Thrilled and Terrified

Yesterday, The Sprout(13 mo's) was playing outside, which is his favorite thing to do in the whole wide world. He loves to romp around in the backyard with the big kids. And he's amazingly resilient. He falls down a lot. And he gets knocked down (accidentally) regularly. But he doesn't care. He just pops right back up and keeps going.

Climbing around on the bottom of the slide keeps him busy for an amazing amount of time.

Yesterday, Sunshine(5) was at the top of the slide. As The Sprout was noodling around at the bottom, she invited him to come UP.

He thought that was a great idea! So, he started trying to figure out how to climb up the steep slide. Each step brought him GREAT satisfaction!


Sometimes, there were setbacks.

But he was undaunted.
My very determined little boy kept at this for at least 30 minutes, which is for-ev-er to a toddler.
And he did not give up.


Eventually, he came up with a winning strategy. And, with Sunshine and D(8) both cheering him on from the top, he began to make steady progress.

His sweet little monkey toes gripped the surface and his strong fingers hung on tight and his gaze was fixed steadily upward.

And then... he reached the top!

Oh, the sheer unbridled joy of that moment! He scampered on to the platform with the biggest grin. I'm quite sure he stood two inches taller.

Then his sister sat him down on the slide and he zoomed back down to the bottom.

Without missing a beat, he flipped himself over and headed right back to the top.

This mama's heart is filled with pride and dazzled by his persistence and competence and delighted by his joy.

And just a little afraid to see what he'll discover he can climb next!