Syndicate

Chloe is not the most adventurous of kids.  She could walk, but wouldn’t without holding on to my hand (for months!  I am not kidding!)  She could go down the stairs, but would refuse to.  She wouldn’t walk on anything except for hardwood, carpet or cement for the longest time.  I was the mom on the playground going down the slide and climbing up the ladder, and going through the tubes, dragging Chloe along with me.  We are desperately working on pushing her boundaries so we can do things like go to the beach and she’ll actually walk through the sand.  Or we’ll go the park and she’ll climb through the equipment without mommy right there with her.

We’ve had a couple of experiences that have taught me a valuable lesson about Chloe…she needs a little push to break through those barriers.  We took her to a splash park last week (photo’s will be uploaded as soon as I kind find the cable to get them off my phone.)  At first, she wouldn’t go anywhere near the water.  We went and played at the other park for awhile, and then when the rest of the kids in our group went back to the splash park, I dragged her over there also.  She wouldn’t play in the water until I handed her a shovel so she could splash the water without having to touch it, then she just gradually warmed up to it, and we had to drag her out of there to go get dinner.

Tonight, we took her to the water garden in Aurora.  It was basically a bunch of water jets on the ground that squirt at different intervals and patterns.  At first, she didn’t want to get wet.  She complained she was getting splashed and she didn’t want to do it.  I picked her up and went running through the water with her.  That went on for quite awhile, then I put her down and she decided to go on her own.  By the time we were ready to leave, she was soaked and having a grand time!

I guess the trick is to not let her fears rule her, and sometimes that means getting creative (and a little wet) to broaden her horizons!  I need to learn to not let her “no” be the ultimate word.  Not that I will throw her in a pool to force her to learn to swim, but I can maybe ease her fears and give her the opportunity to really discover what she is capable of, and when its worth risking feeling “safe” for having fun.

Here’s my baby, slowly becoming more of a daredevil!