Slide Training

If you guessed that this picture wasn’t taken recently, you’re correct.  If you guessed its about 2 months old (!), you get a gold star!

For months Nathan has enjoyed playing his slide in the basement.  I set him at the top of the slide and then he makes his way down using various techniques.  I wish I had a video because he doesn’t do it anymore, but early on Nathan would always use his feet to slow his descent down the slide.  Many times he would just stop himself half way down and just sit there, grinning at me.  I would always be stationed to one side of the slide, however, because sometimes he would try to nose-dive off the end of the slide.  Not too comfortable an ending!

Lately, I've noticed that Nathan would ALWAYS dive off the side of the slide into my arms, rather then trying to land on his own.  So in (eager!) anticipation of warm spring days spent at the park on bigger slides, I decided that he needed to develop some new landing habits.  I grabbed a pillow from the guest bedroom and set it at the bottom of the slide and then stood back and encouraged him to go for it.  Overall the new technique is a success, however sometimes when I count for him (“One… two… three… GO!”) he launches himself down the slide so energetically that his momentum carries him past the pillow.  But overall he’s starting to have slightly more controlled landings. 

In the past week Nathan started showing an interest in climbing up the back side of the slide.  The steps are pretty skinny, more ladder-like then step-like, so they present more of a challenge for Nathan then climbing up the basement stairs (which he can do like a champ, by the way).  In fact, I think the skinny steps really freaked him out in the beginning. But over the past few days we’ve worked on Nathan’s technique and he’s getting more confident.  Then tonight after dinner, Nathan decides to show off his new skills to Daddy and proceeds to climb up onto the bottom rung of the step ladder in our kitchen.  Brian said “Where do you think you’re going?”  Nathan didn’t answer, but it looks like Mommy is going to have to be more careful about not leaving the step stool out around unattended little boys!