HUCK AT THE PLAYGROUND

there is a universal lesson to be learned from watching your toddler at the playground, i think.

i bring huck to this little playground a few blocks from our apartment on afternoons when we feel cooped up and need to stretch our legs. it is the perfect size for a man like huck. he likes to march his little toddler body with knees pumping high from one rock to the next, peering into puddles, stopping to consider pigeons, and shouting at the dogs on leashes outside the gate. 

recently, huck discovered the play structures. and since then . . .  i feel like old mrs. bennett. my poor frazzled nerves!

the universal lesson to be learned from playgrounds with toddlers, i suppose, is trust.

there are times i have to physically restrain myself from "rescuing" him from those play structures and trust that he can do it. it's hard to take a step back, remove my cocooning arms from his tiny body, and let him try. let him reach. let him, maybe, hopefully not, but potentially, stumble. it's okay if he stumbles.

i know that by giving him space to climb and try, i'm giving him the chance to trust himself, and me the chance to trust myself, and i know that the next time he climbs those stairs he'll be even stronger, more steady, and more sure of himself. much less likely to fall. by letting him trust himself i'm allowing us all the chance to grow. 

that's the tricky part of motherhood, i think. knowing our limits, and then testing them just a bit. not too much. just enough.

and while we're here let's decide, once and for all, 

that this kid of mine is uh-mazing.

here's to trusting ourselves, kid.