Developing so Fast

THE following are pictures of the Twins mastering climbing obstacles they were not able to complete just a few short weeks ago.

Buggy asks, "What's the rope for Daddy?"
Dad dryly responds, "Boys."

Dad's heart swelled with pride. She had attempted this three times before today and given up in frustration. She doesn't like giving up. Dad doesn't like to hear her whine when she gives up and gets frustrated. Then, on another day she impressed him again.

Going up the climbing wall at Rocket Ship park, she gave up half way up. She'll be up and over it before the New Family leaves though. She is determined and has a strong will. Meanwhile on the other side of the park.

EJ was intimidated by this climb down before. Today though he decided it was time to cross this off of his bucket list.

EJ is not as motivated to master climbing as is his sister so Dad was happy to see him attempt it and complete this climb down. Check out the distance between the rungs. That is no small gap for three foot tall kid.

Buggy, having seen her brother do it, decided she had to do it too. Once down, she had to go back up it.

The spacing of the rungs present the biggest challenge on the arc ladder, it was a pretty far step for a little stride. But it was easy for them because they could see their next step. All they needed to do is look and tentatively place their foot out onto the next rung and then shift their balance forward. The real challenge would come a moment later on a different part of the playground equipment.

The difficulty of this climb down is that the child has to turn around and come down blind and butt first. She cannot see the rung below her. She has to rely on upper body strength to hold on while she feels for the rung below with her foot.  Buggy's upper body strength is no where near as strong as EJ's, so this is a real test for her. And should she decide to abort the climb while her body weight is dangling over the edge, she would have to pull herself back up. Dad ain't gonna help. He is too busy listening to and smirking at Uptight Moms telling their five-year-olds, "No, no, Millard, that is for big boys." He might laugh if she falls, but lend a hand to help her complete her failure? No.

It took some doing on her part, but she accomplished it. Dad offered a high five. She ignored him and ran off to play elsewhere. Fortunately Dad got some huggy-lovey from EJ later.