October 16, 2004 - Saturday
We took the boys to a new playground this afternoon (in lieu of mini-golf since the course was closed for the season). It was kind of a small playground, but one that was different from anywhere they'd been before and that's always a plus. Among the various slides, ramps, and other climbing apparatus were two poles to slide down, both accessible from platforms some five feet off the ground. That's too high for either Harry or Jeremy's sense of well-being, but I was pretty sure they both wanted to try to slide. Harry actually leaned out to try and grab on a couple of times, but couldn't bring himself to commit to it given the height. Jeremy just said "no," but was clearly excited about the mere idea of it being like a fire pole.

Senseing that both boys were intrigued by it, I asked them each a few times if they wanted to try without success. Then, as it got closer to the time when we would have to leave I finally just picked Jeremy up and put him on the pole. He tried to refuse a little, but his heart wasn't in it, just a little nervousness. So, I held him up, wrapped his legs around it, and guided him down the 3 feet or so. His mother was right there, too, and we both acted all happy and told him he was a real fire fighter, but there was no sell job needed after that. Jeremy knew all about it already.

Jeremy's usually a pretty happy boy (recent behavior excepted), but this was about as big a smile as I've seen from him in quite a while. I also can't remember him ever literally jumping up and down with excitement. It probably goes without saying that I had to lift him up several more times and then, because Harry saw this from across the playground, I had to do the same for him, several times. But, that's OK. Harry seemed almost as excited as Jeremy (although probably less for being like a fire fighter and more about effectively conquering a fear). And, there just aren't that many chances in the day to day of life to make the boys so proud and happy so easily.


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