Sunday, July 5, 2009

Not sure what to do

I’m just not sure what to do right now. Cailin seems to have an unusual fear of so many things. I’m not sure where this fear comes from. She is afraid of her swing so much that she will scream if we try to put her into it. She will sit in another swing if she can touch her feet on the ground, but that is the only time. We tried putting her on a little baby ride at the amusement park, but was terrified before it even started moving. If we get in the hot tub, she will not let go of anyone. It isn’t like she has had fearful events that would cause her to be fearful, it is just out of the blue. We tried to swim at the pool at grandma’s condo. She had a death grip around Chris’s neck the whole time. She was terrified to let go. She wouldn’t sit on the steps, she wouldn’t sit on a floatie, nothing. She just screamed. I’m not sure why, and not sure what to do to fix it. We tried putting her life jacket on her to show her it would keep her afloat, but she wouldn’t relax and stop screaming if we started to let go to even see if it would work. Where did these fears come from? Is this a normal thing for a 3.5 year old? Will she outgrow this? Have we sheltered her too much that she is afraid of everything? How do you deal with this? How do you teach her to not be afraid of so many things? I’m a stinkin Red Cross Swim Instructor and NOTHING they taught us is helping with this. I am at such a loss and I hate that I can’t help my baby girl calm down and enjoy things. I'm open for ideas here!! Just leave a comment.

Ll Says...

Cailin has learned her letters. She knows their sound, and can recognize them if she sees them. She has been saying a word, picking out the starting sound, and trying to guess what letter the word starts with. I am so proud of her for what she is learning. My favorite thing that she says is this:
Me: What’s an L say?

Cailin: ULL ULL ULL…

Me: very good sweet heart!! Do you know anything that starts with the letter L??

Cailin: L says ULL… like … POLYPOPP!!!!

Not how I Planned on going out of this world.

We left our house for our trip on Thursday morning. It was a very uneventful drive. Once we got into Memphis, the gas light came on, my bladder was full, and Malia was getting hungry. We get through a traffic jam and over a bridge, and then pull into a petro truck stop. This place was busy. I don’t think I have seen one this busy before. I park the car, and walk in with Cailin holding my hand and Malia in my arms. Have you ever been somewhere where someone says something too loud and the whole place stops, and there is an awkward silence?? There was that kind of feeling when we walked in the door. I try not to be a prejudice person, but there are sometimes race is very noticible. This is one of those times. We were the ONLY white people in the place. A few people gave me looks like ‘she must be lost’. I just ignored it, we to use the bathroom and then sat to feed Malia. I told one of the guys that worked there that I was getting gas, but did he mind if I sat at one of the tables to feed Malia. He said not a problem and even found a highchair for us to use. I thought that was nice of him. While we were sitting there eating, I notice to LARGE men that were sitting one isle over, and 3 tables down from us. When I say Large, I mean, they made my dad look small. I would guess 400-450 pounds, and about 6’5”-6’7” tall… BIG GUYS!!! Apparently, Cailin noticed as well. In a not so quiet voice, my lovely daughter says “LOOK MOM, that guy is FAT!!!! (Stressing the word FAT). I told her that it wasn’t nice to say that about someone. A bit louder, she says, “but mom, he’s HUUUGE FAT though”. I sink lower into my seat, hoping no one heard her. They did. I got a few looks, which is great since I was already feeling out of place. “Cailin honey, lets talk about something else, that just isn’t nice to say about someone”. “MOM.. HIS FRIEND IS HUUUUGE FAT TOOO.” “Hey, Cailin, Look behind the counter, what do you think they are cooking for lunch behind the counter”?? I was trying to change the topic as fast as possible. I tried to finish feeding Malia as fast as possible to get out of this place fast. After she finishes, we take another bathroom break before heading back to the car. I was very happy to see the two “HUGE” men were no where in sight. Thankfully they had left. At least that is what I thought. I was wrong. Between the door and my car were the two men along with someone else they were talking with. Great. As we walk past and say excuse me to get by, the one guys says “Hey there cutie, how are you”? Cailin responds with “I’m Cailin, I’m three. We’re going to go visit Uncle Joe”. So glad she is bashful. I think we need to work on the don’t talk to strangers thing soon. I looked at the guy, I’m sure I was red as a beet and mouthed the words “I’m sooo sorry”. He responded with “Oh honey, It’s okay. We already know we’re fat. We don’t need a 3 year old to tell us that”. With that he asked Cailin for high 5 and knuckles and we were on our way. I thought I was going to die in Memphis before I made it to any of my destinations on my trip. OIY!!