Five a months ago, I could have told you that Hannah was virtually fearless. My wild woman climbed and jumped from high places with abandon. Now she still comes across on first impression as being an easy going, free-spirited child. Dig a little deeper, however and you’ll discover that she’s got a few issues.

I’ve mentioned her fear of her own shadow. That has been resolved. I’ve discussed her fear of pooping in the bathtub. That has not been resolved, but we are managing to wipe her down or dunk her when necessary. It seems the sensation of water hitting her bottom makes her think she’s losing control of her bodily functions. I’ve tried everything, Believe me. Oh, except those fizzy tablets, Marie. I’ll give it a few weeks and then give those a try.

I’d have to say that the shadow and bathtub episodes pale in comparison to what happened last night. I don’t quite know how to describe the episode, because frankly I don’t really understand it. It started out with a silly game of belly-button. Hannah was showing me a doll with a belly-button and then, of course, we had to look at her belly-button, and then the doll’s, and then hers, etc. Rachel was in the room and asked whether Charlie (our dog) had a belly button. We had Charlie lie on her back, and then we examined her stomach. That was my brilliant idea. Charlie is a female dog. When her tummy was exposed her female part was also exposed. Not a big deal. In a normal world. But in Hannah’s world, this was horrific.

For whatever reason she freaked out. “Poo-poo,” she cried, her body rigid and shaking. “Mama, Charlie’s poo-poo.” “Ewwwww, Mama.” she cried. She ran to get a diaper for Charlie. “Stinky.” “Charlie, poo-poo.” “Ewwwwwww,” she sobbed, her face terror stricken. It was much worse than I can possibly describe here. She was looking at Charlie with horror as if Charlie was possessed by a stinky devil. It went on for more than five minutes. My husband and I looked at each other with wide eyes, wanting to laugh but knowing it was really traumatic for Hannah and just wanting it to stop.

Did she think that Charlie was going to go poo-poo without a diaper on? It wasn’t clear. She also uses the word poo-poo for bottom. Finally, I thought that perhaps Hannah thought that Charlie’s female part (I need a better term here) was a poop. I suggested we all take Charlie for a walk so we could say “Bye-bye” to the “poo-poo.” We did. The issue was resolved. Until the next time Charlie lies on her back.

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Those of you who assume there isn’t sibling rivalry in my house are sadly mistaken. I’ll devote a post to this sometime soon.

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My backward comments were starting to confuse me. I changed the settings to a normal top to bottom sequence.