Now is the Time

Despite his short life and limited experience, Cambel has developed a fairly severe fear of dogs. A dog sighting will send him screaming and running or begging to be picked up. Despite never having been attacked or bitten by one, Cambel is terrified of dogs.

Make that WAS terrified of dogs.

Last week we went to a party with our Sunday school class. The hosts happened to have a dog and I prepared myself for much panicking and clinging. Cambel first surprised us by not screaming and staying relatively calm upon sighting the dog. He was skittish and didn't want to be near it, but he wasn't panicked and given the fact that he has literally run away from me in an unfamiliar park to avoid a dog, I was impressed.

Later in the evening I noticed I hadn't heard from Cambel for awhile and figured he must be doing okay playing the other kids. A few minutes later he ran up to me and told me that he was no longer afraid of dogs. In a way that only Cambel can tell a story he said (and I quote, although perhaps out of order and lacking some fantastic inflection and hand motions)

"I was on the slide and I said to myself--now is the time! And then I let the dog sniff me and I played fetch with it and I am not afraid!"

And later in the car...

"Can we talk about how awesome that was? What was your favorite part? When the dog sniffed me,when I played fetch with the dog?..." and on and on. He was nearly overwhelmed with pride in his enormous accomplishment and could hardly stop talking about how he had conquered his fear.

It was so sweet and funny, such a mix of small child feeling and fears and adult words... so Cambel, that I wished I could just bottle it all up savor it for longer. I would love to be able to pull this memory out in later years and relive his excitement, his pride, his wonder at his own confidence winning out over his fear, and watch again our little boy taking on his world one dog at a time.