Emily's Fears

I thought of this blog subject because one of Emily's fears has just gotten her into a panic. Don't worry, I've already comforted her and reassured her and now I'm just letting her calm down on her own since my efforts aren't doing much good. So, Emily is soooo scared of the vacuum. Just seeing it sends her into a frenzy. Today I just wanted to move it back to where I store it. She saw it being rolled across the hallway for maybe 2 seconds and for the next 15 minutes she cried, screamed, and whined. She even went to the door (it's closed for fear of another panic attack) of the room where the vacuum currently is and pushed on it. It's as if she was just making sure she can't get to it. I learned a valuable lesson: mess with the vacuum only when she's asleep. Unless I have to vacuum her room that is. As I type this she is periodically checking the room that the vacuum was in to make sure it hasn't reappeared. Though it is slightly amusing I am hoping she will soon convince herself that it's not going to hurt her. I'm getting tired of getting anxious when it's time to vacuum. She is also scared of showers and sprinklers. This is a new fear and it baffles me. She loves baths, pools, and lakes. But get her near a sprinkler and she'll stand near it to look at it but will not put herself in the line of fire. Showers make her cry and so baths are her only option for getting clean. Now I'm wondering how she'll do in the ocean when we go to the beach next month. Those waves can be scary. I guess we'll just have to keep her in the shallow end. The only other fear that I can think of that she has is actually a blessing. She's very apprehensive when it comes to stepping down. She'll climb up stairs but not down them. She's very cautious and I'm very thankful for it. Saves us from having to use band aids. Now let's just see if she develops a new fear tomorrow when we go to see some fireworks. One of my only memories from when I was 3 was being carried away from a 4th of July fireworks display at the fairgrounds screaming because the sound of them frightened the crap out of me. Funny thing is, we'll be going to the same fairgrounds tomorrow. Fingers, toes, and eyes crossed that she hasn't inherited this fear.