How Green Becomes Wood

Once Ivy had her anklet on, she squeaked happily and hurried with him as quickly as her little legs could bring her. She didn't even know exactly what she was looking to play with, but it looked so brightly coloured and fun.

Tugging gently on the sleeve of his t-shirt, Daizi said, "You can believe me when I say I understand how hard it is to let anything go... But have you heard of the sunk-cost fallacy?"
 
Alec let Ivy take the lead and pointed her in the right general direction. There weren't any other kids on the toys at the moment, so she had her choice of places to run or things to climb on.

Xander dredged through his mind. "No, I don't think so."
 
Once she made it to the park, Ivy went up to the stairs of the main play structure and stood with her hands on the step, looking behind her at Alec. At Ivy's house, stairs were forbidden! These were well within reach!

"The Sunk Cost Fallacy describes the way people stick with a project, or a relationship, or any sort of investment or endeavor, because of the time, effort, or money they put into it," Daizi explained, "and so because people don't want to feel like they wasted anything, they keep with something that isn't right for them."
 
"These stairs are okay as long as I'm here," Alec told her, standing right behind her with hands outstretched to catch her. "It's okay! Climb the stairs!"

"Yep, that sounds right. Sinking costs into a thing," Xander agreed, nodding. He heaved a sigh. "I should probably quit Judo, shouldn't I? Forget taking a break and all of that, just call it good."
 
Ivy giggled and then started climbing up the stairs, crawling up on all-fours the way she would climb on the couch. After the first few, she stood up and looked backwards, she turned and looked surprised at how high up she was.

"If that's what feels right to you," Daizi replied, "I don't think 'should' really applies. But if quitting outright seems like the right path for you, then do it."
 
Alec clapped for her. "Look at you! Good job! You're up so high! How did you get up so high?"

Xander shrugged. "Well, taking a break to see how I feel seems like more of a stalling tactic than an actual test of myself. You know what I mean?"
 
Ivy looked a bit hesitant as she looked down, but then looked back at where she wanted to get to, so she kept climbing upwards until she was on a level area. Then she had two choices: turn to the double slide or a tunnel. Where she stood, she didn't know what the other end of the tunnel held.

"I do," Daizi replied, "and if you want to quit, I support you in it."
 
Alec walked toward the slide and wedged himself in the corner at the top where he could reach Ivy comfortably when she came over. "Ivy! Ivy, come here! There's a slide over here. Do you want to slide? I'll help you slide."

"Thanks," Xander said quietly. "I'll look into some other stuff I could maybe do instead." He cleared his throat. "Meanwhile, Alec is over there sing-songing like a tweety bird for your daughter to go down the slide."
 
Ivy came walking over to the edge, following Alec's voice. Once she made it to the top, she stood with her hand in her mouth, looking down. She had done slides before, so after a moment she sat down, but was still a bit hesitant to push herself down it by herself.

"She gets a little nervous at the top of a slide," Daizi told him, "It's a long way down for her."
 
Alec smiled at Ivy and put a hand on her front and her back to give her support. "Here we go, Ivy. I've got you! Ready? One... Two... Three!" He drew out the E in three and helped her slide slowly down the slide. "Down we slide!"

"I'm going to get sick if his voice gets any cheerier," Xander grumbled.
 
When Alec helped her down the slide, Ivy's eyes went wide until about halfway down the slide when she began to shriek, delighted. Once she got to the bottom, she hurriedly got to her feet, and turned around, seemingly intent on climbing the slide.

"Ivy loves it, though," Daizi replied, "We may struggle to get her home."
 
Alec let her try and then held out his hand. "Let's go up the stairs, Ivy. Then we can go down again. Up the stairs, down the slide!"

"Enkidu, want to chase a ball?" Xander asked, looking around. There was no one nearby. He'd leave Enkidu's leash on, but it should be safe to throw a ball for him.
 
Ivy walked along with Alec, going back to the stairs to climb up. The tunnel utterly forgotten for the time being, she hurried back to the slide as quickly as she could and sat down atop the slide, waiting for Alec.

Hearing his name and the name ball, Enkidu scrambled to his feet and tangled himself up in his leash as he went around in circles, ready to play fetch.
 
Alec supported Ivy like he had the first time and helped her down slowly with an accompanying, "Whee!" If she continued to want to go down, he thought he'd speed it up slowly, but while she was getting used to it, he'd keep it slow.

"Careful, bud," Xander snorted in amusement. He held up the ball, twitched it a couple of times, and threw it out for Enkidu.
 
Ivy continued to hurry to the slide. Hearing her delight, Daizi stood up and headed over to the park equipment, keeping an ear open for what Xander was up to with Enkidu. Curious about what the play equipment had, Daizi walked along it, feeling the various slides, games, and climbing opportunities. "I don't know if we can convince her to leave her current slide, but she doesn't even know she has the opportunity for a big swirly slide!"

Enkidu ran as quickly as he could to catch the ball, and almost always brought it back to Xander without much of a fight.
 
Alec laughed and helped Ivy down the slide again. "How about one or two more times, and then we try the tunnel?" he said, half to Ivy and half to Daizi.

Xander praised Enkidu with much pets between throws, regularly checking to ensure people weren't coming too close. He trusted Enkidu to be okay, but other people could be unpredictable. Plus, there was always the "Just in case," idea. If anyone came too close, he'd pick up the leash again. For now, it was fun to keep Enkidu running in a space bigger than the backyard.
 
"She'll like that," Daizi said as she came around to their side of the slide. Feeling it was a double slide, she said, "Ivy-Qadira, have you even challenged your brother to a race yet?"

Enkidu had a great time dashing off like a bullet to catch the ball and running back. It was a really great day for him, because it was a sunny day, but wasn't too hot yet, either, so his big fur coat wasn't overheating him. Every time he stopped to be pet, his tongue lolled out the side of his mouth and he tipped his head back to look up at his boy.
 
"Not yet," Alec said, helping Ivy get situated. "Do you think she'd like that? If you help her, I can hop up and get on the slide."

Xander was having a grand time with Enkidu. He enjoyed playing with the dog and walking him whenever he got the chance to. It was a lot of fun. He kept one eye on Daizi and Alec, grinning when he saw Ivy going down the slide. She seemed to be having fun, too! Today was a good day. He picked up the ball and gave it an extra hard throw.
 
"I think she'll either like it or be neutral about it," Daizi said, reaching up to find Ivy's hand, "What do you think, habibti? Do you want to race your brother down the slide?"

Enkidu ran for the ball, and on his way back to Xander, he stopped at Alec, Daizi, and Ivy to happily sniff at them before dropping the ball into Xander's hand. Before Xander even had the chance to throw it again, he turned and started to run for where he knew it would go.
 
Alec hurried around and plopped down on the slide beside Ivy. He drew up his feet to hopefully get some kind of actual sliding action before he hit the ground. "Ready? Set! Go!"

"You cheat," Xander snorted in amusement before chucking the ball as hard as he could.
 
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