Letting him learn

As most of you either know first hand or have read or heard about from someone else, I am definitely a first time mom. It is hard for me to let Aiden do things and not be afraid that he isn't going to get hurt, break something (a bone or something valuable), or make a mess. When my friend and I took our boys to the mall, we went to their little indoor playground. Aiden loves slides. He has a small one that is currently in his bedroom instead of outside, and every time we go to the park he loves to slide. He has started getting braver on the slide in his room. He will climb up it now and slide down without demanding my help. There was a small slide at this indoor playground and of course Aiden found it. There were several other older children playing on it as well. Aiden being so small, he doesn't understand that other kids want him to take his turn rather quickly. It was so hard for me to watch to see if he was going to let other kids push him out of the way or if he was going to hold his ground and get down the slide. I know all of the other parents there were probably laughing at me, cause the first few times he did it, I was right there to make sure he was ok. But then I backed off and let him do it on his own. I did however capture it on video! I think I was proud of both of us. I managed to muster up the courage to let him go for it on his own, and he was able to crawl up the slide and come down it without any help from his mommy! I think it took more courage for me to let go than for him to do it on his own!