Red Light Blues

As a preschooler, there was a period of time when Eric would cover his ears and start crying in the car whenever we stopped at a red light or stop sign. Back then Eric often covered his ears when he became anxious or fearful. For a while we were puzzled about this. Then one day, Eric had just enough words to cry out, “Wheel! Hand!” That’s when my husband and I thought we had this one figured out --Eric would get upset because Dad would let go of the steering wheel when stopped and Eric thought that Dad had no control of the car. We believed this for years. Until today that is. I asked Eric about it so that I could get some video of him explaining his fear and fully expecting him to concur with our theory. Surprise, surprise. We were wrong. Good thing I asked.