I for one make no excuses about my irrational fear. I despise clowns. It goes back to two specific movies that my older brothers let me watch as a six year old. To this day, I avoid parades, the circus, carnivals, anywhere these creepy, big shoe wearing demons might be lurking.
Recently, L has reached the stage where she is expressing her fear over certain things. I was expecting this, and prepared for it. To be frank, though, some of her fears are a real head scratcher. For example..ketchup?? She doesn't mind eating the ketchup but as soon as it touches her fingers, she loses all self control and shakes her little hands in a panic.
Last month we took L on her first trip to a zoo. It was a small zoo, but it did have monkeys, a giraffe, even a lion. We kept waiting for L to get nervous but she ran from one exhibit to the next. She loved the monkeys who clapped in appreciation when she threw peanuts. The lion just rolled over, too lazy in the summer heat to do much more than give us a disdainful look. A hissing goose gave her pause, then she was right on to the next, where she encountered something her toddler brain just wasn't prepared for.....a chicken. In the interest of fairness, all the books in her extensive home library have sweet looking chickens with downy feathers.
This monster size bird had what looked like a red tumor growing out of his beak...and he was running loose around my kid. After staring each other down, it moved toward her, at which point she climbed her grandmother like a cat up a tree. She watched every move that chicken made until we left the exhibit.
This monster size bird had what looked like a red tumor growing out of his beak...and he was running loose around my kid. After staring each other down, it moved toward her, at which point she climbed her grandmother like a cat up a tree. She watched every move that chicken made until we left the exhibit.
A speaking of grandma and animals..my mother in law loves pigs, and collects figurines, stuffed animals, etc. So last Christmas, as a gag gift, my husband bought her a rubber pig intended to be a dog chew toy. It oinks when you squeeze him. From the start, L despised this pig and the noise it made. If it was on the floor, she would go in wide circles around it. If it dared touch her toys, she would tug you over and point it out as if to say " get rid of that hideous thing!" The pig vs. L standoff came to a head one night at her grandparents house. L had been scooting between the wall and the couch trying to play with electrical cords. After several attempt's to distract her didn't work, My husband got the brilliant idea to let Mr. Pig stand guard, setting him right at the entrance behind the sofa. After trying ever which way to move the pig without actually having to touch it, including throwing toys at it, and running up and kicking it, L just sat next to the pig and howled. In an act of defiance, she grabbed the pig and tried to throw it, only for it to let out an extra loud squeal. Pig went one way, baby went the other, and Mr. pig now has a permanent place far out of reach. So if my daughter grows up to have an irrational fear of bacon and avoids Waffle House? I'll know why.
