Puzzling Progress

With most areas melting out after another big storm, we didn't make it outside over the weekend. Sunday afternoon was spent making up variations at Inner Strength, but now I'm making up variations for Sierra too. One of the most amazing thing about parenting is watching a person develop from day to day. I thought this would be something gradual, that I would only notice when looking back at old photos. Something imperceptible in the short term. I've discovered that often this isn't the case. Kids sometimes develop a new skill overnight. One day they can't get the timing down to keep themselves going on a swing set, and no amount of teaching helps at all. Then a couple weeks later, without any practice, they just jump on a swing and get themselves going with perfect timing. I'm not sure if there are circuits pre-wired in the brain, that turn on at a certain age, or if it like a machine that is being built, that doesn't work until the final piece is added? I should do some research. Either way, kids just start doing things that they couldn't do before, and do them surprisingly well. That just happened with Sierra's climbing. She's been on the wall occasionally for a couple years now, but something clicked last week. Suddenly she's doing all sorts of new climbing moves on the boulder, trying things she never would have tried before, and is so psyched, she climbs until her hands are red. Here are photos I took on Sunday.





Autumn is trying harder. She wants to do everything that Sierra does. She was almost as good as Sierra on the boulder until last week, but now she can't keep up. I wonder if she'll make the ability leap sooner due to higher motivation, or if she'll have to wait a couple years for new skills to suddenly emerge?