boundless limits

...to a certain point at least.

I consciously try not to make assumptions about the girls and what they are capable of doing, and am open to them exploring where their limits currently are, within safety boundaries and with a spotting hand or nudging suggestions if I feel nervous or if they request it. At the same time I often find myself surprised by their successful tries at new things that I only then realize I assumed they were not yet able to complete.

A perfect example is Eliana on the new jungle gym. For some reason I assumed climbing up the curved rope ladder would be a bit too dangerous for her, but once I saw her on there figuring it out, I realized not only was she able to do it - in her big rain boots to boot, but I felt she was safe enough that I didn't need to be there spotting her, and could instead sit on the steps and relax, rest, and enjoy their enjoyment. The pride in her success that radiated from her was priceless.

I thought she would perhaps be too scared to cross the bridge, or unable to do it because her arms are too short to grab the ropes, but she first scooted across sideways a few times, before carefully turning to walk straight forward, focusedly grabbing the rope on each side for each carefully placed step she took. The pride in her success that radiated from her was priceless.

I thought she was too small to step up onto the ropes along the bridge like Leona was doing -- Leona had started walking across on the ropes rather than the wood, and Eliana kind of put a boot up toward one of the ropes as a test, and then decided against it...but then a few rounds later she tried again, and was suddenly standing there in a star formation, though did not try to scoot forward too many times. The concentrated pride in her success that radiated from her was priceless.

There are risks involved in the rounds they are making, especially for Eliana. She has to really concentrate the whole way until she's at the slide, and since Leona is bigger and more agile than her, and does things that are still too dangerous for Eliana, I notice my heart pounds a bit faster at times, seeing her movements start to mimic those of Leona's but pulling up short or modifying them to suit her current abilities.

And once, her concentration or balance slipped at the top of the curved rope ladder, and she fell through the 'hole', catching herself with an arm and neck, and her big boot catching another rope. I jumped up and rescued her, gave her a hug and said that was scary (she agreed verbally and body-languageally - she has the cutest body-language for "that was scary"/"I am scared"), and was moving toward the rope ladder again the second I set her down, without missing a beat. It kind of blew me away.


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