lions and tigers and bugs, oh my!

Let me preface this post by saying that I'm not scared of bugs. I don't like them particularly, but they don't scare me, and I never make a big deal about seeing one.

Having said that, let me say that Rachel has developed a fear of them, and I have no idea where it's come from, since she's never seen or heard anything particularly derogatory about them from her Daddy or me. And she's not around other kids all that much, so she couldn't have gotten this from them, either. She's never been stung or had a bad experience with a bug, to my knowledge. So I guess it must be innate. Strange.

I first noticed it last week when we were outside. She wanted to climb up her slide but saw a minuscule little gnat on the slide. She wouldn't set foot on the slide until I moved it. I gently brushed it into the grass. She inspected the slide for more and found two. Those had to be removed as well. Finally the slide was clear for climbing (I should also mention that her slide is made for climbing--the Rainbow people know that kids like to climb slides, so they build it with a lip for kids to hang onto and sturdy enough that it's safe to do. We don't let her climb on slides at parks and so forth because we don't want her to be in the way of kids sliding down the slide. She knows it's only something she gets to do at home).

So anyway, the next bout with bugs came last week when I opened the sandbox. After playing in it awhile with her, I went over and sat in the sun on the step of the deck while she continued to play. All of a sudden she came running over to me yelling, "Somebody's in my sandbox! Help me, Mommy!" I walked over with her and she pointed to a bug, maybe a half inch long. I don't know what it was, but it was definitely harmless. I took a shell she had been playing with, scooped him out, and put him in the grass. She got back in and resumed playing.

Over the weekend she was sitting on my lap watching a video. A wasp flew by us. She jumped off my lap and ran into the kitchen as fast as she could. "A bee, Mommy! A bee! Get it!" she yelled. Daddy got the "bee," and all was fine.

But two nights ago she woke up repeatedly from her sleep. Every half hour or so for several hours she'd wake up crying and calling for me. She was always half asleep, and didn't say much, but it was clear that she had had a bad dream. Around 2:00 I heard her screaming, "Get me out! Get me out!" I went in and she was standing up in bed (this was odd--she's usually sitting up) facing the wall. When I opened the door she said, "Someping's in my bed, Mommy! Get me out!" She held her arms up for me to pick her up. Again, this was strange, because she never wants me to take her out of bed at night. Usually she cries if I try to pick her up when she's half asleep. I asked her what was in her bed and she said, "A bug!" and continued to cry. "It's on me! Get it, Mommy! It's on me on my bike ride!" (We had gone for a bike ride that evening--she now has a bike trailer in which to ride while Daddy pulls her).

I knew she had been dreaming, at that point, and that there were no bugs in her bed or on her.

So I don't know where all this has come from, or if it's going to last, but if it does, we're in for a long summer, since she's a girl who loves to be outside, and there are bound to be plenty of bugs there!