With Age and Knowledge Comes Fear...Which Can Be Conquered

Hey Sam,
Yesterday, I had a real "proud-mom moment."
It's incredibly hot here and we've got season passes to Splash Beach, which means we've been quite a few times this summer. Yesterday, you had a little breakthrough.

Let me back up first. In the little kid part of Splash Beach, officially named Salamander Bay, there are 4 slides that are about 20 ft. long, side by side on a little hill. Last summer, you were all about going down them with me. This summer, you wanted nothing to do with them. You did not want to slide down with me, much less go down on your own. So, I took Grey (since he can't object yet) and asked every time we went if you would like to try.

Every time...no.

Yesterday, you changed your mind. I have no idea why. Maybe it was because you heard me say this would be our last visit for the summer. Maybe you just decided it was time.

After watching me go down with Grey, I asked if you wanted to go down with me and you said, "um, yea, I do!" So we slid....probably 3 or 4 times. Then I asked if you wanted to sit in my lap and I would send you down ahead of me where Ebee could catch you. You were ok with this plan too. I think you were starting to feel pretty proud of yourself.

A few minutes later, you asked if you could go up by yourself. Quite surprised, I said, "sure!" and looked at Ebee with a "what's going on" look. I completely expected you to go up the stairs then stand at the top of the slide and yell for me to come get you. Nope. You walked around, climbed up the stairs, sat down in the water and pushed yourself on down the slide.

I was so proud of you.
Still am.

To make us (me, Ebee and Ya-Ya) even prouder, you learned how to stand up right after hitting the water so we didn't need to catch you.

Buddy, you make me proud. Not just when you show how brave you are by conquering things you've been afraid of or trying new things, but when you're sweet to Grey, when you want to share with others all on your own and when you learn new things like your ABCs, or how to correctly pronounce the "v" sound.

I'm looking forward to having many more "proud-mom moments". Thanks for this one.

Pump it Up: Sam's Own Personal Hell

I know I've mentioned before Sam's crippling fear of blow-up things. Although it's been a couple weeks since everyone took down their beastly Santas and menacing snowmen, the fear remains. Sam references blow-up things frequently and is still having nightmares about them. It's awesome.

Tonight, we went to one of Sam's friend's birthday party at Pump it Up. That's right, it's a warehouse type building full of inflatables. You know another name for inflatables? Blow-up things!!!

Bob's out of town this weekend so I'm single mom-ing it. (By the way, all you single parents out there...you are amazing.) Anyway, after unloading the boys and getting soaked gathering diapers and our gift, then stepping in no less than 3 large puddles and getting the bottom of my jeans soaked we made it inside. We head down the short hall where you have two options, Door A and Door B. These are both rooms containing varying inflatables. Door B happened to be open and Sam immediately looked at me, said "mommy, hol-jew, hol-jew!", followed by, "not go in der, not go in der...go in DER!" (pointing at the closed Door A). I'm maneuvering the stroller (with Grey) and holding Sam...well that's not entirely true...he was clutching onto me so tightly I didn't really have to hold him.

So, we go in Door A and, you guessed it, he freaks out again because lo and behold, Door A was hiding inflatables too! After about 10 minutes of that sweet little monkey holding onto me for dear life, the parents of his friend coming up to try and reassure him and my persistent assurance, he finally got down on the floor and ran over to play with a Cozy Coupe. And things would've been fine had he made it there about 2 seconds sooner. Another little boy beat him to it (unknowingly). After some assistance from the birthday boy's dad and his convincing the older boy to let Sam play with the car, he was set.

He was set until it was time for us to change rooms and then we started all over again. We didn't start from scratch, but we started all over again. We found another car for Sam to sit in. He's got my old one at home so maybe that was some sort of security for him. I guess he knew that cars don't belong on the inflatables, so as long as he's in the car, he's not going on the inflatable. Simple, right?

Well, I took this opportunity to enjoy the inflatable slide and it was quite exciting. I thought showing Sam how much fun it was would do the trick, but noooooo, no going on the slide.

Sam ended up having quite a good time. He did get on one inflatable that had basketball goals and lots rubber balls to throw around. He was in there most of the time with some bigger kids and he did great. He just ran around, throwing himself on the ground, running into the bigger boys (who were so sweet to him), and throwing balls.

I was really proud of him. It was kind of my first proud parent moment, seeing him conquer that fear. It did take a while, true, but I think this was a great lesson in him trusting me to protect him, not to push him but to be persistent and let him try new things on his terms.

After the inflatable part of the party, we had pizza, chips, fruit snacks (a new fav), and cake. All in all, I think it was a pretty big success. And for the record, Bob was sorely missed tonight. Sorely missed.

No Blow-up Things!

Our zoo has something called Zoolight Safari. Basically, around Christmas, they decorate the zoo with Christmas lights and blow-up Santas, trains and snowmen. All the animals are put away except for those in the petting zoo section.

Sam has decided he is petrified of the blow-up things. Peh-treh-fied. So, we had a great time at the Zoolight Safari including avoiding any and all vicious, life-threatening blow-up Santas and snowmen.