Scary Noises

Last night was the crescendo of a movement in Shay's life that has been going for the past couple weeks. Noises. Scary noises. Not from Shay herself, but the world about her. Not long ago she delighted in most all sounds. Airplanes. Birds. Even sirens. But now, to note a sound is to need to follow it with "Scared!" That's what she does. "Air-pane. Scay-yewd!" "Si-yen. Scay-yewd!" "Boo-wids. Scay-yewd!" That's been building the past couple weeks, and as I said, it all came to a raucous conclusion last night. In the midst of the going-to-bed routine (which at our place, as Nina will tell you, is like the precision movements of a Swiss watch) there was a tiny sound. A toy slipped from its perch and settled harmlessly to the floor. It wasn't even that loud. But Shay's reaction sure was! Normally she would have been asleep within minutes, but instead it took more than an hour of both Nina and I (and Logan) trying our best to calm her down and reassure here that there was nothing to be scared of. None of that worked, of course. Instead it took some of what Shay called "nuh-wiss" and then, blessedly, she went to sleep. For a little while....