So fearless ... and yet so fearful

Here are some photos from our return trip to the snow on Saturday. This time, we had Grandma and Grandpa's snow toys, which worked a bit better than the boogie board.

There was a lot more, and a lot fresher, snow this time around, which made the walking more fun but also slowed down the sledding ... making it perfect for Cora to go down on her own.

It was truly a moment for me, watching my baby seem to turn into a little girl right before my eyes! The next day, at church we said "bye bye" to the 0-24 months nursery room and marched into the two-year-olds' room. Watching her take her place around the circle for story time, I cried.

Anyway, back to the fearless Cora - she loved sledding on her own, and kept asking for more. She also now loves sliding down slides at the park, and even wants to go down the "big kid" slides, as long as she is certain Mummy is at the bottom waiting to scoop her up.

And yet... she is entering a new phase of being scared of lots of things. For three or four nights in the last week, she cried and cried after we left the room. She says she is scared of bees, and of the MGM lion that roars on our DVDs. She would immediately quiet down when I would go in, but get hysterical when I would leave again.
When I'd go in, the conversation would go like this:
Cora, trying to not cry: Dora scared bees. No bees in here?
Mum: No, Cora, there are no bees in here.
Cora: Bees outside?
Mum: Yes, there are bees outside, but they are not in your room.
Cora: Bees in playroom?
Mum: No, there are no bees in your playroom.
Cora: Bees make honey? ("uhh-ney?") Dora like honey?
Mum: Yes, Cora, bees make honey! (big smile) You like honey!
Cora: Scared roar. Scared roar T.V.

For the past three nights we've developed a new strategy, which seems to be working. After putting her down, I sit on her floor in the near-dark, and fold clothes or do something else silently, and after 5-15 minutes, she is just about asleep. When I leave, she'll wish me a good night and go to sleep. However, last night, at about 2:15 in the morning she woke us up, saying she was scared of her nightlight. (It's this one, which is sweet and casts a perfect amount of light. I hope she gets over this fear quickly!)

After the third night of her tears and fears, I went online and found that it's a normal developmental stage for ages 2 through 8. Hey, she's right on cue then! Turn two, turn scared! Poor kid. She brings up bees, and the roars on T.V., at random times in the day, but the tears don't come out until she's trying to go to sleep. And in case you're wondering, no, she's never been stung that I know of. I have no idea where this is coming from!

Perhaps because of the "roar T.V.," Cora is fearful of nearly all of our DVDs. At least she's not constantly asking to watch it, right? The Elmo's World DVDs are very scary now, because of the Mr. Noodle character, so she won't watch them at all. Our Baby Einstein DVDs are scary too - one scene has a finger puppet horse that she really is frightened of. (???) Interesting.