"Uh-oh! Noise!" Gavin exclaimed.
"You hear that tapping sound? It's a woodpecker," I said, looking up at the trees.
"Pecker," he repeated, looking up.
"Woodpeckers are birds. They live in trees."
"Pecker." He looked worriedly at the trees, then slowly inched behind me, holding onto my leg as he has taken to doing when afraid of something. Then, pointing at a tree, he said, "Scared."
"You're scared? What are you afraid of?"
"Pecker."
I picked him up. He was eyeing the trees in the backyard warily. I followed his gaze and saw that he was looking at the motion-sensor light mounted on one of the trees at the very back of the yard. I pointed to it and asked, "Is that what you're seeing? That shiny thing?"
"Uh-huh."
I started walking back toward it, explaining that it was a light. "It's like a lamp. It has a lightbulb. It's not a woodpecker."
Gavin remained unconvinced. We stood there, examining the light, talking about the it and how it's different from a bird. The woodpecker flew back and landed where we could watch it. It didn't tap on the tree, but we talked about it, and after awhile, Gavin began telling me about the light.
"Light. Lightbulb." Then, pointing to the bird, "Bird."
I knew I had successfully allayed yet another bizarre toddler fear. For now, anyway.
Posted by allison at April 1, 2006 11:22 AM