Park Time

We log lots of park time, and these kids are getting seriously big. They are both pretty accomplished park-goers. Lizzy is an amazing swinger, and has even started to do fancy tricks like "the stand-up swing." She can climb almost any ladder up to the play structure, and is fearless on all slides. Her big nemesis, however, is the monkey bars. Try as she might, she just can't get those guys down. She'll hang on the first bar, but doesn't at all get swaying her body to build momentum to swing to the next. God bless her, she tries and tries, and even mutters to herself, "I can do it!" but then she just falls down to the ground. I've figured out that this must be totally developmental because no amount of instruction or guidance from me has helped at all. And here we come to a huge lesson that we've been talking a lot about lately- acknowledging and valuing the gifts you are really good at, and persevering to achieve the things that are hard. When you really have no concept of time, it's hard to imaging that "one day" you'll be able to do it! When something's easy for you, it's difficult to understand that it's not easy for everyone. Lizzy is determined and persistent, though, and really works hard to achieve things. I love to watch her hard work, and I feel badly for her when she is so frustrated. I hope she'll master those darn monkey bars soon- she will deserve it!