Monday, June 7, 2010

Maddie and the Summer of Bravery

It's really happening.

A little background....

My sweet Mads was fearless! ....... up until last summer. Then she did a 180 and became afraid of everything and all things. That is not an exaggeration. (although it may be redundant)

Exhibit A:
Swim lessons - this is non-negotiable in our household. The adults are outnumbered. It's a safety issue. Which means they have to go to class. Which means Maddie screamed for an hour straight for 4 days in a row.

Exhibit B:
Ballet camp - she didn't even last 5 min. in the ballet room (I know this for a fact, I timed it). This is not a safety issue, so we cut our losses and took our cute tutu home for the dress up box.

Exhibit C:
VBS - different song, same tune.

This doesn't include the numerous parties where she wouldn't get out of my lap, the play-dates where she wouldn't get out of my lap, and the countless phobias (bugs, animals, getting left behind ...) that seemed to plague her daily.

Now, here we are, summertime once again.

Jeff and I sat her down and told her that this summer is the Summer of Bravery.
Lo and behold, Mads took this seriously. It almost makes me feel guilty because we made it up and she took it to be gospel truth. Almost.

So, this summer she has learned to slip-n-slide the correct way (not the tip-toe , scoot on your knees way), and started sticking her face in the bathwater for a brief second.

It's a start. We've signed up for swimming again and she says she is pumped.

I have to say, so am I.

We might even get that tutu back out! (fingers crossed, oh please, oh please)

3 comments:

Beverly said...

What a great idea! Did you add "catching fish" to her list of brave things to do? :)

(BTW... did you realize you have snowflakes on your background? Are you dreaming of a white Christmas already? LOL)

ashleigh said...

Please oh please will you have t-shirts made? Or maybe just a cape for Mads...

Also, I did not realize there was a correct way to slip'n'slide. "Don't break your neck" was about the only guideline we had growing up. We'll have to bring our boys over for a remedial slip'n'slide lesson :)

maryann said...

Hey girl!! I'm back...been forever since I checked blogs...so glad you are stll keepin yours...you are such a great writer and capturer of day to day moments!!!!!