One of the aspects of parenting a school-age kid that I am having a hard time reconciling in my mind (and my heart!) is that my kids learn things when I'm not present. For so long as babies and toddlers, everything new they do is in my presence or gets reported detail-by-detail by a nanny or preschool teacher. But as Dash and especially Ella have moved into older preschool classes, and now elementary school for Ella, I get many fewer detailed reports of new developments and I rely much more on what they tell me. So sometimes I find that the kids just totally blow my mind by busting out with something I had no idea they could do.
At a park recently, Ella climbed up and zoomed across the monkey bars, swinging her body with total confidence, and easily moving herself from rung to rung across the entire set of bars. Last I remembered was being at a park with her a few months ago when she was not able to even go from the first bar to the second! Seeing her do the whole set with such confidence and ease completely blew me away. She very nonchalantly told me she had been practicing at school. No big deal, mom, she seemed to think. It was a big deal to me!
Monkey girl
