Safety

This morning at Gymboree Playclass one of the moms surprised me. There is a moment during class where the toddlers climb up a platform and then jump onto a big, cushy mat. Almost all the kids ask to either jump into their moms arms or simply step off the platform holding onto their mom with a hand. The mom in front of me & Kylie wanted her son to make the jump without holding on to her.

Now my Kylie doesn't have the jump thing yet; she doesn't have the dual control to get both legs up in the air. Her jumps are more like one-footed hops. I've often impressed with this little boy at Gymboree because he is a great jumper. And I totally understand his mom wanting to take his skills to the next level. Gymboree is a wonderfully-padded place where it is safe to do so.

But as I watched the struggle between mother, "Jump, jump!" and son who cried, "Hand" and wanted to hold his mom's hand, I felt a wave of sadness.

I wanted to say, "Take his hand. He won't want your help much longer". Already, Kylie tells me to go sit on the bench at the park so that she can have some space to play and take risks.

Our toddlers are getting more and more independent each day. And I'm learning to treasure these small moments when Kylie wants me and some physical support.

Like at home when she wants me to carry her up or down the stairs. Sometimes, I'll inwardly groan because my hands are full (I never seem to go up or down the stairs without carrying something!) But then I'll set the stuff aside and gladly pick up my little one who wraps herself around me like a monkey. It gives me a chance to breathe her in and smell her neck and hair. I get to feel her full weight against me. And I treasure it.

I guess I was already feeling nostalgic this morning as I loaded our baby safety gates into to the car to give them away. We had four different gates that we used throughout the house at different times. I felt sappy remembering our many, many trips to BabysRUS before Kylie was born. We rarely bought anything on those trips. We just looked and researched and made plans for what we would get when she joined us. And then we bought and installed those gates. And Kylie went from sitting up to crawling to walking to running to busting her lip running.

So since I was parting with a bit of baby history and feeling all sentimental about it, I just wanted to give the mom in line in front of me a hug and say, "Sweetie, take his hand".

Here's a picture of sweet Kylie that seems to fit the mood of this post. I took it earlier this week. Normally, after breakfast Kylie is a bundle of energy, movement and words. But this one morning she wanted to curl up with a blanket and pillow on the couch. It only lasted five minutes but it was a sweet five minutes.

Here's my sweet caterpillar.