Ben has developed a new phobia… girls. He’s especially fearful of baby girls who are trying to touch him. Every morning when I drop him off, Evie sings, “Beh-en,” and tries to hug him. Ben responds by looking panicked and backing away slowly. Alternate means of defense include clutching his blanket and crying.
At first, I thought maybe he just isn’t into hugging right now, but I threw out that theory Sunday, when he acted similarly fearful of little Emma. Emma is 13 months old and enamored with hair. She toddled over to Ben and ran her hands through his luscious locks. Again, he looked panicked, cried and this time ran away.
Seriously, what’s so scary about these lovely ladies? They’re beautiful, sweet little girls. This phobia is especially funny because, Ben is a pretty brave kid. He climbs on and off furniture that’s taller than him, he slides down big-kid slides with delight, runs straight up to almost any dog, but these gentle little girls, with their sweet smiles and sing-song voices, seem strike true terror in his heart.
Last night one of Chuck’s friends from high school joined us for dinner and I told him about Ben’s girl-phobia. He laughed and said, “Well, I remember his dad being that way too.”
I’ve heard many stories about Chuck’s lack of girlfriends. Chas, Chuck's sister, to this day tells me, “I thought Chuckie was gay. He never had any girlfriends.”
She even made this comment on our wedding day. I thought, “That’s kind of weird, I was expecting, ‘Congratulations’ or ‘Welcome to the family’ but okay we’re going with… relief?”
I’m sure Ben will grow out of his fear of girls, probably before I’m ready for him to. And I’m equally sure he’ll be fearless when it comes to snakes and other creepy crawlies that terrify me.
I can imagine him stuffing frogs in his pockets – or worse my pockets – and wondering how cheerful little girls are so scary, but icky frogs are so intriguing.
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