As a parent, it is our job to recognize when to give a little space … to stand back and watch … even when you want to be RIGHT THERE helping the entire time. And it is hard. But it is SO rewarding when you see the growth and development of your child when you do.
Carter wanted to go down the giant slide at the fair. We told him that if he wanted to do it, he had to do it by himself and he was excited and couldn’t wait. The scary thing about this slide is the loooooooong hike up the stairs to get to the top, all while carrying this heavy heavy burlap sack that you ride down on. Carter looked TINY as he climbed up to the top all by himself. I sat there nervously watching him while a couple next to me marveled that he was doing it all by himself given how little he is (their kids were right in front of him).
In this succession of photos I absolutely love his expressions at each dip and level of the slide – going from completely unsure to absolutely ecstatic by the end. The video shows the full slide much better on the second time he went down (in the video he is on the far right at the top).
And here is the video of Carter on the slide – he is on the far right. I didn’t clip the end off the video so you could see just how little he was compared to everyone else … and he LOVED it!!
It’s clear he loved it from that GIANT smile at the end!