The play structure made me really nervous at first, because once Sylvie climbed in to one of the tunnels she was completely out of my reach. I knew that the whole thing was toddler friendly and I knew she couldn't actually hurt herself or fall off or anything like that, but it was still nerve wracking to watch her exploring. I noticed all of the other mothers just sitting around chatting and looking so at ease, and I thought to myself that maybe we weren't ready for this, Sylvie was too young, clearly we were out of our element! With that Sylvie started climbing up the cargo net, which was a little too steep and long for my comfort level, and she became noticeably nervous and scared. She kept trying to grab onto the mesh walls around her, and got progressively more upset as she realized she was stuck. I was just about to send a little boy in after her when I realized that I could actually get up close to her, we would just separated by the mesh wall. So I calmly explained to her that she had to grab the cargo rope with her hands and climb up like a monkey. Amazingly, she looked at me, listened to that one line explanation, and instantly took off, literally climbing up the net like a little monkey! She climbed to the top, disappeared for a minute or two (which of course had me partially hyperventilating) and then re-appeared, laughing and squealing as she bounded down the big curvy tunnel slide. By the end of the hour she had the entire climbing structure down pat, and I was one of the nonchalant moms sitting around gabbing about the weather.
Oh, so the ball pit was by far her favorite part.
Mmmm.....germs.
4 comments:
Don't worry about the germs.......she certainly wasn't!
What a great experience for her, it's always nice when they do something for the first time. It sure adds to her confidence, which is a great thing. A lot of mothers would not have been comfortable allowing their child to attempt this........(and I think I might have been one of them!) Kudos to you for giving her your vote of confidence!
when i saw the first pic of sylvie in the ball pit, i thought to myself, "oh man...i'll bet kacey was worrying about all the unseen nasties covering those plastic balls!" then i scroll down to find your "mmm...germs" comment. think of it this way, you are strengthening her immune system, right?
It's not only unseen germs we need to worry about...it's also the venomous snakes that lurk in those ball pits. It's true. I read it on the Internets.
OK, so I didn't notice the "mmmm-germs" comments until I read Trish's post! But the nano-second I saw that pic, I thought the same thing...but without the "mmmm"! I decided not to comment at that moment because I didn't want to bring it up and put tie a negative to such a positive experience! I never thought about germs when Kacey and Kris were small; it's only as I'm aging that I'm becoming more HowardHughes-ish...so I was quite surprised to see Winnie's comment NOT to worry about the germs! Does that mean there's hope for me? Kac, I know exactly how you felt when you first watched Syl 'on her own'...I went through that with your brother; not you...you were quite the cautious (parent's delight) child! I'm proud of you for stifling your "angst" so that Syl was able to explore and grow! I type that from the calm of my computer chair dreading the thought of the day Grandma is asked to take le bebe to 'the gym'. : ) xxooxo
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