Resistance Is Foremost

Ada hates new things. 

Actually, no. She loves discovery and learning and exploring, but in her own time. She hates being rushed into new things. 

Less so in recent months, but in the past, if she got new clothes, we honestly had to leave them on the floor in her room for a few days before she'd be willing to wear them. Grandparents would send the most beautiful new clothes and she'd be delighted to open the package and ooh and ahh at them, but it would take her a few days to become acclimated to them. And then she'd ask to wear it non-stop for a month.

When she was learning to ride her bike this summer without training wheels no amount of bribery or threats would get her to try, so, despite her protests, I just brought her bike to the park whenever we went. I didn't ask her to ride it. I didn't even discuss it. I knew there was no point in trying to talk her into it. The more pressure she feels, the less she wants to do a thing. 

So I just left it lying in the grass. 

Then, after a few days of this, she got up on it, and with me holding it for just a few runs up and down the path, she was off. By just the second day of practicing, she was going by herself, and by the third day, she could get started without help. 

Given the right fulcrum, Ada could move the world. Just pray you don't need her to do it today. Maybe by next weekend, if the tools can be left out on the floor for a bit.