The slightest hint of a popping sound in the distance.
The sight of them boxed up at those tents that start springing up about a month in advance.
Even a mention of the word "fireworks" is enough to bring on a screaming fit of terror.
(leave it to big brother Cuddlebug to notice that and start trying to work the word "fireworks" into his conversations just to get a reaction from Bitty... and leave it to me to tell him "stop saying the F word!" before I realized that came out wrong... dh got a chuckle out of that)
For most of the month of June, Bitty frequently expressed his disdain for any and all holidays that involve the lighting of celebratory explosives. Namely, the 4th of July and New Year's Eve. He was even less happy when a few people in the surrounding area starting lighting them a few days early, and kept lighting them a few days afterward.
The good news is that this year he was able to tolerate it better than in years past. Partly with the help of these:
Those are the kind that shooters wear to protect their ears from the noise, so we figured it would help muffle most of the sound. It helped, and we were able to spend the afternoon relaxing with several of our neighbors at a "barbecue party" as Bitty calls it :).
Bitty was able to handle the fireworks going off in the surrounding area here and there throughout the day with his headphones, but when it started getting dark, he knew we'd be lighting them up close in our neighborhood and he didn't want to stick around for that, so I took him inside while dh stayed outside with our older boys so they could enjoy the celebration (unlike Bitty, they LOVE fireworks).
I turned on the tv and cranked up the movie "Independence Day" about as loud as we could stand it to help drown out the noise outside, and Bitty kept his headphones on too.
He cracked me up because at one point I realized we were coming up on a scary part of the movie so I tried to cover his eyes. He just looked at me and said, "Das not scary."
So... slimy aliens attacking - not scary. Slightest hint of a firework - terrifying.
Got it.
I was really glad we found a way to help him cope without a meltdown, and proud of him for being willing to give it a try.
We'll definitely be pulling out the headphones again for New Year's Eve!
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Cuddlebug and Bearhug, taken earlier in the day :)
