Monday, December 20, 2004

Hero of the climbing structure

I went to the park with my daughter yesterday. She immediately started climbing up this chain-and-bar lattice that leads up to a platform about the height of my eyes. It looks like that climbing net they hang over the side of a ship. I had never seen her do this before, and she went all the way to the top and stood triumphantly on the platform. Then she climbed down all by herself too.

She went up and down in the same way three more times or so. Then she climbed up to near the top and let go and leaned back. Naturally she did this when I was glancing the other way. When I reacted, she was already falling backward. She was going down head first when my right hand closed around her ankle. She didn't bang her head or bash against anything.

I set her down and she was crying in alarm. I picked her up and started rocking and soothing her, but that didn't last long; she wanted to be set down. As soon as I set her down she climbed back up to the top, and back down again. She is like her brother that way -- wants to get back on the horse.

Then I asked her to stand to one side while I gave her a lecture about always holding on and never letting go. I climbed on the lattice and demonstrated letting go, then fell on my back a little harder than I should have. Maybe not the best thing to do when you have ALS. But she listened well and seemed to understand. Then she went up and down a couple of more times. And we went off to the sandbox.
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