Fortitudine Vincimus
Fortitudine Vincimus.
Translation: By endurance we conquer
I think this must be Colin's motto, and he isn't kidding!
Yesterday I took him to the park, and as we were walking up to the playground he saw a Winne The Pooh metal lunchbox (?) and was instantly obsessed. I wouldn't let him play with it, since I had to assume it belong to some child who would be back for it eventually, and frankly I didn't know if perhaps a dog had... ahem... "marked" it or something.
I put the lunchbox just outside the mulched area, behind the surrounding two-by-fours so it was out of sight, thinking Colin's attention would re-direct to the swings, slides and other play equipment. Wrong!
I tried to put Colin in the swings (his favorite) and he adamantly refused to even put his legs through the holes, saying "please, please, down!" The moment I put him down he made a bee-line for the corner of the playground where I'd "hidden" the lunchbox. When I blocked him from getting it he stopped and started bawling (not real tears, but he was certainly frustrated).
I picked him up and carried him to the far side of the playground. He started to happily crawl around the play-gym, playing with me in the tunnel and riding the elephant. He climbed the stairs and looked through the peep-holes. He did knock-knock on the bubble window. He went down the slide. And then, when he thought I'd forgotten about it, he headed straight back for the corner again. I blocked him and he spent a couple of minutes dodging left and right trying to get around me.
So again, I picked him up and carried him to the far side of the playground. I played with him in the tunnel, I let him walk over to a tree and held him so he could "sit" on a branch, he went up and down the slide over and over again. He was fascinated by a bug and watched it intently until he (very gently!) touched it and it flew off. (He waved and said "bye-bye!") Then he started walking, very casually, toward the corner. Again. Pausing at the swings to inspect a very interesting piece of mulch. Then he hightailed it right toward the corner again!
The kid is relentless. He bides his time. Time elapsed could be 5 minutes or 20 minutes, but he will keep going back until eventually you forget and he succeeds. Yesterday I won, because the weather was turning and we had to head home, but I was continually amazed that he never got distracted or lost sight of his goal. Despite my best efforts! That is one persistent little 16-month-old boy!
Translation: By endurance we conquer
I think this must be Colin's motto, and he isn't kidding!
Yesterday I took him to the park, and as we were walking up to the playground he saw a Winne The Pooh metal lunchbox (?) and was instantly obsessed. I wouldn't let him play with it, since I had to assume it belong to some child who would be back for it eventually, and frankly I didn't know if perhaps a dog had... ahem... "marked" it or something.
I put the lunchbox just outside the mulched area, behind the surrounding two-by-fours so it was out of sight, thinking Colin's attention would re-direct to the swings, slides and other play equipment. Wrong!
I tried to put Colin in the swings (his favorite) and he adamantly refused to even put his legs through the holes, saying "please, please, down!" The moment I put him down he made a bee-line for the corner of the playground where I'd "hidden" the lunchbox. When I blocked him from getting it he stopped and started bawling (not real tears, but he was certainly frustrated).
I picked him up and carried him to the far side of the playground. He started to happily crawl around the play-gym, playing with me in the tunnel and riding the elephant. He climbed the stairs and looked through the peep-holes. He did knock-knock on the bubble window. He went down the slide. And then, when he thought I'd forgotten about it, he headed straight back for the corner again. I blocked him and he spent a couple of minutes dodging left and right trying to get around me.
So again, I picked him up and carried him to the far side of the playground. I played with him in the tunnel, I let him walk over to a tree and held him so he could "sit" on a branch, he went up and down the slide over and over again. He was fascinated by a bug and watched it intently until he (very gently!) touched it and it flew off. (He waved and said "bye-bye!") Then he started walking, very casually, toward the corner. Again. Pausing at the swings to inspect a very interesting piece of mulch. Then he hightailed it right toward the corner again!
The kid is relentless. He bides his time. Time elapsed could be 5 minutes or 20 minutes, but he will keep going back until eventually you forget and he succeeds. Yesterday I won, because the weather was turning and we had to head home, but I was continually amazed that he never got distracted or lost sight of his goal. Despite my best efforts! That is one persistent little 16-month-old boy!
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