Fire Station Field Trip

Today was the field trip to the fire station for the neighborhood preschool. On Tuesday they did fire safety and Courtney didn't like it one bit. For some unknown reason, Courtney is really terrified of firemen and fire engines. She thought for a long time that firemen set fires, not put them out. So it's been hard to get her to listen to reason. On Tuesday the woman set off her fire alarm so they could hear what it sounded like and Courtney went nuts, screaming and crying!

I had been talking up the field trip but she wasn't buying it for a minute. This morning I tried to get her to think it was going to be fun, but she wouldn't listen so I just dropped it. After all, it is just a preschool field trip. But at 10 a.m. I asked her again if she wanted to go, but she said "NO!" So we loaded in the van to run some errands. She asked where we were going and I told her the stores but said that we could go after the field trip if she wanted and she said, "okay, let's go to the fire station."

I drove as quickly as I could so she wouldn't change her mind, but it wasn't fast enough. By the time we got there she wouldn't get out of the van, so I started to drive off and she said to stop and said she would go in if I would go in with her. So we went in and found the other kids. But she had to be held because she didn't feel safe near the fire trucks. It took about 30 minutes before she would let me put her down, then she started to have fun. She wouldn't go in the fire engine, but she went into the ambulance for a little bit before she freaked out and wanted back out. But she loved getting a badge and a fire hat. She called herself "Fire Girl Courtney." So in the end she had a lot of fun and will tell anyone who listened that she had a great time. The fireman told a few scary stories so I'm hoping she doesn't have nightmares, but she did learn a lot about fire safety.