Determination

We had a park day yesterday.

I'm homeschooling my oldest this year, and we are part of a history co-op every Tuesday.  One of the other moms suggested we meet at the park for some Olympic games.  While the older boys competed in the Olympics, Beckett kept busy chasing squirrels, climbing on play structures and getting really, really dirty.

Playing peek a boo with a squirrel.  Little man was determined to catch it!

I kept noticing his sheer determination yesterday.  Met with rocky terrain, mud, sand, branches and tree roots he fell more often than not.  Poor kid face planted all afternoon long.

But every time he fell over, he got up and kept running full speed ahead.

This one is going to give me a run for my money.  He has no fear.  Before I could even blink he had scurried up to the highest slide on the playground - you know the kind of slide that twirls all the way down and isn't for toddlers, but the big kids?  I couldn't get to him fast enough, so I said a prayer and watched him come careening around the slide full speed ahead.

I couldn't help but be in a little bit of awe of his determination to do it himself.  To keep going.  He's not unusual in this, most kids are the exact same way.  They run, they fall, they get up.  They run, they fall, they get up.  They always keep going.

My children remind me often of things I should be working on and getting better at. 

Like wearing cool shoes and playing in the mud.

Hypothetically speaking, of course.

Yesterday was a reminder to keep going, even when I fall down.  Even when I face plant.  Get up, and keep going.  Play peek a boo with squirrels, find delight in the little things.  Be determined and keep trying.