On Thursday we met some friends at a park around the corner and Merrick asked me to push him on the swings. I don't know if it was because I kept telling him to go play and that I would push him in a minute (mommy needed some time to socialize with grown-ups) or because his older cousin just learned how, but he determined that he was going to learn to swing by himself. When, as promised, I did come over to help him, he not only wanted me to push him, but he wanted me to teach him how to pump as well.
We spent quite a while practicing and I would remind him when to swing his legs out and when to pull them in. While we have practiced this from time to time before, this is the first time it seemed to come naturally to him. After a while he did not really need me to prompt him and while he is not really strong enough to gain momentum, if he really concentrates he can keep himself going.
Each day since then he has asked to go to the park so that he can work on his new found skill. The rain has set in today and I am sure we will have less park days in the immediate future, but he will get stronger over the winter and be ready to take the swings by storm come next summer.
As you may have noticed the title for this post is "masters", plural. Carrigan has also developed a new found love for the swings. I let her try them for the first time a couple weeks ago and somehow I never got the pictures posted, an oversight I intend to correct today. Her first time in the swings she did not really seem overly excited by them, but she seems to like them more and more each time. Yesterday when we tried she smiled and laughed and seemed to really enjoy herself for the first time.
I guess mommy is not off the hook any time soon because as one becomes an independent swinger, the next one is ready step up and fill his place.
No comments:
Post a Comment