Facing Fears

Eva has been struggling with several (somewhat unreasonable) fears the past few months, but one by one she’s been conquering them.  First, it was the swing.  She remembered a little fall from last year and wouldn’t sit on it until she saw all her friends fighting for a turn and decided it must be fun.  Then it was the trampoline in San Diego, but that again was overcome after she saw all the kids having fun on it and felt left out. 

 

Then it was taking baths.  One too many incidents where Amanda pooped in the tub, and Eva would scream every time we tried to put her in the bath (whether sister was there or not).   We just had to keep putting her in and deal with her crying until she finally came to the conclusion that there really wasn’t anything to be afraid of.    After that, it was swimming pools.  I still have no idea where this one came from: she’s never had a traumatic experience in the pool, but she wouldn’t go near Aunt Nanci’s for the life of her.  Then her little friend Madeline had her birthday party at the community pool, which has a huge kiddy section that’s only 1-2 feet deep.  She saw other kids walking and splashing around in the shallow water, and decided she wanted to try it, too.  Before long she was running around confidently and asking me to take pictures (of course, I forgot the camera)!   The next time we went to a friend’s house with a kiddie pool, she couldn’t wait to jump in. 

 

The last one she conquered was this weekend.  I’ve tried to get her to go #2 in the toilet for months, dreading the prospect of having to change THREE sets of poopy diapers once the baby arrives.  We’ve tried every encouragement and bribe in the book, and the one she seemed most excited about was getting a “Lightning McQueen” pillow and blanket for her bed.   Still, it wasn’t enough to get her to go anywhere besides her training pants.  Even with training pants, she’d fight it and try to hold it in for days.   I bought her a book that’s designed to help kids who hold it in, called “It Hurts When I Poop.”   She enjoys the book, but it still wasn’t enough to convince her that she could “let go” like the boy in the story.    

Finally, this weekend I fought her to stay on the toilet (I thought she had to go #1, and she’s been potty trained in that for over a year).  She kept getting up and I kept putting her back, and before long she finally relented and went #2.  I couldn’t believe it!  She was so proud of herself and couldn’t wait to tell Daddy, and as soon as he got home we took her to the store to buy her pillow and blanket.  She was sooo excited!  When our friend Mark showed up the next morning to take Dave backpacking for the weekend, she dragged him to her bedroom to show him her new bedding.  “Look!  I went stinky on the potty and got a Lightning McQueen bed!”  I’m guessing everyone we know is going to be having to hear that story for awhile!  LOL!