Beware of the Dot

Yes, that's right, I said it.  Beware of the Dot.

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Did you see it, that dot. It is SCARY!  I mean, scream in terror scary.  What?  No, the dot is not scary?  Hmmm, tell that to JENNA!!!

Yes, my daughter, the fearless one, the one who jumped off a diving board last summer, the one that jumps off of anything, the one that tries any act, eats anything, the one that squishes bugs on Ant Smasher on my phone (and even got up to 804 points!), the one who's forehead was removed, reconstructed and put back again, yes, that normally fearless daughter is afraid of a dot.

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It started a couple of weeks ago.  There was this fuzzy dot in the bathtub, like a piece of lint from her washcloth, and she started SCREAMING. Terror, pure terror, like Santa was there or someone was poking her with a fire stick.  Terror.  Sheer fear.  Over a dot.  A piece of lint.  Next to nothing.

I thought, hmmm, weird, toughie is having a hard day. Whatever.  Then 2 nights later, same thing in the bathtub.  Over a small dot in the fish bath mat we've had since Cale was born.  She was FREAKING out.  Even out of the bath, water is gone, we were touching the dot on the bath mat, and she started crying, it hurt me, it hurt me.  Oh. My. Gosh. The inanimate bath mat dot hurt her.   

The next bath was with Cale, and while she didn't cry in terror the whole time, she was still afraid of any dots, pieces of lints, or bubbles that would go by. She sat the whole time in the far corner of the tub, all wadded up, much like an unborn baby.  It was quite ridiculous.  Since then, she's had 2 baths, both of which she took standing up and crying the whole time.  Tonight, she even stood on ONE FOOT so that it was even less of her to be near the dot.  Oh, and tonight the dot that was going to kill her was a scratch in the bathtub.  Nothing I could remove, that's for sure. I did put a wash cloth over it, but when the wash cloth floated away, watch out, BAD NEWS!!   It's back, the dot is back!!!  aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!

I know I cannot make my 2.6 year old daughter realize that this is totally IRRATIONAL behavior and a completely irrational fear. I try to help her see that these things, real or imagined, will not hurt her, that she is safe, that she is fine, that it's just a bath, but she's not hearing any of it!!  And I am thinking that yelling won't help, although my patience is wearing quite thin. And laughing out loud just seems cruel, even though I'd kinda like to. I want to validate her fear and feelings, yet encourage her to be brave. Blah blah blah. Not. Working!

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So, dear friends, this momma needs help!  Anybody out there have any tips, besides letting her get filthy and develop a rotten stench from not bathing?  And if you are going to say, it's just a phase, forget it, don't even comment! 

And of course, beware of the dot!

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