A Lesson in Perseverance

Had a bit of a breakthrough today. Emily's not the most physically confident of children, bless her heart, and she doesn't take naturally to most sporty things. One of our resolutions this year was to include lots, lots more "PE" type things in our daily routine, so (among other things) we've been doing lots of gymnastic-y things with our new gym mats. When she was about 3, Emily was doing forward rolls, backward rolls and very good attempts at handstands without even thinking about it, but the humiliation she enjoyed during school PE lessons soon knocked that out of her, leaving her with a "can't do it" attitude to most physical things.

So, we've had to go right back to basics, and re-learn how to do things like forward rolls. For the last week or so, every attempt at showing her/helping her learn what to do has ended with Emily in tears and the familiar "can't do it/too hard" routine. Dug my heels in today and *made* her keep going, despite the tears. And what do you know? She now does brilliant forward rolls. :-))) She was jumping with joy! Because she gives up so easily with this physical stuff, she doesn't often get to experience the pleasure of proving to herself that she CAN do something after all, so this was a moment to savour. And, hopefully, if we can keep the momentum going, the seeds of a new attitude?

Still on a PE (ish) theme, Emily and I took her scooter to Normanby Hall on Friday and she had a fantastic time. We took a picnic too. It was freezing cold, mind, but since we were about the only people in the place there was nobody to question our sanity as we sat huddled up munching and giggling. We had lots of indepth discussions on Friday too about it being Friday the 13th, and why some people believe that to be unlucky. She seems very interested in superstitions of all kinds and their origins. Mental note to follow that up in some way.

Yesterday was ballet again - they did a kite dance (whatever that is!!) and loads and loads of tap. Emily was due to spend the rest of the day at her friend K's house, but K was poorly (hope she's better now Trish!) so we had to call that off until next week instead.

The rest of the weekend has been spent pottering and playing (Emily) and working hard to deadlines (us). Emily's gemstones have nearly finished their tumbling process, so today she rinsed them all out and put in the final polishing powder. One more week and then they'll be ready to set into the jewellery fixings - she's really excited about that! She wanted Jon and I to each pick out a particular stone we want set into a necklace (Jon) and ring (me), and I think she's planning on choosing some for friends and other family too. Oh well, that's enough rambling. Back to work. Must stop leaving the BBC and Press Association work until the last minute every week, it's wrecking Sundays. Ho hum.