Today we tried to liven up the afternoon by going to the carousel after naps, as both girls requested. After we got there, bought tokens, stood in line, and got Elena strapped on to a horse, Clara adamantly refused to ride and asked to leave. Now, typically, Elena has been getting more adventurous about riding, and Clara prefers to sit in the seats on the carousel with Christina and Steve. Elena has ridden one of two horses on the carousel that does not go up and down on her own in the past, and has done great. Today, Christina was taking the girls on her own and bumped Elena up to one that DID move up and down, intending to be sitting on the horse right beside her. But with Clara's firm refusal to even be ON the carousel, Christina gave Elena the choice of getting off or of riding completely on her own. Without hesitation she chose riding on her own.
Christina checked with not one, not two, but three attendants to be sure everyone else thought this was fine and that they were all ready to leap up onto a moving carousel if Leni looked like she was in trouble (people, this carousel is FAST) but there was no such need. She smiled a humongous smile at Clara and Christina each and every time she whirled around, and you have never seen such a proud girl as this little Elena when she got off her horse. She was so very happy to have done it all by herself. We bought her carousel socks to mark her brave occasion.
What did Clara think of all of this? She was very proud of Elena, and kept talking about how she rode all by herself. Then she firmly expressed that she did NOT want to ride by herself, but that when she did decide to she wanted to get the fun socks, too. Fair enough - to each their own.
(pictures not taken by us - credited to georgialeonee)
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