Since we've moved, Kiddo has found a lot of things that make her nervous. The loud german shepherd two doors down, the sounds of our upstairs neighbors, and the eight-month old that likes to wander to her with his mom's help are just a few. But she's resilient, and is learning to help herself through these situations. She does this by repeating the phrases that we teach her. (This repeating we did not teach her, it's just her thing.)
If she hears the dog bark, she says to herself, "It's just the dog." If she hears noises from upstairs she says "It's just the people upstairs." And we discovered her unease with the baby by her comment, as he approached, of "It's just a baby." These comments may or may not be sufficient to calm her fears, often she would like to be held at the same time.
Recently her self-talk has taken an additional element, of correcting herself. She expresses dislike with a scream. As her parents, we don't agree with this, and have told her so. Now, if she screams, you can be sure that it will be cut short by her, followed by her quiet voice saying "shhh. Don't scream [kiddo]." If she's particularly upset, she'll repeat the cut-off scream with more shh-ing until she's worked out her frustration. What a little character.
