Grandma's Ninja Warrior Diary: The Kid Beats Me

 

We have a tenant downstairs in our house, and the tenant has a son. He is nine years old and treats us as his grandparents. We, in turn, treat him as a grandson.

So, I was astonished that he could not pull himself up on the chin-up bar that my husband had installed in our bedroom doorway so that I could get to the point of being able to do pull-ups, lots of the them. He was very weak yet a very active boy -- we walk about a mile each night together, with him scootering (well, I guess that is really not walking) and me running along beside him. He found the light weights I lift to be very heavy. I mean, we are only talking about 20 pounds.

Then, I was appalled to find out that gym is no longer part of elementary classrooms around here. Goodness, where do kids get their guidance in physical activities?

So, I interested him in a competition, using the bar. Who could get to do pull-ups sooner. He pulled in a kid visiting a neighbor for two weeks and vowed to do better than that kid. At first, the neighbor's visitor was better though he, too, could not pull himself all the way up even once.

So, Jayden kept trying and trying. Last night, he came to my office downtown just as I was closing up, bubbling in excitement. He could do pull-ups. More than one in a row!

He beat me! I am still working at it, but now I have a goal to catch up! My trainer promises me (not sure how she can do that) that I will be able to do the same in January. January sounds like pretty far away -- and way too soon!

We shall see what daily attempts to lead to in five months. Gotta have faith and endurance and continuing effort and and and and...

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