Boo Scary Heater
Ever since Halloween Fiona has loved to play "boo! eek!" (she says "boo" and we say "eek"). Lately she's added the word "scary" to her repertoire; she likes to put a blanket or scarf over her shoulders and wave it back and forth as she walks through the apartment saying "boo boo scary, boo boo scary, boo boo scary."
It turns out, though, that we do have something at home that genuinely does scare her, which is the space heater we keep in her room at night (since she's prone to kicking off the blankets and we don't want the room to fall below 72° or so if she's sans coverage). The first day she saw it she asked (of course) what it was, and we told her that it was a heater and that sometimes it gets hot so she shouldn't touch. So for a while now when she sees the heater she says "heater," then shakes her head and says "no touch!"
In preparation for moving to a toddler bed (we're targeting the week or so after Thanksgiving), we started leaving the heater in her room all the time. We need her to learn how to be around the heater without supervision since she's going to be able to climb in and out of bed (the heater turns off automatically when tipped over, for any of you who are too worried). For the first few days everything was fine, but starting this weekend Fiona became afraid to go into her room without one of her parents. It didn't affect her sleep or naps, but she doesn't want to play in her room right now because of the heater.
Several times I brought her into the room to show her the heater, to show her that we could go close to the heater without touching it. We said hello to the heater and waved at it. And eventually Fiona would feel comfortable in the room again and play happily. But the next time she found herself playing in the living room and walked back to her bedroom she'd stop at the door and say "oh, heater."
This morning I went ahead and removed the heater from the room when she woke up; hopefully it's something we can work through and try again soon.
It turns out, though, that we do have something at home that genuinely does scare her, which is the space heater we keep in her room at night (since she's prone to kicking off the blankets and we don't want the room to fall below 72° or so if she's sans coverage). The first day she saw it she asked (of course) what it was, and we told her that it was a heater and that sometimes it gets hot so she shouldn't touch. So for a while now when she sees the heater she says "heater," then shakes her head and says "no touch!"
In preparation for moving to a toddler bed (we're targeting the week or so after Thanksgiving), we started leaving the heater in her room all the time. We need her to learn how to be around the heater without supervision since she's going to be able to climb in and out of bed (the heater turns off automatically when tipped over, for any of you who are too worried). For the first few days everything was fine, but starting this weekend Fiona became afraid to go into her room without one of her parents. It didn't affect her sleep or naps, but she doesn't want to play in her room right now because of the heater.
Several times I brought her into the room to show her the heater, to show her that we could go close to the heater without touching it. We said hello to the heater and waved at it. And eventually Fiona would feel comfortable in the room again and play happily. But the next time she found herself playing in the living room and walked back to her bedroom she'd stop at the door and say "oh, heater."
This morning I went ahead and removed the heater from the room when she woke up; hopefully it's something we can work through and try again soon.
posted by BWC at
9:33 AM
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