I hope I didn't traumatize my daughter & cause her to have a fear of roaches

So tonight Astrid and I spot a cockroach in the bathroom. A great, big, scary one. So I'm in there, trying to kill it with a broomstick handle. I'm standing on the toilet, trying to get at it as it's climbing along the windowsill, as my daughter is standing near the doorway watching. All of a sudden the sucker flies off the windowsill. I had no idea cockroaches had wings!

At this point I'm looking for where it landed, but I can't see it. Until I look down and notice it's on me. Eeeek! I jump down off the toilet and then all of a sudden my daughter is screaming and crying saying it's on her leg.

It was the most terrifying and yet comical thing that has happened to us yet. My 3 year old daughter is terrified of this huge cockroach. I'm 34 and just as freaked out by it, but I'm just better at hiding it.

I ask Astrid where the bug went and she's so freaked out all she can do is cry. So I hold her for a bit and ask her if it crawled under the fridge. She nods and finally says yes in fact it went under the fridge. I moved the fridge this way and that way and the bug was no where to be found.

Astrid said, "Maybe it went home. To bug home."

And later after she calmed down (after lots of hugs and kisses and reassurances from mommy that it's not going to hurt her) she told me, "It have ears."

I was holding her and I just had to put down my head and laugh.

"Why you laugh in my belly mom?" asked Astrid.

"Because you're just so cute sometimes," I said.

Now let's just hope she's not traumatized by this whole episode with the cockroach.

When I find spiders I catch them and put them outside, but cockroaches are different story.

A similar thing happened with my mom:
Once a mouse got into my parents' house while my mom was at home with a friend of hers. She was terrified, and both women screamed. They soon collected themselves, and after climbing down from their chairs, her friend and her cornered the mouse in the pantry and kept spraying Raid into it's face. After going through an entire can of Raid, the mouse just stared back. Later they realized the mouse had died with its eyes open. I'm telling ya that stuff is toxic!

Santa photos without Santa

I took Astrid to 7th & Fig in Downtown LA to get her Santa photos, but Santa wasn't there. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise because 1) Astrid is terrified of Santa Claus, and 2) the Christmas set design was there and I could take all the photos I wanted of Astrid without Santa.

On the way down there Astrid kept wanting to take off her "Christmas shoes" (a pair of soft, black leather dress shoes I purchased for her Santa photos). Why? Because Astrid thought if she didn't have her Christmas shoes on, she'd be able to get out of seeing Santa. Afterwards, when she realized there was no Santa ("Santa Claus at lunch eating," she said.) she absolutely loved her shoes and did not want to take them off.







See Astrid's 1st year Santa pics here, taken on Christmas Eve 2005, when she was just 8 months old.

The following year (2006) I was swamped and planned on getting her Santa pics done after Christmas. Well...duh!...everyone knows Santa goes back to the North Pole after Christmas.

No Santa pics again in 2007, because Astrid is terrified of Santa. A friend of mine with 2 older kids said she took a reprieve from Santa pics for a couple years between 2 and 3 until her kids got over their fear of Santa. That may be just want we have to do. Skip this year and next year in 2008, (hopefully!) she won't be afraid of Santa anymore.

Astrid wearing her cousin's outfit & fear of Santa

Astrid's cousin Brazienna left this 3T blue training suit at my parents' house. She now lives in Texas and the outfit probably doesn't fit her anymore since she's now 5 - so my mom told me to take it for Astrid.Astrid was so happy to wear Brazienna's hand me downs, and I felt like "score!"

Here she just spotted Santa Claus in the distance, at the YMCA and she's terrified.Santa has left the premises but Astrid is still keeping an eye out for him (so she can run and hide). "Santa Claus scare me Mommy!"

Mama I scared Santa Claus

There was a Santa Claus at the Montrose farmer's market handing out candy canes to the kids. When Astrid saw him she was terrified. She clutched onto me burying her face into my arm so she wouldn't have to see him. Then she pleaded with me to leave. "Let's go mama!" she kept saying as she tugged on my sleeve.

No amount of rational explanation about Santa Claus and how he wasn't going to hurt her helped.

When he was gone Astrid still looked around in fear that he would come back.

It's gonna be tough to get her to sit on Santa's lap for photo this year. Her fear is similar to that of clowns. It must be the costume.

Afterwards on the drive home Astrid kept saying:

• "Santa Claus scare me."
• "Santa Claus hurt you?"
• "Santa Claus nice Mama?"

The only thing that brought a smile to her face after that traumatic experience was imitating Santa's "Ho Ho Ho...Merry Christmas!" She'd laugh at that, but she's scared to death of Santa Claus.