He's getting bigger... And stronger

Today we took Ted to the zoo. If you're familiar with the zoo, you might know the playground with the bug theme that's just past the carousel. That's been a popular stop for Teddy for as long as he's been walking, but he's traditionally stuck to the smaller kids sections. There's a whole big part that requires a kid to climb up multiple levels to get higher and higher. Teddy has always sort of wanted to go there, but he's also always been a little too small, young and frankly weak.

Part of being a heart kid is that he grows a little slower. Part of my genetic legacy is that his legs are actually disproportionately short, relative to his torso. And part of having spent a lot of time as a really little one in a hospital is that his gross muscular development and core have always been a bit behind the curve. But today, he managed to climb up with the bigger kids, all the way to the top.

Teddy, scaring his mother

Today, he managed to climb all over the playground. Now, the sections where the kids go up and down are little levels about 2 feet apart. Climbing back down once, Teddy managed to miss and the level below and was hanging, supporting his own weight as he dropped down, skipping one of the steps entirely. That doesn't sound like much, but for Ted, this was a big deal. He wasn't scared, even. He just hung there, a couple of inches from the bottom, and smiled at me as I got a little nervous and then he dropped down, like "Dad, this wasn't a big deal." And he was right, of course. But he's come a long way from a little kid who needed help to breathe, and learned to walk for a long time with a pair of sticks to hold up his core.