Fear of Trains...

Through effective communication and thoughtful consideration, RJ and I have figured out why LJ is so disturbed by the train all of the sudden. The “all of the sudden” part is what is so puzzling. If you’ve been to our house, you know that a train blows its whistle at least 10 times a day and throughout the night…so, LJ has to have heard the train before this week. Now, whenever he hears the train, he points his finger in the air and gets a very concerned look on his face. The other night he actually buried his head in my lap until that train passed. Last night, he heard the train while he was in the bath tub. He grabbed my arms and wanted to get out…making me very wet in the process.

Turns out, RJ took LJ with him to an auto shop last week. This auto shop is right next to the train tracks. While there and while outside (I think) a train came by…blowing its whistle and looking all big and scary. Now LJ has a visual (way up close) of what it is that makes this noise that he hears. According to RJ, he did not like it and started to cry. This explains why the sound is frightening him “all of the sudden”.

He’s going to have to get used to it because there are few, if any, places to live in this town where you can’t hear the train…and we aren’t planning to move! Surely, with enough instances where the train does not come roaring by so closely…he’ll figure out that there is nothing of which to be afraid?!