fears

my kid has some weird fears. she’s afraid of things that children normally aren’t afraid of. some kids are afraid of the dark (she loves it), dogs (loves them too), loud noises (the louder the better for her). yesterday i got a text from miss kelly. (ella’s babysitter…and i hate calling her that, because she does a lot more than sit on our baby) the text stated that ella was terrified of kelly’s daughter erika, who just got her wisdom teeth out and was wearing an ice pack on her face. here’s a visual:

funny? yes. scary? no.

usually Erika is a fan favorite with ella. she loves her. however, yesterday (wearing the ice pack getup) she scrambled to get away from her, screamed, and cried. she was genuinely afraid of this swollen faced teenager. wanted absolutely nothing to do with her. erika wasn’t trying to tease or torture ella, she was simply within her view…causing sheer panic.

the swollen faced teenager fear was the most recent, but this came long after the fear of the paper mache pig. yes. a paper. mache. pig. enter weird fear number two. a few months ago, when i went to pick ella up after work, kelly said, “so ella’s really afraid of this pig”….pointing to this:

whenever the pig was within her view, she would run away, cry, hide her eyes...wanting nothing to do with this horrifying hog. why the pig is scary to her is beyond me…but apparently this paper mache creature is enough to cause terror in the minds of little ones. let me rephrase that…enough to cause terror in the mind of my little one.

and lastly, weird fear number three comes in the form of...a hamster. the hamster lives in a cage in one of kelly’s daughters bedrooms. ella is terrified of this fluffy caged rodent. meanwhile, she desperately wants to be friends with their dog…who is basically quarantined from her because he is the direct offspring of cujo. i guess if my kid is going to be afraid of things, i'm glad it's not things she is going to come across in the real world. (i mean, when's the last time you saw a swollen faced teenager walking down the street with a hamster in one hand and a paper mache pig in another?) i do know it will forever boggle my mind why these things have haunted the dreams of my goofy girl…however, i must say i will enjoy reminding her of these “fears” when she is teenager.