"No mummy, no help"

Words I didn't think I would hear until Holly was at least a grotty teenager, let alone 4 days after her second birthday!  After I picked her up from nursery today we had our usual 30 minute stint at the playground next door.  It's a nice park and we often see some of her pals from ursery there who she goes off and plays with.  Today though, we had the park all to ourselves.  We started, as always, on the swings where she insists I sing this silly swing song I made up.  After 3 rounds of the song she wanted off and hot footed it over to the slide.  To get to this slide it's not a ladder but a rope climb.  Normally I hold her upper body and she lifts her legs up onto the rungs until she reaches the top.  I went to assume my normal position to hoist her up when she turns round, pushes me away and says,"no mummy, no help".  I stood there and watched as she climbed herself to the top of the rope climb and then went down the slide the other side.  I was so proud and yet so upset at the same time it was very strange.  My little girl no longer needed my help up the rope climb and made no bones about telling me.  I'm so proud that she's progressing so well but it really does break your heart when your baby tells you they don't need you.

It wasn't long before she wanted to move onto the seesaw.  Now, I thought, she'll need my help to get on.  Nope, wrong again and again when I went to lift her on she pushed me away and threw the same words at me, "no mummy, no help".  I must admt it was funny to watch her pull herself onto the seat in the most un ladylike way, but by god she did it and she did it all by herself.  I was then ordered to sit on the other end, and being the good mummy I am, I did as I was told.  It was so surreal to be sitting at the opposite end of a seesaw to my two year old daughter when I'm so used to helping her hold on.

All these times I've taken her to the park and helped her hold on.  Was it that she needed my help holding on all this time or was it more a case of me trying to hold on to her being a baby that little bit longer?

When people tell you to treasure the days when they are babies because they grow up so quick, you never really appreciate what they're saying until you have that moment on the slide.

xx