Master Of The Monkey Bars

Last week we had a family outing to the park. Ruth had her heart set on doing the monkey bars, but she would chicken out every time, after moving to just the second bar (where her feet could no longer touch the step). Jeff offered her ice cream if she made it to the third bar, and she said "no thanks." This afternoon, I took the kids over to the park again, and Ruth again decided to give the monkey bars a go. After a few tries she made it to the third bar, and then the fourth. Finally, she made it all the way across. She was so excited, I thought she would pop, and I was extrememly proud of her. We called Daddy at work and he said he'd meet us at the park because he wanted to see her do it, too. When he got there she had a bit of "performance anxiety," but she did get half-way across, and it was very exciting. We all went out for ice cream after dinner to celebrate. I just can't believe what a big girl she is getting to be! Every day there is some new skill to applaude! I'm trying to remember to linger in these few precious moments before they slip away, before something much less important than mastering the monkey bars steps up into the place of most important.