I opened my extra freezer the other day and there was a dinosaur frozen in time. I’m not referring to any sort of historical discovery where I would need to call in a paleontologist. I’m also not referring to my lack of housekeeping skills and food left frozen so long it became dinosaur-like. I am talking about a small plastic dinosaur, frozen in a plastic container of water.
This is not the first time I’ve found a frozen creature in my freezer. For some reason, my youngest has always been fascinated by freezing things. I’m not really sure why she does it. Maybe it’s her love of ice cream. Who knows?
I’m always interested to see what she has decided to freeze. Sometimes it’s little plastic dinosaurs, sometimes it’s little action figures. It is somewhat disturbing to find frozen Barbie dolls, but now that she’s older I don’t find those anymore. Although, we don’t currently own Barbie dolls, so I guess I can’t attribute the lack of frozen Barbie dolls to her maturity.
She used to play with these things before she froze them. Now, at 13, she usually just happens upon a long-forgotten plastic toy and decides it should be frozen. Our extra freezer is an old, frosty freezer. Meaning it’s not frost-free. I prefer this type of freezer because it doesn’t dehydrate the food. The problem with this type of freezer is it has to be thawed every six months or so. The frost builds up on the shelves so much that it becomes difficult to get food in or out.
When it’s time to defrost, I unplug it and move whatever food is in there to my refrigerator’s freezer. It slowly melts until the sheets of frost fall off the shelves. Sometimes wonderful things appear and it is like an archaeological excavation. Forgotten frozen creatures emerge, along with my plastic storage containers. This is a thrilling experience for my daughter, not only does she have a frozen, plastic creature to thaw, but it is usually encased in a lot of ice. Not to mention the entertainment factor from the sheets of ice that fall off the shelves. Let’s face it, shattering sheets of ice on the driveway is just fun. I’m just not sure if my husband or daughter has more fun with this “necessary” task; probably my husband.
My daughter takes her frozen objects to the sink and blasts them with warm water from the sprayer. So I’m not sure if the thrill is in the freezing or the thawing. When she was small, the whole process would keep her busy for hours. She would put something in the freezer and check on it every 15 minutes or so to see if it was frozen yet. Sometimes she would freeze it and then set it on the kitchen counter to thaw and then freeze it again. Occasionally I would find a plastic bowl of water just sitting randomly around the house with a plastic creature floating in it. She had been watching it thaw, lost interest and left it.
She has evolved her freezing objectives. I am now finding frozen beverages and various frozen food stuffs. She likes to see if she can eat frozen soda and if frozen chocolate milk will become ice cream.
Rather than being concerned over this peculiar habit, I prefer to think of this as the workings of a scientific mind. Without knowing it, my daughter is becoming a scientist, specializing in cooling and will someday solve some world crisis; like how to quickly cool nuclear reactors or something.
At least that’s what keeps me sleeping soundly every night.
Gretchen Leigh is a stay-at-home mom who lives in Covington. She is committed to writing about the humor amidst the chaos of a family. You can read more of her writing and her daily blog on her website livingwithgleigh.com.
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