Profile In Courage

NJ had a nice little moment of bravery the other day. The notorious slide fanatic attempted her biggest solo slide EVER at the Golden Gardens playground.

Some things scare NJ -- as they do all kids her age -- and one of them was the drop she saw when she finally got to the top of the apparatus and sat down:

It's a long way to the top if you wanna rock and roll ...

I could see the concern in NJ's eyes from the bottom of the slide, and after a few moments she hesitantly stood up and walked away. The Wife (pictured behind NJ) said something like "OK, let's see what else there is to do" and prepared to climb down. Another kid was on the way up, though -- NJ saw her and reevaluated her position. She came back to the top of the slide, sat down, and firmly grasped the side railings (above). Her eyes looked the same, but I swear I saw them slide from concern to resolve a second before she pulled herself forward, then pushed down and slid to the bottom. It was the fastest she's ever slid, and she loved it. She performed the stunt several more times, consecutively.

(Later on she let go while swinging in the Big Girl Swing, i.e. the built-in seat, and it did not end well. But that's another, even less-interesting story.)

Someone Get That Girl A Harpoon

After two beautiful, spring-has-dadgum-sprung Seattle days, it was only fitting that Saturday was dreary and overcast. That didn't stop us from heading out to a lovely little Queen Anne park. Once I mopped up the standing water on the end of the slide with a diaper from NJ's bag, she spent a good ten minutes doing what you can see in this two-minute clip. I've posted slide vids before, but I like this one because it encapsulates everything that's going around here lately, namely: boundless energy, lots of toddlerbabble, and a growing independence and determination to do things for herself. She kicks things off with an old favorite, though -- bringing all the lively action to a grinding halt and becoming non-photogenic as soon as Dad Solo whips out the camera.


Repetition is beauty.

After that NJ climbed on another play structure and did some dancing (no photos or video, sadly) and hung out with her mom. She also pretended to be on a whaling ship just off the coast of Nantucket in the 1840s. Or, maybe I was pretending that she was pretending to be on a whaling ship. Whichever it was (Psssst: It was the latter.), it made for some cute photography.

Batten down the hatches! Make sure the port-side cullery is skanded close to the torlator! Any slippage means the jib will deploy wide and loose, so the entire stern could mandilate out of control! Arrggh! Starboard! Ahoy, ahoy!

After this, the kid was gifted with some crayons and books, and then a delicious brunch at Barrio before heading home for a long, satisfying nap.