Growing Up!

You know, when you see someone every day sometime's it's hard to see changes, because change usually happens in really small increments and we get used to it. But lately I've been noticing a bunch of little things that remind me of how much Abby has grown up in the last ten months.

For instance - gymnastics. The first time we went to gymnastics, she was quite fearful. Now when we walk in the building, it's like she doesn't need me anymore. :) She knows what she wants to play with, and where to go, and what "Circle time" and "Warm-up" and "Stamp time" means, and interacts with her teacher nicely, and just generally sees me as a tagalong. In fact, I think she'll probably do terrifically if she takes the next level class since that's all teacher and no parents/nannies and she absolutely LOVES it when she gets some one-on-one time with the teacher.

She's so much more coordinated now - she climbs up and down off the equipment and even falls onto the mats once in a while and just isn't fazed. She climbs up the slide herself and slides down and loves it - I remember when I used to have to coax her to try the slide, and then she'd do it only if I lifted her on to it and held her hands while she slid down, lol.

She's still pretty freaked by the bars... I encourage her to try one bar activity per week, which she'll usually do, but that's about it. But today she scrambled up the bars at the playground for the first time without so much as batting an eye, so hopefully that will translate over soon!

Today we went to a playground that we'd been to at the beginning of the spring. I remember when we went for the first time, it was fun, but I literally had to be at Abby's side every second to lift, help, catch, etc, and thinking that the toddler area still seemed so HARD. There was practically nothing she could do without my assistance. And I was definitely climbing all over the equipment with her. I remember that even though she was terrified of slides, there was one really big slide at the playground, and she asked to go on it, and I thought, "Kiddo, I can't convince you to go down the 2-foot tall slide without screaming in terror... what makes you think you want to go down THAT slide?!?"

Today Abby scrambled up most of the equipment confidently without waiting for me and wasn't afraid a bit. She even slipped once onto the nice spongy recycled-tire surface and wasn't upset at all. And she pointed to the big slide, the huge slide, and asked to go, and it just didn't look so crazy to me anymore. I stood on the ground and kept my hands around her waist while she climbed up the ladder to the top, and then I caught her at the bottom. No hesitation, no wails, no tears, and I swear when she reached bottom she pumped her first in a gleeful celebration. I did not teach her that, but I did tell her "You go, girl!" as we high-fived. :)

She's always had a strong personality, but it's so amazing to watch it kind of unfurl with all the talking and new skills. :)