Facing Our Fears

Last week we bought Hadley some Playdoh and at first Hadley was terrified of it. She kept saying, "Hurt you! Hurt you!" despite our efforts to convince her that Playdoh would not hurt her.

The first day she just watched Jesse play with it, but she didn't want to touch it. On the second day, after her nap, she asked me for "Pwaydoh." I said, "Are you sure you want to play with it?" Yes, she told me and grabbed it off the shelf. So I set it up at the table, put her in her booster seat and the first thing she said was, "Hurt you." I told her it wouldn't hurt her, and I began to play with it. After awhile she began to tentatively touch it, but we played with it for an hour.

The rest of the week Hadley warmed up to it, and it is now the number one toy she asks for. It's a nice activity to do in the afternoon when it can be a little too hot to go outside. She can play with it by herself for the most part, except if she is playing with the blue Playdoh. She makes "blue-bare-bares" (blueberries) with it and attempts to eat it. So I stick by her side to make sure nothing gets in her mouth. Here are a few pictures. Note that Bear is sitting close by. He must be in the same place as Hadley now.

The funny thing about all this is that even though Hadley was scared of it, she couldn't stop looking at it or wanting to get it out to play with. It reminded me of my fear of all bugs; especially bees, wasps, hornets, or anything in the bee family. I'm terrified of them, but I'm also fascinated by them as well. I probably know more about Carpenter bees than an encyclopedia, and last week when I was walking to the car, I saw the largest hornet and spider I have ever seen in my life. The spider was the size of tumbleweed, and I swear the hornet asked me if I'd get out of the way so it could continue dragging the spider to wherever it was going.

But nothing compares to the experience I had this afternoon. On the living room window, were not one, but TWO. HUGE. WASPS. I froze for about five minutes in a cold sweat, and then I did what any rational person would do - I called Jesse at work. For about half an hour Jesse went over ways I could kill the wasps while I hyperventilated on the phone. I could use a large shoe, or rolled up newspaper.

"Why can't I tape a sheet to the window and trap them in until you get home?"

"I don't think that is going to work so well." he told me.

"What if I put my cell phone up real close to them. I read somewhere that cell phones are killing 'em off."

To this, Jesse made no response.

"I knew this day was going to come." I cried into the phone. "OK. I guess I have to do this. Stay on the phone, OK?"

I went to go get a boot that my mom got me from Nordstroms (Sorry mom, but they have killer heels. I'll still wear them, they're my favorite boots!) and very slowly, and quietly I walked towards the wasps, took a deep breath and smooshed them. I'm still shaking just reliving it. But I did it. Hadley will one day be so proud to know that her mother protected her from wasps. If it were just me in the house, I would've left until Jesse came home.