Fears

Since we have come back to this side of the world, Keely has seemed to find some fears-- things that scare her. It's probably just part of the age she is...but it seemed to happen suddenly. Every neighbor has a dog and some have two (why we say we are looking for more doggies when we go for walks) and they seem to bark a lot at night. Our first few nights back it really scared Keely and she would ask us to go take care of the doggies. We also had to explain to her that they couldn't come into our house but they were outside. I even showed her the gate and how the gate kept them outside. She is at that age of repeating everything we say so when she is scared she says, "Doggie can't come in our home." We also have a lamp on the landing (it's a bit abstract so doesn't look like a normal lamp) and it has started scaring her this week. So much so that she makes me walk either up or down to the landing first and then she comes down. She will say, "It's just a lamp. I'm not scared of the lamp. It's just a lamp." (Don't you like her self-motivational mantras?) The air-conditioner in her room has a green light on it and it casts a dim shadow on her ceiling. Sometimes if she can't go to sleep or wakes in the middle of the night it will scare her. One night Veggie Tales was in her room and it was their car that she was seeing and it was scaring her. Another night she woke up crying and she told me she was scared of the lion and then pointed up to the ceiling. Oh poor thing...I hope this fear stage passes quickly!!