Today I feel like a proud mama.
This morning I took the kids visiting teaching with me, and usually it's pretty brutal trying to keep both kids happy and not getting into trouble while you attempt to sit and converse at someone else's house. At our first visit, Peter was happy to go and play with toys in another room. He has never been willing to do that the other times that we have gone there, he was always too nervous and would burst into tears unless he was right beside me. Not today! It was great, and it was so exciting to see that progress. At the next house it was similar, he was happy to play with some toys on the floor, and only started to get antsy after we had been there quite a while.
He happened to take an extra long nap today, that wasn't really him being a "good boy" per say, but I sure loved the extra long break! After his nap we ended up going to the aquarium nearby because I want to get my money's worth out of that pass. This was the first time that I had taken the kids without another adult in tow, and it went perfectly. I was floored. Peter was so happy to be there, and stayed close by and no tantrums were had. Carolyn was happy the whole time too.
What was especially neat was this big play area that the aquarium has that is "exclusive to members". Oooo. Doesn't that sound fancy? Anyway, it has a play area similar to something you might find at a McDonalds, but three or four times the size. Peter tried a really small one first that had some little hurdles to climb over, and he was too scared for a long time. Finally he saw another little boy climb over and tried it, and then he loved it. He has always been pretty cautious and nervous when it comes to physical things, and after he did well at the small one at few times, he went into the big one and made it through the whole course! I'm sure it's hard to imagine because you can't see what I'm talking about, but I was sure that he was going to have a meltdown in the middle and I would have to find a staff member to fish him out for me, but no such thing happened!
What a treat it was to watch him expanding his capabilities right there in front of me. It made my mom heart swell. Watching these two grow up right before my eyes is the best thing ever.
A-ha! I found a picture on their site of the play area, if you're dying for a visual.Labels: Family, Motherhood