Tuesday, April 13, 2010
A Tree Is Meant For Climbing
Last week we had a teacher planning day and I kept my grandchildren, Sydney and Hayden. They are 7 and 8 years old. I babysat both of them when their mom's went back to work. They were just infants and only a couple of months apart in age, Hayden was born in Feb. and Syd was born in May. They are extremely close and extremely competitive, but love each other to death. Hayden is so smart it is scary. We call him the fact man. If you want to know anything about bugs, snakes, lizards, or dogs, he is your man. Sydney is also very smart. She sees something one time and she can retain it. She knows every word to every song on 95.l and is quick to tell me I need to change the channel, because that song has a bad word in it. She loves dance and her friends. These two are so different yet so great together. Hayden says Sydney is so much fun, because when she is with the guys she will play chase, football, soccer, or wrestle and then when his sister Josie comes around she will play dolls, school, or house. Hayden will play if their is absolutely no way out. He is a sport....Well on this day there were just the two of them. I don't have much happening in my yard, no swing set, soccer goals, or pool, just a bunch of trees and a big yard. I went outside with them and they put in to climb my magnolia tree. It is not a huge tree, but it is pretty tall. Hayden headed up first. The small branches were tearing at his arms and legs so I went and got my hog nose clippers and snipped them off. The climb became a lot less painful. He made it to the first big branch and Sydney followed. I went in and got my camera, but they had ascended a little higher up the tree. I tried not to panic, but I think Hayden saw the fear in my face and he began trying to find his way down. He was starting to get scared when his foot missed the small branch beneath him. Leveled headed Mimi coaxed him down one branch at a time. Sydney was next. I don't think she was afraid, because Hayden did it without falling surely she could do it. When she reached one of the lower and smaller branches it snapped. She was close enough to the ground that I was able to grab her. They thought it was so much fun, they wanted to do it again. My heart was racing and I quickly said, "Not until your moms get here, now let's go get food." That usually grabs there attention and it did this time, but as soon as there moms got here they preceded to tell them of their adventure. My daughters both looked at me like I had lost my mind. Maybe I did for just a while. I think I was remembering my first time climbing a tree in my backyard and how exciting and dangerous it was. They climbed up one more time for their distressed mothers, but this time they stopped on the first branch. We took pictures to show their classmates of how courageous they were. I know I have now created a problem for myself. Every time they come over we will have a tree climbing event and I will find myself not quite enjoying the climb like I did the first time. We all know the first time is the best. I guess I might have to invest in that pool or at least a swing set,and I know food is not going to keep my monkeys out of the trees anymore.
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