and kept repeating, "I can't believe I forgot it. I thought for sure that I had packed it.", in a haze of panic.

But I refuse to let this happen again. I've learned my lesson about the dangers of addiction...

I bought THREE of the movies (one for the house, one for the van and one downloaded onto my laptop)....