This afternoon we had a playdate at Jungle Joe's with Lyla's little friend Ella. Jungle Joe's (doesn't that apostrophe look wrong? I checked online and that's what it's called...but Jungle Joe's what? Jungle Joe's Collection of Craptastic Creatures?) is basically a large room filled with about ten huge, inflated, bouncy castles. Except they are sharks, or monkeys, with bouncy stairs to climb up and bouncy slides to throw yourself down. If I'm sounding kind of snotty that's because I felt slightly snotty walking in there. It's sort of grimy and a bit sticky underfoot...juice, I told myself. Lyla didn't know what to make of it either (I think I heard her say...it's like Chuck E Cheese without the charm), but after about 20 minutes looking around and checking it all out she got REALLY into it. There was one giant bouncy creature that started off with an obstacle course and finished up with a nearly vertical climbing wall with bouncy cubes sticking out every couple of feet leading up to the top of a large slide. Lyla completed the obstacle course bit and came up against this huge wall and basically went back the way she came. But after seeing Ella do it a couple of times she decided to have a go.
This is where I just started to stare at her in awe...the whole time biting my tongue and trying not to just jump in there and get her. It probably took her 3 or 4 attempts to get up the wall, every time getting a bit closer to the top then losing her footing and tumbling down to the bottom (soft, bouncy bottom, but still), sweaty blonde curls sticking to her forehead, pink cheeked, she'd pick herself up again and set off back up the wall. I figured once she'd made it up once she'd think, alright, done that, but she finally got to the top, hurled herself down the slide then ran back around for another go. This continued for maybe another 45 minutes or an hour, each time struggling to the top, more sweaty blonde curls etc.
The whole time, I couldn't stop thinking, how do we lose this? This incredible tenacity and confidence. It didn't even matter that she was struggling, she was having a great time and was elated every time she made it. Is it self-awareness? Do parents and teachers somehow knock this out of kids? How on earth do I keep this? The whole time I was dying to tell her to just stop, come to me, I'll help you. She is capable of so much more than I can ever imagine and I need to remind her and remind myself of that every day.
