Baby Fears

It seems Kaelyn has gotten over her fear of shoes. Or should I say her hatred of shoes. Not only did she let me try a bunch on her over the weekend but she LIKED a pair and took off running. And in her spare time, this is what she does with mine! You can see several shoes laying around her. She picks them up wherever they are (slippers and sandals also aren't safe!) and carries them around. Sometimes, she gets a little frustrated with the heavy ones!

Yesterday Kaelyn and I went to the zoo (can you believe it?!) with our friend Andrea and her son Logan. Andrea commented that Kaelyn seems to be recognizing them more. I think she's right...she even grabbed for their picture on the fridge the other day! We lasted at the zoo for almost 4 hours! We had a picnic lunch and even saw the big gorilla chase a little monkey. A good time was had by all.

Kaelyn's new game yesterday was toss the golf ball. We were sitting on the front porch step and I would bounce a golf ball on the porch, down the step, and it would bounce onto the sidewalk by the driveway and into the grass. I would then go pick up the ball and when I turned around to face Kaelyn again, who stayed seated on the bottom step, she would get SO excited and squeal and giggle. I have no idea why making me chase a ball was so funny, but it seemed to delight her so we played that game several times for as long as she wanted! As if I didn't get enough exercise at the zoo, huh!

Kaelyn seems to be afraid of strange things. Like shoes. At least that one seems to be in the past. She also seems REALLY afraid of my brother-in-law. He's my sister's husband and the nicest guy. He has two kids of his own and loves kids. There's nothing scary looking or intimidating about him. But every time Kaelyn sees him she just cries and cries. Last time she saw him she didn't immediately cry, but didn't like it if he got too close. Once he even tried playing peek a boo with her around the couch and that didn't go over well! He and Sean and I were sitting in the basement at one point. Sean was on one side of the room with Kaelyn in his lap. My brother in law was in the middle and I was on the far side of the room. Kaelyn just kept looking from me to my brother in law and crying and crying. She would half get up from Sean's lap and then look at my brother in law, plop back down and cry. She wanted to come to me but she didn't want to walk by him, can you believe that?! What's the deal?! I have no idea why she's like that with him of all people. She yells at people often if they get too close and she doesn't know them. But he wasn't near her and wasn't touching her or even LOOKING at her! I guess she didn't want to take any chances. I got the hint and went to her and then she was fine. But she did keep an eye on my brother in law. When she gets older and thinks he's the neatest guy ever we'll remind her of this!!

Kaelyn also seems to be afraid in new places. Or maybe she's just shy. I tried to set her down at the zoo on occasion and every now and then she'd walk a little, but mostly she'd either cling to my leg or raise her hands for me to pick her back up. I think it was being in a different place and/or the people around she didn't know. At least she was mostly happy in her stroller and always happy when I carried her. Like I said, I was worn out from the trip! She would have been more so had SHE had to carry ME around! :)

Last night's sleeping seemed to be a bit more "normal" for Kaelyn. She slept till 5, nursed, then went back to sleep. I heard her thumping around starting at 4:30am so I've been awake since then. But at least it wasn't like the night before. She got up at 4 and just did NOT want to go back to sleep. Sean went in and she was just partying, I could hear over the monitor. I thought maybe if I let her eat she'd get sleepy. No such luck. When she finally DID go back to sleep, I attempted to dump her back in her bed FOUR times and she would just jolt awake and start the party all over again. I finally took her back to bed with me over after an hour of this and she slept till 6:45 on my arm. I was uncomfortable, but at least I could rest a little while longer! I was getting used to her waking me up around 5 and I would stay up and run and get a massage and read and write or whatever! That was my only time all day for such things. Then, two days in a row, I didn't get that time! I missed it! I'm glad today went back to the old pattern.

Over the weekend my dad decided it would be fun to play Happy Birthday on his tonette (a recorder-like instrument) to Kaelyn. He practiced and practiced that and other songs. It's a sad little instrument and the notes just don't come out quite right. Kaelyn, however, encouraged his playing by bouncing along or at least looking pleasant like she was enjoying it. I fear that as her birthday approaches in a week and a half, she will receive a phone call with that music! I can only hope we aren't home, ha! :)

Who knows what babies fear and why, exactly. It'll be nice when she's old enough to tell me. I can only hope I can find the right words to explain to her why something shouldn't be scary. Like my brother in law...or shoes!