We went to a birthday party on Saturday afternoon for our old neighbors daughter who was turning one. The birthday party was at a fun little place called The Elite Gym. The Elite Gym is full of trampolines, inflatables, slides, big rope swings, foam pits to jump into, etc. Anything a child would need to let out some energy and have some fun is at The Elite Gym. We’ve been there several times before for birthday parties and for their open gym time on Friday mornings. This was the first time we’ve been though where Kelly has really been old enough to climb the things and set out on her own.
The only thing is… Kelly wasn’t on her own. She was the leader of the pack. She was the first one of all the kids (most of them were a good 1-2 years older than her) to try out the most daring things. She stood on top of a platform and held on to a Big Bird trapeze and jumped off holding for dear life. She was swinging back and forth while the other kids watched nervously, not sure that they wanted go there. She was the first to jump off of a giant vault horse into the foam pit. She was the first to make it all the way through the inflatable climbing up to the very top and going down the huge slide.
Jacob, on the other hand, was so cautious. He never did the trapeze or rope swing. He was happier just running around with his buddies playing up in the treehouse. He didn’t want to have anything to do with jumping off high platforms or swinging back and forth over a big foam pit. He had no problem running off the side and jumping into the foam pit, but he was not at all interested in doing anything that would make his heart beat just a bit faster. Of course, this is the child that still has to sit down to get out of the van… it is even too high to jump out of! He doesn’t have an ounce of daredevil in him while his sister is overflowing with the need for speed.
It will be interesting to see if Kelly keeps this sense of adventure. I definitely don’t want to squelch it although taming it a bit wouldn’t be so bad, would it? 🙂 It will also be interesting to see if Jacob ever decides to take a risk, or if he is going to play it safe his whole life. Also, where will Ella fit into this whole thing? Maybe she’ll be a good mix of both, teetering slightly between cautious and daring.
Have you forgotten how Jacob used to travel down the stairs? I call that risk-taking. Maybe breaking a collar bone made hima little more cautious.
I use to jump of staircases too when I was younger. I had no qualms about going over the monkey bars one-handed. I even went down a parachute simulator that was 30 feet off the ground.
Now, a fear of heights, clumsy as all get out and wouldn’t jump off a movie merry-go-round.
We also have a little dare-devil (who scares me to death), and an overly cautious one (who makes everyone around her nervous). Still waiting to see which way the little one will go. She definitely has some serious OCD traits, so we’ll see……. 🙂
Kelly is my kinda gal!