Despite what I would call a very low key summer Elizabeth's anxiety has reached an all time high. I have started to see that what I thought was reflux and car sickness is Elizabeth getting anxious about certain (okay many) situations. The same theme continues as they relate around toys (Buzz Lightyear, Ken, Wall-E, Dora, Elmo and many baby musical toys) it seems as though we conquer one and a new toy jumps in the mix.
Going to any store that sells toys is petrifying for Elizabeth, she is sweating, crying and does what she can to avoid the situation all together. What made me really sees how bad things had gotten was when I told she was going to see one of her favourite friends at his house and instead of elation she sobbed because she was too afraid to go there.
She is really smart getting out of these situations and if you didn't know her fears you would not see how she will manipulate the situation to avoid facing her fears. She often wants to play outside at friends houses, say she is tired and needs to watch tv at daycare and even asked her auntie if Barbie has any boyfriends at her house to avoid catching a glimpse of Ken.
I have tried to step up her exposure to her fears and I am repeatedly seen pulling her through the toy section at stores talking her through her fears and we do bring some of these items home to work on but it is endless how her anxiety creeps up and I feel like I am torturing her.
I have called for help and hope to get her enrolled in some extra help before she starts school and it intensifies. Seeing her so anxious just kills me as she normally is the happiest kid. I can't help but blame this too on her prematurity and wonder when does it stop for her, when does she get a break from the insult of her early arrival?
4 comments:
Amelia's anxiety has seemed to peak this summer too. I am very interested in the help that works for Elizabeth. I'll be talking to A's ped about this issue soon & will let you know if he has any brillant ideas. Good luck, I know how hard this is on the whole family!
Hmm, could it be that Elizabeth is afraid the toys will come "alive"- as they do in the movies or possibly someone has joked about w/ her? What are the roots of these toy fears? There could actually be a very logical reasoning behind these fears.
Hang in there! :)
That is worrisome for her I bet your doing a great job supporting her and helping her through this. I hope this resolves soon reminders me of my nephew who gets anixous after watching too much news about H1N1, west nile, microwaves.. he's getting better but my sister in law had to spend lots of time talking to him and get to watch less news he and was 11 at the time.
Emery has loads of anxiety, too. Short of medication I'm not sure what will help. I'm interested in hearing what helps. We just keep hearing if Em communicated better it wouldn't be that bad. Psssh. How it any less scary just because it has a name? Anyway, good luck!
Post a Comment