Yes...No...Yes!!!

At Aidan's school they have one of those big wooden fort/slide things that kids can climb up a ladder and then slide down a cool tubular slide. There are probably 5 rungs on the ladder. For awhile now, Aidan has liked to climb up there with me and go down the slide on my lap. A couple of weeks ago, I was in heels and a skirt and decided that I was not into sliding that day. I let Aidan climb up the ladder and run around up there by herself. She decided to try the slide, after several minutes of approach, abort, approach, abort. I coached her on going down feet first. She did it twice and seemed to have fun.

Then, for two weeks, she would not go near a slide, no matter how small it was or even in my lap. She freaked out one day when she thought I was going to make it (I was just holding her and walking by it on the way off a play structure). I told it was fine, she didn't have to slide until she was ready.

Last night, one of her slightly older friends was sliding down the big slide and Aidan decided it was her time to go for it! She climbed that ladder like a little monkey and went down the slide all by herself, feet first, and had a blast. She probably did it 10 times. I still catch her at the bottom because she comes out a little crooked sometimes, but she was dizzy with addrenaline. She only slipped on the ladder a time or two and caught herself both times. We'll see how things go today. It is nice to know she can develop some fear (I was beginning to have my doubts!) and also get over them in her own time.