Logan was doing a great job trying to regulate Noah, but I swooped in as backup.
“See how strong those ropes are?” I added as I kneeled in front of him. “That’s what Jared was talking about when he demonstrated falling in the beginning. Even though Madison let go of the grips, she didn’t fall down to the ground. I bet it felt like she was flying!”
“Get this off, now,” Noah insisted, eyes wild. He wasn’t taking in a word we were saying. He wrenched at the harness with increasing frustration. “I want itoff!”
Logan placed his hand on Noah’s shoulder. “Noey, hold on. Let’s talk about how you’re feeling. Are you scared?”
Noah paused at the question and stared at the ground.
“I don’t know.”
Logan shot me a desperate look—an invitation to tap in again.
“You did a great job up there, Noah,” I began. I knelt so I could look him in the eye. “I could tell that you listened really carefully to all of the instructions. You looked so confident!”
He cracked a smile at the compliment.
“I saw it too,” Logan chimed in. “It seemed like you were having a great time.”
Noah shrugged.
We all watched as Madison started climbing the wall again.
“Wow, look at her go!” Logan cheered. “She’s showing that wall who’s the boss.”
Logan and I both held our breath, waiting to see how Noah would respond. He watched Madison with one hand still clutching the harness.
“Oh, darn it!” Logan cried out, drawing our attention back to him. “I can’t believe I forgot to get a picture of you to send to Grandpa and your uncles. They would’ve loved to see you looking like a professional climber.”
Score. It wasn’t a push to try to get him to go again if he really was uncomfortable with the idea; it was an acknowledgment that hehad.
Noah looked up at his father. “You think they want to see me doing it?”
He nodded. “Oh, definitely. You know how much they love adventure stuff. And they always enjoy seeing you try new things.”
A dozen emotions shifted across Noah’s face as he considered giving climbing another shot. He glanced at the wall, then down at the harness.
“You’ll take pictures, then I can be done?”
Logan lit up. “Yeah, bud. I’ll snag a couple of pictures of you looking like a total pro, then you can finish up and come down whenever you say. You don’t even have to go high if you don’t want to.”
I had a feeling that once he was back at it, his fears would fade away, but only time would tell.
“Okay, let’s go,” he said, walking away with a confidence that came out of nowhere.
Logan and I gave each other wide-eyed looks.
“What just happened?” he asked, whispering like he was afraid of breaking some kind of spell.
I chuckled. “You discovered that your son likes to show off.”
“Hey, nothing wrong with being the star now and then,” he shot back.
“You better get up there, paparazzi. He’s ready to go.”
Logan jogged over to where Noah was listening to another pep talk from Jared and started snapping photos. It was such a sweet scene that I couldn’t resist taking a few of my own as Noah started his second ascent. I zoomed in on Noah’s face as his expression switched from nervousness to happiness when he spotted his dad taking pictures, just like he promised.
When his turn was over, Noah opted to stand with the rest of the kids rather than run back to us, which I took as a huge positivestep. Logan rejoined me, and we both watched him laughing as he pretended to play tug of war with the rigging with some of the other boys.
