Overcoming fears is kids stuff...

Tonight Emmie had her cello lesson. We have cello every Tuesday night. Afterwards we go out for dinner as it is too late to go home and cook after her lesson. Usually she wants to go out for Chinese to get egg soup, dumplings and "that red chicken". Tonight she wanted to go to McDonald's. She said she wanted to play in the play structure which was very odd. She NEVER wants to play in those things. I have encouraged her to try it so many times I have lost count. They even have a really big one at Frankie's Fun Park but she will not play in it.

So we had a quick bit to eat and went out to the play structure. I told her that she would need to take her shoes off before she goes into the tubes. She hates to take her shoes off. This child gets up in the morning and puts on her shoes. When she gets out of the bath and her jammies on she puts on her shoes until she goes to bed. I thought the removal of the shoes would be a deal breaker. I thought wrong. She took her shoes off and put them in the sneaker keeper slots. She climbed into the first tube and started making her way up the interior steps. She climbed all the way up and started making her way through the tubes and was waving at me from the upper tube. She then made her way around to the circular slide and actually went down the slide. This was another first for her. She did not and would not go down a slide if she could not see the end. She has never been willing to even try to go down one of those slides. Tonight she went down it about a dozen times.

I was so proud of her. She has over come three of her big fears, climbing in the upper tubes of a play structure, going down a circular slide and leaving my sight long enough to have a little fun like a normal kid.