Swing Set Victory!

It's so interesting for me to watch Connor grow. I can't help but marvel at how easily the "normal" things come to him. Things I would never notice if I didn't have a child with challenges as a comparison. Connor loves to play outside, and this kid can scale our backyard swing set with the speed and agility of the monkeys navigating the trees at the zoo. He seems to leap from spot to spot, and fly up any ladder or rock wall in front of him. For him there is no thought to his approach, it just all comes naturally and easily.

Then we have Kaitlyn. The simplest task like climbing a few steps on a ladder comes with a fair amount of forethought and even more determination and physical output. Although her system for getting up a rock wall or ladder takes 10 times longer than every other child's, she loves the fact that she can now do all of these things on her own. The fact that she can get up that ladder by herself trumps any frustration of the time and effort it takes to do so.

This summer there was one thing that she just couldn't do on her own when it came to the swing set. She LOVES to swing, and last year in Kindergarten she learned to pump her legs herself so that she didn't need anyone to push her. She was very proud of this. However, the one thing she couldn't do was get herself onto the swing. It was just too difficult to pull herself up. This was frustrating to Kaitlyn, especially when her younger brother could easily pull himself up on the swing, or stand on the swing, or hang off the swing by one leg, etc...

Well, as the summer winds down and we are getting ready to start school this week, Kaitlyn had a major swing set victory. The other day she spent the better part of 10 minutes pulling, jumping, wiggling and simply willing herself to get up on that swing. After about 5 minutes of watching her struggle I offered to help her "just a little bit", which she staunchly refused. A few minutes later, without any help from me - SHE DID IT! I don't know who was happier - her, me, or Connor! All three of us cheered in acknowledgement of the fact that she had conquered the swing set beast that had been tormenting her for all this time!

So while this is a small victory for sure, it is another step toward the independence Kaitlyn so strongly desires. Once again I stood in awe watching her work so hard to do something that comes so easily to other kids. I'm someone who tries to look for that elusive silver lining in every situation. Admittedly it's not easy to find it when you a child with CP. However in that moment, on that swing set, I stood and watched my daughter swing toward the sky as she smiled ear to ear. I took in that moment in time and really appreciated the effort she put in to get there. As I watched her I felt incredibly happy and relieved that she was able to do this all on her own. Watching a child play on a swing set is something that we as mothers do all the time. Most of the time, we don't stop and enjoy the smile on our child's face, and we certainly don't pause to appreciate the fact that they can pull themselves up onto a swing. Because of Kaitlyn, I am able to appreciate so many little moments in life that I may have otherwise overlooked.