Sunday, September 2, 2012

My Big Girl

This evening was one of those that I wish we'd been able to capture on video in its entirety. After naps, we loaded the kids up into the car and headed into town to do a little exploring. We found a new park, and it just so happened to have the BIGGEST SLIDE I'VE EVER SEEN. Seriously, I think it was at least ten feet high. Like, for really real.

Alex asked Ali if she wanted to go down it, and she shrugged nonchalantly and said, "Well, sure, that would be cool," and sauntered off toward it. She climbed the steep stairs all the way to the top before finally looking down and realizing she was really high up. At which point she, understandably, got scared. Alex ended up at the top with both her and Sam, and he slid down first with Sam, and then with her.

We went to go play on the rest of the playground, and she was in a great mood, running around, going down the smaller slides, and playing with her brother. At one point, I swung my feet up on the monkey bars, hooked my legs over a rung the way I used to when I was in elementary school, and hung upside down. Ali saw me, looked at me in her "what-on-Earth" way, and said, "That is just wrong, Mom." HA!

A little while later, we talked about being scared and being brave, and I may or may not have told her that if she went down the super-big slide all by herself, she could have chocolate ice cream after dinner. She said, "Well, okay...." but still seemed a little nervous, so I picked up a fallen pecan and told her that she could hold the nut and it would help her be brave. Her face lit up! She climbed right to the top with her "brave nut" in her hand, sat down, and slid right down the giant, humongous slide all on her OWN! I was so incredibly proud of her!! She did it one more time before we left, all the while holding her "brave nut." Yay!!! (She also chattered on on the way back to the car about how the "brave nut" would help her eat her scary macaroni-and-cheese at dinner. Crazy girl.)

We went to Jason's Deli for dinner and she and Sam both devoured some muffins, mac-and-cheese, and ice cream for dessert--chocolate for my brave girl, of course. When we asked her if she was going to eat any more of her dinner, she said, "Umm, not so much." I had to ask Alex if I'd heard her right.

She's TWO. I can only imagine the things that are going to come out of her mouth when she's five, or nine, or thirteen.

I love love love my funny, sassy, smart, and super-brave girl. What a wonderful evening we had.