Situation Under Control

Sweet Lizzy Lou does not care for most loud noises, specifically vacuum cleaners and thunder. And hand dryers in public restrooms. And the anticipation of hand dryers in public restrooms. "Does not care for" generally  means running and hiding somewhere until it is all over, all the while holding her fingers in her ears. Her freak-outs lessen in intensity every year, but she can hear a thunder clap from 1 Billion miles away.

Tonight we had a two-fer with tornado sirens, always popular at Chez Laird, followed by a mediocre thunderstorm. Annie was the only kid who didn't give a rip as we hung out in the hallway in the basement, but I think she was mostly excited because - after yelling at Ainsley, who had heard the sirens but didn't make the connection that action was therefore required - she had her chubby, nakie self scooped out of the bathtub and bounced down the stairs with a brief stop to grab a diaper on the way. Pretty fun in her book.

So Lizzy was already unhappy by the time the tornado issue was over and just as we were supposed to sit down to dinner, the storm arrived.  Ugh.  Suddenly she wasn't hungry and, fingers in her ears, skedaddled from the table to the couch were she snuggled under a blanket...fingers in her ears.

Then. Then!!! John, brilliant John, came up with the AHa! solution we should have figured out two years ago: earmuffs!!  The ones John is supposed to use when he's working outside to help stem the tide of hearing loss.  I don't think they're really called earmuffs...noise reducer things maybe? Well, Super Dad planted those babies on Lizzy's hyper-sensitive ears and..voila!  The pic above is a now-happy child who cheerfully left the couch and ate her dinner.