Every Single One of Her Nightmares

Cora is a funny, funny little girl.  She is not to be swayed by your opinion or by what you want her to do.  It can be maddening and endearing all at the same time.  Have I mentioned that stubborn runs in our family?  It appears that both Sister and Sissy received a double dose!  Cora also has some peculiar and quirky fears.  She loves books, movies, songs, tv shows, etc about animals, but she does not love being around live animals.  She fears fire trucks, garbage trucks, and tractors unless she is in the car.  She loves to do forward rolls at gymnastics, but is fearful of backward rolls.  And, she is absolutely, unconditionally terrified of people dressed as animals/characters (think the Chick Fil-A cow or characters at Disney World.)

So with all that in mind, let me tell you about our outing at Cox Farms last month when we went to Virginia.  It all started out well enough.  Hay playgrounds, pizza, pirate ship playgrounds.

The big slides were a little scary at first.  But, soon, Cora was a pro at going down the hay slides (even if there were goats and sheep grazing nearby!)

Then, we saw the dino slide!  You've seen them.  Sometimes they're called super slides.  They are basically three semi-steep slides all connected into one.  This one happened to have dinosaur statues all over it.  Sweet!  Cora was all over (the idea of) the dinosaur slide.  She and I headed up the stairs.  She chatted happily about all the dinos.  She chatted about the farm animals.  She chatted about the sunshine and clouds.  And, then, we came to a place where we could see what was about to happen.  And, that is where the chatting stopped.  And, it is also where I had the lovely opportunity to look like the parent of the year.  Yes, folks, I was the mom who forced her screaming and thrashing kid to go down the slide.  

Clearly, she loved it!

After she got off the slide, she told me, "This is NOT a good vacation!"  

It's a terrible coincidence that a man dressed as a chimpanzee started wandering over to us around that time.

We're saving up for her therapy bills.

The bebecita was unimpressed by all the hubbub.

After some kettle corn, we were ready to take on the next nightmare aka the hayride.  You know, with a tractor...

I'm really not sure how she managed to stay folded in half like that for the duration of the ride.  It's actually quite impressive - especially since she was sitting in itchy twitchy hay.

The bebecita remained unimpressed by all the hubbub.

But, throw in a wooden scarecrow with a giant pumpkin and the bebecita cracks a huge grin!

I wonder what we'll be putting her in therapy for?!