The kids and I went to Sunriver this last weekend and got to spend some time at the aquatic center. Neither of my loves is 48" so the big slides were out of the question so Little Bear turned to the next most daring activity: the log walk. A series of rubberized "log" steps spanned one section of the pool. Using only your balance and a cargo net strung above the logs, you need to make your way from one side to another. Kids were falling into the water right and left but Little Bear decided she was going to go for it anyway.
No matter that she was the shortest in line by at least 12", or that she was younger by years and not even tall enough to reach the net at both ends. She was going to do it. Now, having learned my lesson with the stroller, I simply encouraged her to try and asked if she'd like me to spot her from below (she said yes).
Her initial strategy of standing up each time and stepping from log to log didn't work and she fell twice the first go-through. But she got back up and stood in line again. The next time she kept her center of gravity lower and did OK until the end, when she hurled herself at the pool wall and hit square in the stomach. But the third time? The third time she used a combo of crawling, leaping, and swinging to make it the whole way (and keep in mind, she was admonishing me every time I tried to manually steady one of the floating logs for her)! Her face at the end was priceless and I could see in every bone of her body how proud she was.
And then of course, she went back and did it again. :)
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