fears of a 2 year old...

5 things amelia is afraid of:

1. large trucks, particularly trash & recycling trucks. she will jump into my lap, gluing herself to me, digging her nails & fingers into my skin, burying her head into my arm...but then will peak out every few seconds, wide eyed. to her, these trucks are very dangerous, but enticing. she won't go anywhere in the house when a large truck has gone by in the past 20 minutes. at those times you will find her hiding behind me, waiting for that one time when a large truck will come barreling through the house to harm her. (b/c right, if that were to happen--like i would stop that barreling mini semi, eh?)
2. raccoons. (sorry, grandma sue, but... *wink*) there was this certain conversation used to get amelia to eat some of her dinner within an hour (she could take all evening to eat), something about rocky the raccoon will take her food away if she didn't eat. really, it was a harmless thing to tell amelia, a joke. but now, to amelia raccoons are something to look out for, to worry about before going to bed. she has endless questions about where raccoons are, what safety measures are in place to keep raccoons out of our house & especially out of her bedroom. *sigh* & then, the baby animal magazine she loves to get in the mail came this month with a--you guessed it!--a raccoon as the main focus. terror may not explain the look on her face. it was like rocky the raccoon was stalking her.
3. dogs. yes, we have a rather large dog...but at griswold's age, he's pretty benign & more of a pillow. amelia has loved dogs...up until a neighbor's son brought home a larger dog that *hates* our family. this dog will bark & lunge at our fence until she's called off. (don't get me wrong, these neighbors are very kind & everything). suddenly amelia went from a dog lover to a little kid terrified of dogs. i have to promise her that this dog will not bite her or bark at her. we were eating dinner on our deck the other night & the dog was nowhere to be seen...but in between bites amelia's eyes dart around, searching for this dog, saying "no barking, mean dog, no barking"...i hope this ends soon. or maybe it's a good way to teach them nice dog barks & tail wags versus mean dog barks & tail wags.
4.  swiper the fox. the other night, after i had said goodnight to adeline, i decided to be sneaky & eavesdrop on wes saying his goodnights to amelia...she was saying something along the lines of "SSHHHHH SWIPER COMING! HIDE!" (for those uncool people: swiper the fox is a character in dora the explorer). anyway, i swung opened the door, laughed a very mean, sneaky laugh, snatched her pillow & cherished bunny & ran away telling her: you'll never catch me now! wes explained the next scene as if someone had told amelia she'd never see her mommy again. she cried terrible, body shaking sobs, even after i returned 10 seconds later to return the pillow & bunny. needless to say, i was totally on her shit list that night. then it so happened that just a few nights before this mom-swiper fiasco (which adeline thought was HILARIOUS, btw. i am funny to at least one kid sometimes) that wes & i were at my sister's house & we saw a fox (yes, in the 'burbs! in hilliard!) chasing a bunny. so anyway, put it all together & a fox is nearly always trying to steal her bunny, mostly it's swiper, sometimes just a fox. & now, she does not want to return to my sister's house. maybe if we dangle seeing her cousin, babwy ebAwyn (her name is evelyn, but...how the girls say it is just so cute, eh?). 
5. the lawn mower. & just ours, not anyone else's so far. i'm not sure what wes has done to scar her for life, maybe chased her around? (really, i don't think he would do that). but whenever we go near the shed she has her terrified look & asks: YOU GOIN' TO MOW-MOWIN?! & then darts inside. when i explain that daddy controls the lawn mower & it will not harm her she whispers: "it will get me. it will run over me." & then gives me an enormous hug.

i'm not sure if or when she'll outgrow some of these fears. just know that adeline is afraid of just a few things: dentists (we found that out today), x-ray machines (from her massive screaming, flailing, kicking incident a few months ago) & carrots. the first two will illicit an ear piercing, continuous screaming tantrum that will rattle everyone in the vicinity. the carrot is more of a hatred...but she does say that it hurts her to think about carrots.

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sorry for the long delay between posts. we're busy, i had a rough week, & we've been outside! until 90+ degree heat with humidity put us back indoors. yuck.

anyway, we finally allowed adeline to have her first real sunburn the other day! woohoo, awesome parenting moment (in our defense, i'm pretty sure the sunscreen was to blame) & we bought a pool membership. according to wes' calculations, we must attend 16 times to get our money's worth. *smile* love me some engineer fun. i think i am not the only one staking out the 2 shady spots, either...which also means we are officially a family with kids & not babies or toddlers. bring it. i'm so ready for this next stage. 

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best quote from a 2 year old this year. after days of rain upon rain upon rain, we were driving in some rain. amelia & adeline were bemoaning the rain & lack of outdoor play time.

amelia says: mayyyybwweee {ponders} maybwwee NOAH coming back soon! yep, yep, maybwee, noah coming back.

i'm not sure what they're teaching her at church but this doesn't match with any religion i know. but it was fairly profound for her wee self & very funny. is she just saying what we're all thinking? *smile*

we are painting a stairwell, 2 hallways, & 2 of our largest rooms this next week. there might not be a whole lot of chatter coming from my end...but i will be thinking of the things amelia is not afraid of...& more from adeline, who's about to graduate from preschool (no kindergarten next year. basically, she won't be old enough). anyway. enough! on to the couch.