Friday, June 27, 2008

New fears

Yesterday Paul & I went to our local library for a visit with Clifford. ("Big! Red! Dog!") Paul was excited to see Clifford and talked about him all morning. When the costumed character entered the room, however, Paul was terrified. Grandma tried to take a picture, but Paul refused to stand anywhere near Clifford and buried his head in my chest.
He seems to be going through this phase where he is scared by seemingly harmless things. In California, he was terrified of this indoor play area because there was an air cannon that shot out balls and made a whooshing sound. So my boy, who ordinarily jumps into every situation with gusto, hid against my chest and refused to play. Later in the week he reenacted his fear with his stuffed bunny, saying that bunny was feeling "scared. balls." and we tried to talk about ways to help bunny feel better. I am really at a loss, other than just letting this phase run its course and assure him that I will keep him safe.
Luckily, all was not lost at the library. Paul was happy to participate in the craft, making a lovely set of red dog ears.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You know who is like that - and I think it is more personality than phase! The reassuring that he is safe, always helps. We do all that we can to prepare her for new situations. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. I have the funniest photo of us in front of Cookie Monster. The big CM actually looks sad/perplexed. Bean is hiding in my neck. It did not work so much that time.

Ahhh, 2 years old was so much fun!

Jess said...

Yup, we're right there with you as far as the 2 year old fears. Emma's latest phobia is rain. "Mom, it's getting dark out! Big storm! Really scared! Close windows RIGHT NOW!"