Evi conquered her first fear yesterday. Apparently she developed a doggie fear on Saturday, when we visited a neighbor. They have a large and crazy, but very friendly, dog who exploded to the gate upon our arrival . He jumped on the gate barking furiously and happily while we waited outside so he could be put away. The second Evi saw him, her lower lip popped out, she squeezed me tight and started bawling.

I didn't give this episode another thought until she repeated the reaction at a friend's house with their two small and comparably calmer dogs. She had a fear of dogs! Not good considering we would love to have a dog someday. Under our friends' advice, we allowed the dogs to get much closer than Evi was confortable with. We showed her that we were okay with the dogs and she was safe. She gradually got calmer and began reaching out to touch their fur. The second her fingers met the fur, she would jerk them back and shiver.

A few days later, Evi met Max (the original dog) again and after a few tears, settled down and made friends. Yay!