Independence Part II

I forgot to mention in yesterday's post another aspect of Amelia's independence that I've noticed. This one shows up most glaringly at the park.

Last week I had put her sand toys in the car (her favorite activity at the park these days is the sand box, and I learned the hard way not to leave her toys in it when we moved onto another activity because older children broke her only shovel last year). When I came back, a mere 90 seconds later, she was halfway up one of those metal ladders that arcs halfway up to the platform. I had no idea she could do that by herself! Of course, as soon as she saw me she stopped and acted all needy with "Mommy, help!" In this instance I wanted her to rely on her own strength and skills so that she can become better coordinated and have fun exploring. (I've been blessed with not having an indoor climber, but as a result she isn't as coordinated or agile as I think she would otherwise be.)

As I watch her on the various playground equipment, moving up and getting down from certain things, I like watching her problem solving skills and decision making skills in action. Her imagination is also coming out when she plays in certain things like the miniature tree house. And she has named all the slides: the round and round slide, the bump bump slide, the another round and round slide and the tunnerl slide.

Since last week, she has also been able to go up the swinging ladder by herself, too. I have to stand at a safe distance so she doesn't ask for help, and I love watching her go! The swinging ladder goes up to the platform to the tunnel slide - and Amelia has finally discovered how much fun that one is. She hadn't really spent much time in the tube that led to it from the standard set of stairs, in part because she wasn't isn't much of a crawler (she will walk hunched over in it rather than crawling), but now that she has discovered that it leads to the rest of the platforms, she doesn't hesitate to go through.