15

The next day we went to the beach, but I couldn't enjoy myself because of Tickles. Dad played one of those carnival games and won me a stuffed animal to replace Tickles, but it wasn't the same.

Losing Tickles pretty much ruined the vacation for EVERYONE, so we left for home a day early. I went to sleep when we got back that night, and the next morning Tickles was sitting on top of my dresser. Mom said Tickles must've found his way home because he loved me so much. And that's what I believed for a long time.

But hidden away behind Mom's books, there were FIVE stuffed monkeys that looked EXACTLY like Tickles. So that means Mom must've gone out and bought a bunch of replacement monkeys right after I lost the original. Who even KNOWS which version of Tickles is sitting on the shelf in my closet right now. In fact, now that I think about it, I remember a time

when Mom had to wash Tickles because I spilled some chocolate milk on him. When she opened the washing machine door, it looked like a pillow had exploded in there. But that night after my bath, Tickles was back on my bed, good as new. So the one in my room could be a fourth or fifth generation for all I know. This ALSO explains why Manny sleeps with ten stuffed dinosaurs every night. He used to only have ONE dinosaur he called Rexy, but Manny must've discovered Mom's hidden stash of backups WAY before I did.

I wanted to keep exploring Mom's closet to see what ELSE I could find, but I heard Mom coming upstairs, so I had to slip out of there. Now that I know about Mom's parenting books, I should be able to keep one step ahead of my folks. And I can thank the Magic 8 Ball for THAT. Tuesday Tonight I decided to see if any of the tricks in Mom's books would actually work on ADULTS. I have been asking Mom and Dad for my own phone for FOREVER, but Mom always says I already have one. She's talking about my Ladybug phone, though, and that's more like a preschool toy. So when me and Rodrick were doing the dishes tonight, I took a crack at using reverse psychology on Mom and Dad.

I didn't know what to expect, but I was shocked to see how FAST it worked. Right after that, Mom came into my room and told me she'd decided to upgrade her phone and was giving her USED one to ME. But before she handed it over, she said they were some "ground rules." She said I had to share the phone with Manny because he uses it to play educational games. She also said I'm not allowed to text any of my friends with it.