It Used To Be One Of My Favorite Holidays
If it has "fire" in the name, there's a pretty good chance I'm a big fan. That is to say, I love fireworks. A lot. The Katy Perry song can go to hell aboard the Britney Spears train (she's on the fast track to hell, or so I hear), but real live fireworks? So. Much. To. Love.
The sparkle factor. The bright colors. The boom. The fire. Have I mentioned that I like fire?
So, how exactly is it that my kid LOATHES all things fire? She's scared of a freakin' scented candle, so it's not hard to believe that she thinks fireworks are made of pure evil.
Unfortunately, this time of year it's next to impossible for Alexis to make it through a night without jumping out of skin, screaming like the cute girl who is the first to die in a horror flick, and grabbing hold of me so tightly that I continuously wonder how it's possible that my arms are still attached to my body. You guys, the kid completely falls apart at the first boom. I plan on holding it against her for the rest of her life, but I've even left after about three seconds of the nightly fireworks show at Disney World because onlookers would have thought that I was stabbing the kid with a knife for as much as she sobbed, cried, and generally freaked out once the fireworks started. It's the ultimate sacrifice, but I actually try to avoid fireworks just so I don't have to deal with a kid trying to fight her way back into my uterus.
Imagine my joy when we settled comfortably into my car as the announcements for the drive-in movie theater started and they mentioned that the township's fireworks show was scheduled to start momentarily. SO MUCH JOY. I've always dreamed of having a kid jump straight up in the air, through the sun roof, and land back in my lap. And it happened! Yay!
Just as Cars 2 started playing on the screen, the fireworks began. As luck would have it, they were being shot off directly behind the drive-in theater screen. The booms echoed through the car, rattling Alexis right to her core. She leaped into my lap, curled up in a ball, and fell to pieces. With her hands over her ears, she sobbed and sobbed, whined and complained, and basically managed to stare a hole in the floor because there was no way in hell she was willing to look up lest some sparkly glowy fire assaulted her eyes.
But it wasn't like we could leave.
I mean, the movie had started. We had paid to see it. We wanted to see it. I figured surely the fireworks would be over after a few minutes and we could all pretend that nothing had ever happened.
No such luck.
For some reason, that particular fireworks show was run by Mr. Wants To Space Things Out. Maybe there was only one person lighting the fuses? And he loves fireworks as much as I do so he would light one, wait for it to go off, and then light the next one? Maybe? All I know is that it takes a long damn time for 40 or so rockets to go off when they are spaaaaaaaaced out.
The scene in our car went a little like this:
Me: "Oooh! Pretty!"
Alexis: "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
Me: "That was probably the last one."
Alexis, after slowly moving her hands off of her ears: "Are you sure?"
Fireworks: "KABOOOM!"
Alexis: "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
Me: "Ooooh! Pretty! But that was probably the last one."
Alexis, after slowly moving her hands off of her ears: "Are you sure?"
Fireworks: "KABOOOOM!"
Alexis: "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
And that went on for . . . I don't know. An eternity? An eternity and a half? Perhaps longer.
If any neighbors set off fireworks after the 4th of July is over, I'm sending them the bill from having to have a 5-year old removed from my uterus.
(If you think showing Alexis the fun that can be had with a sparkler and a camera, you are as wrong as that backwards "s.")
Monday, July 4, 2011
Reader Comments (12)
I too have run from the Magic Kingdom to be on the bus before the fireworks begin. This year Juliana suddenly isn't afraid of and loves them. So maybe Alexis is close to loving fireworks as well, at least she probably was before she was tramatized at the drive-in :)
I was a little nervous about my youngest this year. Sabrina proved that she loved them (provided an adult is close by to grab on to if they are loud) last year but Tessa slept through them. But she LOVED them. Maybe even more than I do. Because I love a good fireworks show. Steve never wants to go downtown to see the big one on the river but I caught it once and it was amazing enough to deal with the parking/traffic/crowds.
My 21-month old niece was terrified at the first showing of fireworks we went to Friday night. I think it's because we were really, really close to where they were being shot off. Thus, they were super loud. However, we went to a second fireworks display last night and she loved them. We were much further away from the launch location, though.
Mno daughter, Cami, now 10 years old, used to be the same way when she was Alexis' age. We went to Disney for the first time when she was five and I was convinced that surely the Disney fireworks would cure her of this fear of fireworks, but she cried and clung throughout the whole show. We would have taken her out but my then 3 year old was really enjoying them and decided that wouldn't be fair to make her miss it. Cami likes them now but really prefers to be at a good distance because she just doesn't like the loud noise. I am convinced it is partly due to the people in our neighborhood that have always insisted on setting them off nightly from about June 20 til late July, every year since she was a baby, constantly startling her out of her sleep.
hopefully Alexi will eventually outgrow her fears some - if not, maybe she and Cami can start a "fireworks Scare Me Anonymous" club.
Maybe a pair of earmuffs. Like the ones used at the gun range? Might be worth a try!
That would be my daughter, not Mno. Sheesh.
My kids have all gone through the stages where they're absolutely terrified of fireworks one year, then love them the next. Our drive-in theatre here has the best fireworks show, the fireworks exploding so close above your head that the ashes cover your car by the end, and I'm bummed we missed it this year.
My daughter is 3, and has always been scared of loud noises. So we have avoided fireworks and parades on the 4th. your post only makes me feel better about your decision. She is far too big to crawl back into my uterus, but I am sure she would try if given reason to.
next year leave alexis with mr. husband and my guys...then we'll go downtown together!
also, how on earth did you get that incredible image captured? backwards s and all, it is fantastic!
Dylan hates them too. His first experience with sparklers didn't go any better yesterday - he burnt his finger and cried for about 1 hour afterwards. I also used to LOVE the 4th of July. What did you think of Cars 2?
We saw Cars 2 at the Drive in Saturday and there were a ton of fireworks going off all around us. Fortunately my son doesn't freak out. That certainly would have made the movie suck.
Next year? I'll trade you kids for the fourth. Mackenzie absolutely loved them, to the point of practically trying to crawl into the Uncle's "ammo bin" (the giant plastic box that he produced his artillery shells from). Meanwhile I was off in a corner dropping the "F-bomb" when the roman candles tried to annihilate me.