Scaredy-Kid

My little almost-seven-month-old, Z, has started to be scared of SO many things! Of course, he's entering that delightful developmental stage known as 'stranger anxiety', so he's wary of most anybody who's not me or Daddy. Our summer staff counselors came this week, and he's pretty much scared of most of them. But he's starting to get to know and even enjoy my office assistant and a couple of the cooks- they come into the office to play with him quite often during their breaks. :)

Loud noises are another new phobia of his. Almost any loud-ish noise will make him cry. First it was the blender (not good, since I make my own baby food and have to use the blender several times a week for this). Then it was the vacuum. More recent scary noises include: other babies crying, my doctor coughing during my appointment, sneezes, sometimes burps (if they're loud enough), and even loud laughs.

There is one particular camp counselor who REALLY wants Z to like him. In fact, he said that's his goal for the summer- 'to get the baby to like me'. But every time he walks by us, Z gives him this look, like, "oh, great, what are you going to do to me this time". The counselor tries to talk to Z, and smile at him, but every time Z ends up crying. He's just really scared of him for some reason! The counselor does have a kind of loud laugh, but so do some other people I know (not mentioning any names at this time) and he doesn't seem to have a problem with, uh, 'them'.

One other phobia of Z's is...

(hold on to your children)....

(you may want to avert your eyes)...

(the fright is overwhelming)...



Bubbles.



Oh, the frightening combination of soap and water that makes little bubbles float around in the air. I know. Terrifying, isn't it? I actually bought him a little bottle of bubbles this week at Wal-Mart, because he's liked them in the past. And then I may have scarred him for life. I was blowing the bubbles towards him, and one of the scary little orbs flew straight for his chin and- horror of horrors- popped there! He just kind of stared, wide-eyed, as the bubble approached, and then started wailing as soon as it popped. Now every time I blow bubbles (aiming them away from him, of course), he stares at them with a fearful look on his face, backs away, and soon melts into tears again. So there goes that fun summertime activity. It's more like torture, apparently.

And I really hope all this scaredy-ness is just a phase.

Because Daddy's not really going to be into raising 'wimpy' kids! :)