peer pressure

It's a fact that my children are late-bloomers in the physical development department.  Hallie walked at 16 months and Claire finally walked at 20 months after tears and fretting by her and her family members.  Chris and I just tend to create gorgeous kids who 1.) have low muscle tone and 2.) almost freakish flexibility from lax joints.  Hallie caught on to walking quicker than Claire.  Once Claire strengthened her core muscles she rapidly got up to speed.  But, these girls aren't quite as daring as others their age on playground equipment.  There's some self-preservation in Hallie that makes her leery of all that climbing.  And until recently, Claire couldn't even do the climbing.  I was so pleased on this weekday in April when the girls had the playground to themselves.  Take a look at what transpired.

They both got to the first slide without hesitation.  The first slide was easy.  The first slide was safe.

Claire quietly decided that the first slide wasn't enough.  She wanted the accomplishment of the topmost slide on the playground.

So she climbed.

And kept climbing.

And cautiously crawled over.

And before you know it, she looked like this.

And then this little girl did it too.

And felt like this afterward.

So they ran around and did it again.

And they did the big slide so much that the little slides were no big deal.

Which, in truth, is a very big deal.

And I am so proud of them.  And (for that day at least) I was so grateful for peer pressure.