Special day...

Today's trip to the playground should have been nothing special, other than just dedicated time for the three of us be together with no distractions or need for any multitasking from mom. That kind of time can be hard to find which would make today special enough regardless of anything else.

Today surprised me.

Johnathan started by climbing up to the platform in order to slide down the pole. I assisted with the slide down the first two times, but then it was clear that he could do it so I stepped back. My little boy has always been what we shall call "risk averse" and hates, hates, hates doing new things by himself so my stepping back for him to fly solo was a big deal. It always is.

Emotional drama ensued, as expected. I held firm that he could slide down the pole by himself, or not slide down the pole if he preferred, but either way it was his choice and I wasn't helping him do something that I knew he could do. That prompted the negotiation process to commence. Johnathan is an extremely effective negotiator. Final agreement was that I would stand in the general proximity of the pole so that if he fell I could leap to catch him. That led to a discussion about the definition of "general proximity". End result, I stood about 6 feet from the pole and looked attentive, like I was ready to dive forward if necessary, while he proceeded to..... totally astonish himself by sliding down the pole. The way he lit up with pride was so awesome!

Then of course he had to do it a bunch more times.

I was bursting with pride myself thinking of all the times in the past he has chosen not to do something rather than try it himself.

Meanwhile, Atinafu was working on climbing skills on the jungle gym. It was a weird jungle gym with wobbly bars and chains and he's wearing his new leg brace so it was a pretty challenging thing for him to tackle. I was cheering him on, offering a little guidance and a safety net in case he fell but basically making him do it himself. As he was figuring out a particularly difficult part, I heard him whispering to himself "I'm doing a good job. I can do it." And he did and lit up with pride just as bright as his brother's as he got to the top.

Then of course he had to do it a bunch more times.

I was a happy that we had the playground to ourselves because I may have gotten little teary thinking of the baby who, when he was placed in my arms a little more than two years ago, had little useful function on the left side of his body.

As we were heading home, Johnathan on his bike, Ati on his trike and me trailing along, I realized that today is the also the day that, two years ago, I landed with Atinafu at Tucson International Airport and we made our way home to Johnathan. And became a family of three.

A very special day.