Another Gray Hair

Anyone who has worked with groups of kids knows they learn from watching each other. Whether for good or bad, it's there. Norah takes this watching to the next level.

Norah, this sort of defeats the whole run and play reason for coming to the park...

She can hardly take her eyes off the other kids or parents on the playground. It doesn't matter if she's walking up stairs, running on the pavement, or standing right at the top of some fun thing like a slide or wobbly bridge, completely oblivious to the children behind her wanting their turn, she's watching. Sometimes it does get a little weird...

Norah, watch where you're going, you're going to fall off the steps.

  I worry she's going to hurt herself, either from not paying attention to what she's doing (which almost happened today--well, everyday) or trying something the big kids were doing (which also almost happened earlier this week). It was a very steep corkscrew slide with a low side that went around twice before leveling out at the bottom. She saw a little boy going down and thought she would too.

That isn't creepy at all, Norah Grace.

Now, I usually don't go up on the playground equipment with Norah unless it's still too dangerous with me following her along on the ground where she's usually within reach. I was standing next to the slide.

Had she sat on the farthest side, it would have been fine. Fast, only slightly dangerous, but fine. However, she sat on the inside, which would have given her a near-vertical drop about as far as I am tall.

"I think she's about to take a tumble," said a guy whose son was playing on the same slide. Apparently, we were on the same train of thought. I climbed the slide and we slid down together, safe and sound.

Norah, just because you saw the four year old boy doing that doesn't mean you need to.
You seem to forget he fell halfway down the slide. 

I can't take my eyes off this little girl. She has no fear. She gives me more and more gray (and white) hairs every day.