no pain no gain

with the baby who starts crusin-- there's bound to be some bruisin!
so far he's had one on his chin, one on his cheek and one on his forehead-- all in the last week. the forehead incident happened this morning while pushing great gramma's walker around gramsy/poppy's livingroom. we were watching and applauding the cuteness and agility with which he executed said task...when all of a sudden...in slow motion, yet faster than i could react...he toppled over backward (thankfully not on the bricks by the woodstove) hitting the back of his head on the floor, with the walker coming down on top of him, banging his forehead. the poor little guy! fortunately a few moments out in the cold air was enough to calm him down-- but as i watched the "egg" appear over his eyebrow, i knew it was genuinely painful. ahh the price of learning to walk!
it is such a metaphor for life. his determined little spirit and thirst for reaching his goal drive him to persevere and forget the pain. he falls constantly yet never condemns himself or wallows in self pity, refusing to get back up and try again. he just keeps trying until he gets it! oh to be so full of confidence that a task can be done-- that your hard work will pay off-- that it will be worth the trial and pain to taste the victory. to be excited to take only a couple of steps before falling again! to learn to accept falling as par for the course! and to not beat yourself up over repeated failures.
i really want to take these moments and squeeze all of the meaning out of them that i can! to try to apply them to my own "walk" through life... to be challenged by the tenacity of a tiny, helpless creature whose smile lights up a room, and ignites my heart! to be both his teacher and his student in the simple lessons of life ... and to be his greatest encourager as he learns, on all levels, to walk through this crazy world... one baby step at a time.