My kids have spent a good portion of their summer in the backyard jumping on the trampoline. Consequently, Karis has spent a good portion of her summer in this position:
(We use an old Little Tikes climbing structure as the trampoline ladder. It actually works perfectly – it is much more sturdy that a trampoline ladder and the platform is helpful for when one kid is coming out while another kid is going in, since of course they refuse to heed my constant warning of “one kid on the ladder at a time.”)
Karis sort of hangs from that ladder, perched on the first step; bouncing and screaming for someone to help her up. To be honest, most of the time we ignore her. When she gets on the trampoline, everybody has to jump lightly, and inevitably she gets bounced to hard, or knocked down, and ends up crying and frustrated that she can’t jump just like her brothers and sister.
I was gonna film her funny little perch of frustration, but when I turned on the camera, she decided to raise the stakes. (Notice how she sees me filming and stops to say “cheese” before her ascent):
And then, after I spotted her across the ladder, her mission was complete.
She is pretty proud of herself, and now regularly helps herself onto the coveted trampoline. A huge milestone for Karis; a bit of an annoying liability for the rest of us, since she likes to climb on and off every few minutes. So now, it appears that I will spend the rest of the summer perched at the bottom of the ladder, offering a steadying hand to Karis the Triumphant.
