Shadows

Jordyn discovered shadows tonight.

I was cleaning up in the kitchen after dinner and Jordyn was playing in the den. She came walking over, pointing to the wall at the bottom of the stairs, saying there was something scary there. I figured out it was the shadow of the secretary that's near the bottom of the stairs, which incidentally, isn't even a particularly "scary" shadow. So, I started to show her that everything has a shadow, even her and mommy! And that when you move, your shadow moves, too! She got pretty in to it. She was ok until I made my hand's shadow "get" her foot - I was trying to show her it didn't hurt, and while she didn't totally freak out, she didn't like it.

At one point, we started to play a game of memory (which, as of a few days ago, she can actually play with up to 10-11 pairs - she's even legitimately beaten me a couple of times!), and she was so distracted by the shadows that she didn't do so well in the game. Then, when we went upstairs for bath and bed, there were great shadows of us on the wall at the top of the stairs. So, we stopped and played for a few minutes. I showed her that when I moved down, my shadow moved down, too, and that when I jumped, so did my shadow! She liked that, and started to do it, too. Then our shadows clapped and waved.

What a fun experience, watching her go from simply noticing shadows and being scared of them, to playing with them and being ok with them.

ETA 1/6: Well... We may not be totally over the fear of shadows. At about 10:30 last night, Jordyn started crying, not loud, but I went in, and it turned out she was crying in her sleep. I got her settled, and thought that would be the end of it. But she woke up around 1:30, crying again, and while I couldn't get her to say much, I'm pretty sure she had a bad dream, and likely about shadows. Then she woke up around 6:40, which was likely just for the day, but I knew she hadn't gotten enough sleep. I managed to eventually get her to fall asleep in my bed for another hour or two. And then, later this morning, she was scared of the gate at the top of the stairs - which has been there forever - and she said something about the shadow... We'll have to keep working on this shadows thing!

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Why does this child want to put a bandaid on every teeny tiny, even invisible-to-the-naked eye cut, scrape, scratch, and bump... but completely freaks out - and I mean FREAKS. OUT. when it's time to take the bandaid off?? Her bandaid got wet in the bath tonight, plus it had been on for 24 hours or so, so it was time to take it off. She didn't want to take it off - it's not that she wants the bandaid on, because I tell her we can put a new one on, it's that she's scared of the actual taking-it-off process - and cried and carried on during the entire bath. I didn't even get the damn thing off until the bath was over and she was on the changing table. She wanted to dry it off and leave it on, but I managed to get it half off, and then all the way off (I offered to let her do the other half by herself, but she didn't do it). It's completely ridiculous how upset she gets, but then still wants to put a new bandaid on... I managed to not put one on tonight, because I don't want a repeat performance tomorrow night!

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I'm getting REALLY excited about our Disney trip! We leave in less than two weeks! But boy, just FYI, planning a trip to Disney World these days is quite complicated! You can't just book flights and a hotel and just GO. Oh no. You have to research, and plan, and organize each day, and make fast pass reservations, and restaurant reservations... It's not bad, really, because it builds up the excitement and it's kinda fun, but it's a lot of work, and time-consuming, too. Can't wait, though!