Boldly Going Where He Has Not Gone Before

Alex has been making some large steps in conquering his fears lately. I saw lots of evidence of this at the Weinberg Nature Center's Eco-Fair last Sunday. Normally, Alex is afraid to ride ponies like he had at the Rye Methodist Nursery School Carnival. Yet, at the Stamford Nature Center last Monday, upon seeing a Shetland pony, he informed me that he 'needed' to ride that pony. I was thrilled to find out about the Eco-Fair and the presence of pony rides there.

At first, he told Dan that he wouldn't ride it. It took only a little coaxing. After he was on the pony, he was thrilled to be there and wanted to go again. We promised him that he'd ride the ponies again before we left.

Then, there was an exhibit of birds of prey, including even a flight show. I expected Alex to freak out about the flight show. The bird involved was a red-tailed hawk and Alex normally gets nervous if much smaller birds fly too close to him. This time, Alex was delighted to see the hawk speed through a line of people and dive bomb. He even wanted to be near the bird as it flew.

He's still not over his queasiness around reptiles and amphibians though. During the animal show, he was more than happy to walk right away from the snakes, frogs, lizards and turtles. He eventually checked out a red footed tortoise. (He would also surprised me a few days later by petting a corn snake in Nature Class.)

It seems my cautious little guy is getting bolder in his world.
 

Wednesday, May 26