Erika might think she's part dog... or that Kade is part human.

[aliki]

Erika is a great toddler all around, but she has a quirk. She's absolutely, illogically, immensely terrified (I mean to the point that if she hears either, she FREAKS out, runs helter-skelter in no particular direction with her head shaking in a no-no-no-no! manner, and starts bawling) of two things: thunderstorms and vacuum cleaners.

Brian says he understands her logic. Kade is her protector, her brother, her rock. When they go for walks, she's not afraid of strangers, of large snarling dogs, of stumbling upon a herd of deer. She's not afraid of imaginary dragons, puddles, boogie monsters in the closet, or the dark. Because Kade is there and he will "chase the dragons" and "bite the other dog." So if Kade whimpers, runs and hides, and cowers at the sound of thunderstorms and vacuum cleaners....

Any ideas on how to correct this? We tried sitting her down and explaining what thunderstorms and vacuum cleaners were, and we tried telling her "it's okay" but she just shrieks, violently shakes her head, and starts climbing my leg like a bear chased up a tree.

~~~~~

In other news, we walked back to our front door, and Kade as usual eagerly ran right up to it. Erika pushed him aside and told him to "back up so I open for you."

She said: "I open 'coz Kade no can open door."
I nodded, and said: "Right, because he's too short."

She spun around slowly, with an unreadable expression on her face-- a half-raised eyebrow and a purse in her lips-- and after a short pause, she patiently said, as if speaking to a very silly child: "No, because Kade has no hands; only has paws."

Comments

[geminigirl]

Naomi is the same way about vacuum cleaners, and she's 4. She's less frightened of thunder, but it makes her nervous-last night we had a very big storm, and about a half hour after she went to bed, there was a giant flash of lightning and an accompanying thunder boom, and she came running out of her bedroom, in tears.

She also doesn't like public restrooms because of the noise-the other day we needed to use one with a loud fan, and I gave her a choice-I could turn off the light and we could try and do everything in the dark or I could put the light on and we could cover our ears when we didn't need to use our hands for other things. She first opted for dark, but when she realized she couldn't see anything (and neither could I) she said, "Okay. I can cover my ears." Every public restroom trip involves a discussion about a loud potty vs. a quiet potty.

Some kids are more sensitive to loud noise than others. As long as she's not showing signs of sensory issues, I don't think there's anything you can do other than be patient, explain gently, limit the exposure to those things when you can, and wait until a different level of logic develops. I have the same issue with loud noises than Naomi does-even at nearly 40 years old, the vacuum cleaner makes me want to go hide...I understand that I can't do it, and I don't cry, but I admit, I avoid vacuuming when I can because the noise just makes me feel awful.

[aliki.livejournal.com]

Yes! Erika is the same way about public restrooms, especially ones that use hand dryers instead of paper towels, and especially if it's a large restroom that than has 5 or so going off at any given time.

Glad to know it's not out of the ordinary.

[subienkow.livejournal.com]

If she gets down on all fours and starts barking at the vacuum, then you can start worrying! Seriously, what I used to do, was explain how things worked. Show her the on/off switch, let her press it, show her she can control the machine, but it still has to make the noise, because that's just how it works.

When my daughter was younger, we made a game out of the thunderstorms. When we saw the flash, we'd take turns going "Okay...now!" and pointing like magic, trying to 'cue' the thunder. Don't know if it will help, but anything to put her at ease.

Of course Kade couldn't open the door, no hands!! Geez, I figured even a marine biologist would know that!

[aliki.livejournal.com]

Erika's really mechanically-inclined, so she figured out early on how switches worked (pushed chairs over to the wall and climbed on them), and she knows how to work the remote control, and work the hair dryer and vacuum machine and countless other gadgets, but she just hates only the vacuum..