Carys and the green truck? Yeah, they used to be best friends. She loved the truck. Then, one fateful day, their friendship ended. She froze and stayed in the living room when the truck went by. That was it. The fear instilled in her. I don't know why or how or what caused her fear but it really is paralyzing. She stops what she's doing and runs to me. I swear her super sonic ears hear that truck 17 streets away. She freezes and repeats: "it's OK, it's just a truck...it's OK". No matter how much I tell her that it really is okay and that she's safe and she doesn't need to be scared, she still panics. I take her to look at the truck and we repeat over and over that "it's OK" and she'll even say good-bye to the truck.
I hate garbage day. We can be outside, having fun and the world will suddenly come to a stop when she hears the grinding brakes of that green beast. Even worse, is when the recycling needs to be dumped, and it always seems, right in front of our house. This happens at 1:30 p.m every Tuesday. Perfect timing. There's nothing more terrifying than falling asleep for a nap and hearing the sound of thousands of bottles and glass being dumped. So, now, at nap time on Tuesdays, I have to sit with Carys and hug her and reassure her non stop while the recycling truck goes by our street not once, but twice (both sides of the street). We say good-bye to the truck and to the man driving it. Then, she's ready for her nap and all is good in the world again. I've had to skip trips to the park on Tuesdays because she will not, for the life of her, enjoy herself when she hears/sees her foe drive by. She refuses to play outside in the backyard where she can't even see the truck. Her world really does come crashing down on garbage day.
I feel for her. I really do. She can't quite verbalize or put into words exactly what it is that scares her so much, but I can only imagine what's going through her head. She knows it's okay and that she's safe, but she's still terrified. Having my own neurotic fears of certain things (mice), I can totally empathize with her. I'm an adult and she's just a little girl. I've read that it's normal- that toddlers can suddenly develop fears to certain things when they previously liked them. I can only hope, that, one day she and the garbage truck will rekindle their friendship. So, until that day, I will continue to reassure her and cuddle her and tell her that it's OK. That she's OK.
This, my friend, is the culprit. It actually is pretty scary looking. God, help us!!
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