Monster Trucks!!!

Bradley's two favorite things right now are dinosaurs and Monster Trucks. Almost a year ago now I looked up when Monster Trucks were coming to the event center and have been waiting and waiting to take him. I got tickets for me, Kevin, Bradley, Gracie, and Bill, and Mom stayed home to watch Sammie for us. I wanted it to be a surprise for the kids so we put it on the calendar and every day Bradley would count the days we had left to the surprise and would try to guess what it was. He would guess the museum, or a Rockies game, or the moon :) I knew it was going to be loud, we had gone to one before the kids were born with Mindy and Scott. Kevin got a pack of ear plugs plus I had big headphones for the kids to wear. We got there and Bradley was SO excited and we were walking in and you could hear one of the trucks revving their engine... and he freaked out! So I stopped him and told him what it was, he got a big smile on his face for half a second until he heard the engine again. We had to drag him in so that he could see the trucks but he was so scared. He had earplugs in plus the headphones but he was so scared that it was going to get even louder. Kevin and I took turns with him out in the hallway for the first half of the show. I would record it on my camera and bring it to him to watch - which he thought was really cool but was still too scared to get closer. Meanwhile Gracie's in there asking us where Bradley is because she's totally fine with everything :) I KNEW he would love it if he just TRUSTED me. Half way through the show we finally got him in and he was jumping up and down and cheering and all fear was forgotten! I blame myself!!! I shouldn't have built it up SO much and not told him what it was and prepared him for it. I think the anticipation and the unknown just made it too much for him and he just freaked out. I should have told him about what it was and what to expect beforehand and I don't think it would have been AS bad. But he is like this (which I also blame myself for :( ) I know part of it is just his personality and I think part of it is how protective I have been of him his whole life. Since the moment he was born I didn't want him out of my sight, I didn't want anyone holding him but me. I was SO scared that something would happen to him or I would do something wrong, I think my anxiety must have soaked into him :( Sorry sweetie, I got it from my Mom and I'm just passing it along :( I've had MULTIPLE conversations with him lately about how I don't want him to miss out on anything in life because he's scared, and how he needs to TRUST me and that I would NEVER put him into a situation that would hurt him or be bad for him. I know what he would like and what he wouldn't like, so he needs to listen to me and trust me, and try new things without being scared. We're working on it :) Shoot, I'M still working on that myself! :)