Bugs

Darn bugs. I can't remember if I have mentioned Gwen's fear of all things "bugs" or bug related. She has a slightly similar fear of dogs, but does at least warm up to them once she is around them for a while. She also is able to rationalize the dog fear a little bit too. She asks me if the dogs we see will jump up on her, and knows that the dogs are really just over excited when she comes in the door. She climbs as high up my shoulder as she can when we walk in the door and gradually calms down within a few minutes or so.

Bugs, are unfortunately a different story. To the best of my knowledge she has maybe only been bitten by an ant in her croc last fall or late summer. No other stings/bites/etc. But perhaps some of it has resulted from stories from other people or books, movies, etc. Regardless, if something even resembling a bug is around, including but not limited to spiders, ants, flies, bees, caterpillars, and BUTTERFLIES, Gwen screams in fear. She cannot get over something inside her head that makes her think that butterflies have a face and can bite her. That is how she explains it to me anyway.

Strangely enough, her preschool class's last unit is on insects. I have warned her teacher that she hates bugs, but it seems to have been ok so far. I think it is because they don't have any live bugs in the room, so she should be ok in the class. However, the past week has gotten pretty tough and it is probably only going to get worse. It has been tough to get her to go outside because she has seen a lot of bees (or yellow jackets or wasps) randomly. Today we were blowing bubbles until a bee was flying around and then went inside a piece of the retaining wall in the backyard. That killed all fun to be had on what would have been a beautiful day to be outside.

Then this evening, as is sometimes the case, Gwen was freaking out when she was going to bed. There was a small spider on her wall. It is so hard to be patient and calm when dealing with her screaming at what to me isn't rational.

So anyway, we will be dealing with trying to not let our fears determine our schedule. I just hope we don't ever have to deal with a true "sting" or I don't think this fear will go away any time soon.