Elisha is apparently afraid of heights. I know exactly how she feels, I'm the same way. I have a hard time getting up on a six foot ladder. My legs get wobbly and I feel like I'm constantly off balance.
The other day I took the kids to this playground:
I call it the Mother of all Playgrounds. Juli and KJ made it to the top in no time at all and were having a blast going down the two big tube slides. Elisha was in tears almost the whole time. In order to get to the top, you have to go up a ladder. Steps she can do, the ladders, not so much. I even tried to help her up, but she didn't like that either. She basically wanted me to carry her up, which I was not about to do.
After several tries to coax her up the ladders I gave up and told her to stay on the first and second level and go on those slides (there are normal stairs up to the second level). She wouldn't even do that for me. She was screaming and crying because she wanted to go on the big tube slides. At this point I decided it was time for lunch and we headed home.
Yesterday I took them to the same playground in hopes of getting Elisha to try the ladders again. Before I even got the chance to put away the apples we were eating when we got there, I noticed that KJ was holding Elisha's hand, taking her up the steps to the second level of the playground. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but there was a lot of conversation going on. Then KJ sat down on one of the bigger slides and moved all the way to one side. He looked back at Elisha and patted the space next to him on the slide. He was going to go down with her. There was more conversation, and then KJ went down the slide by himself. At this point I was ready to go up the stairs to retrieve a crying Elisha. To my surprise, she sat down on the slide and went down right behind KJ.
The smile on her face was so big it gave new meaning to "ear to ear smile". After that first time down the slide, she was off and running to go again, and again, and again, and again. It may have been the only slide she would go down, but she was having fun and playing with her brother and sister.
