Letting go

My name is Cathy and I am a control freak. Having a child in a cast makes this condition much much worse.

We are on vacation so the goal is to have fun. Today we went to the children's museum here where we are and I had to face two fears for a kid in a cast. Water and sand. Yup. good times.

I want nothing more than for Kiya to be a kid and have fun. Sure she isn't even 3 yet and won't remember the things we did today but it is important to have the memories and the pictures/video. I love watching her face light up in pure joy.

Ok back to my point. We were with some friends and their kids today and all of the kids wanted to play with sand and water. I had to make a decision. Should I be the over protective parent and tell my almost 3 year old no you can't do this because of your cast or let go and see what happens? This is tough for me. I don't want sand in her cast. I don't want her to get soaked.

I took a deep breath and watched her dig into the sand. I kept telling myself to breath. We did get sand in her hair which is a whole other issue and a little down the front of her cast but that was easily removed with a baby wipe. Serious incident avoided.

Next up water. She saw the room and just screamed with pure delight. She demanded that she get to play in it and in her words "make a big splash". I told her to wait while I scoped it out. Truth be told I had read all about the room online the night before. I was terrified since they specifically said it might be a good idea to bring a change of clothes and a towel. I looked at the under 4 area and nearly had a panic attack. Every child in that area was soaking wet.  I quickly moved on to the other area. I looked. I scrutinized. I looked again. I checked out every kid. I looked for the aprons. I said ok. We might be able to do this.

I pulled out her waterproof bib. We put one of the museums aprons on top of that and let her have at it. She had the most fun I have ever seen her have. She screeched in delight she wanted more. She would have stayed there all night if we let her. And while I pulled her away from things that might splash too much, I let go. By the end I didn't pull her away from anything and you know what she left with slightly/barely wet shoes and arms. That was it. Her clothes were completely dry and as such so was her cast.

I let go. I let my big girl run and have fun like every other kid in the place. I let her be a normal kid. I didn't let that darn cast tell her no. I refused. We are on vacation. We are one month away from cast cut off and I said screw it. Smiles and squeals of delight were priceless. I wouldn't have changed a thing.

Letting go isn't easy for me but I did it and I would do it again. Life is too short and Kiya is only this fabulous age once. Her cast has never slowed her down and I wasn't going to let it stand in the way today. I will never forget today. It was perfect. Kiya had a blast and I let go and let her be a "normal" kid who just happens to have a pink cast.