Leaps and bounds

I've written before about how D, and our kids generally, make non linear progress. Over the last few days it's been interesting to see some significant leaps.

D who after figuring out crawling, going up stairs and standing up within a 24hr period in Bali, had appeared to plateau since then. Plateau is probably the wrong term, she's been working on her technique (increasing her speed, strengthening her legs and improving her balance)  but the progress is less obvious. That is until three days ago when she figured out how to use a walker. We have a little cruiser!

The other big leap was from G, she can now ride a bike! We'd been encouraging it for two years without much traction, when about three weeks ago she started saying: I want to try riding without stabilisers. We didn't give it much attention since riding opportunities were few on our trip to Devon, then a week or so ago we got the bike out and sure enough with some saddle holding she was off...

Clearly when you're ready, you're ready. No need to push hard, just support and provide the opportunity.

Her beginner bike was a bit small so thanks to a chance find at the charity shop we upgraded her wheels. The new "big girl bike" and being able to master a skill previously the preserve of F really seems to have given her a confidence boost (aided by F treating her more as an equal).

This boost was soon put to use tree climbing. For several years and to Ali's relief she's been very wary of going above some of the lower tree branches (up to around 8 feet above ground). Then two days ago we went to one of their regular trees when she announced: I'm going to go higher. OK then, I responded, assuming she might rise a branch or two, but oh no! up and up she went.

In fact about as high as F normally goes, definitely in the Ali nervous/panic zone (16 feet+).

This had the inevitable effect of forcing F to raise his game to confirm his superiority. He's now at my nervous zone, when the top branches start to thin out and really don't look like they're going to hold his weight.

Ah well, the disadvantages of progress.