Ivory; Fears, Stubborness, Holding Hands, and Growing

Recently, Ivory has been conquering her fears. I am so proud of her. The first was the car wash. It used to be that we would get in there and the soap would cover the windows and she would freak out. Then all through the washing and rinsing she would cry. I would try to explain to her that everything was all right, but it didn't work. I would even give her a snack, but when we got inside the car wash she would just hold the snack and cry. Poor Ivory.
I tried to wash the car when she wasn't around, but the other morning I couldn't avoid a few errands with her and the car wash was one of them. I tried to prep her early to give her plenty of time to face her nemesis. "Ivory, we are going to wash the car today, but don't worry, it is just water. You aren't going to get hurt."
Ivory sat thinking for a moment and then said, "I don't want to be killed in the car wash." Wow. I am not sure if I was more shocked by the fact that she knew the word 'killed', or that she actually thought the car wash could be lethal. I explained very patiently that the car wash was not dangerous; that no one would get hurt. She still mentioned several times on the way there that she did NOT like the car wash.
Then the big moment arrived. We entered the car wash and things were okay as usual. Then...came the soap. I turned around and watched her eyes get big, and I said, "Isn't that cool?" I could see her trying to relax her face and put aside her fear. She finally smiled and said, "Yes, that's cool." I managed to convince her during the entire ordeal that it really wasn't so bad. She did an awesome job.
Then the same day, she conquered her train fear (maybe?).
Ivory has always feared the trains. They are loud by our house, but once she was at a neighbor's house whose fence is the only thing that separates them from the track and that was too much for her. Before that instance, she was leery, but after that, she was down-right petrified. If she was playing in our backyard and she heard a train, she would come running for me, crying, asking to be up. If she was in the yard without me, she would run to the back door, wailing and pounding on the glass. And, if there was a train outside when she planned to go out, she quickly changed her mind and you couldn't convince her otherwise. She would always say, "Trains gonna get me." Poor kid.
Yesterday evening though, we were out enjoying the weather together as a family in the backyard. I decided this was an ideal opportunity to get rid of some popsicles cluttering the freezer. Ivory was standing with a popsicle in her hand when she heard the train. Her eyes got wide for a moment and then she looked at the popsicle and then at me. I smiled and told her she was going to be just fine; she could stay right there and finish her treat. I think the sugar won her over because the apprehension faded and she ate right through the train. She even looked over and said, "I can see the train."
I am so proud of my little lady. Look at her tackling milestones and facing down her fears. I hope she can ignore the train even if she doesn't have a popsicle next time. But she is a trooper; it almost inspires me to get over my fear of spiders...almost.

In other Ivory news, even as she grows, she is getting more stubborn (wonder where she gets that from?). The other day she had a sore throat so she was more quiet than usual. I guess I should say, she didn't speak as often, but in actuality, she was louder than usual because she was crying about everything. I knew she wasn't feeling well, so I tried to be understanding, but that only goes so far. Eventually my patience was wearing thin, and I started to ignore the constant sobbing. She went into her room and her baby and carebear were still in her crib so she couldn't reach them. She started bawling once again. I came in and quickly assessed the situation, but I wanted her to ask for them in a normal voice (we tend to frown on drama in our house). I told her to tell me what she wanted, but she just looked at me with those big brown cow eyes and said nothing. I mentioned that I would be in my room when she wanted to voice her complaint. Well, not much later, I came in to this.



She wouldn't leave the room without her animals, but she wasn't going to talk, so sleep was the only compromise (I put her animals next to her so at least she could wake up to them and we wouldn't have to start all over again). Stubborn little bug.

Hey, I'm on a roll, why stop there? Ivory made me laugh the other day when we were crossing the street. She does NOT like to hold hands while crossing the street, but her stubborn mother keeps making her hold someone's hand. I don't care if it is June, Robyn, Mom; just someone. So we were crossing and she let go of my hand. I firmly reminded her that she has to hold someone's hand while crossing the street, so she immediately clasped her hands together and said, "I am holding my hand." Touché Ivory.

Lastly, even as she is getting older, she isn't getting much bigger. I wanted to buy her some new pants, but I couldn't find 2T ones, so I thought that maybe she could fit into the 18 mnths size. So I grabbed those but they were really too long and too big at the waist. So, yes folks, we got 12 mnths. Never mind the fact that she just turned two and a half.
After I washed them, they are a little more capri (which makes me feel a bit better), but they are still more her size than the others. I am raising a herd of midgets. At least they are cute midgets.