Little miss F loves swimming. She also loves talking and running around. For the dada and mama, this can be a bit of a nightmare since as soon as we take her anywhere that has space to move she starts crying “run-a-run-a-round”. But we love her to bits so we mostly let her do what she wants.
The swimming happens for 15 minutes on a Saturday morning and her teacher (Julia aka Doowah) has a good rapport with her. The first time we took miss F there she was quite reluctant to get into the water without L and a little wary of this new person. By the end of the lesson she was wailing “bye bye Doowah, bye bye Doowah” from the changing room as the next little girl was having her lesson.
To say that she actually swims would be stretching the point but she does float nicely on her pool noodle, she does a few kicks, throws the toys into the box and makes a good attempt at ‘monkey walks’. She also keeps up a running commentary on the whole proceedings.
Miss F: Minnie (a penguin) ….. wee-wee (a fish) … duckie … Munny! (her bunny)
Mama: Bunny doesn’t like swimming, you can have him later.
Miss F: Munny! Munny!
Mama: Munny is right here but he doesn’t like water so you will see him later.
Miss F: Leah! Leah! Doowah. Doowah.
Mama: Yes, you’re Leah and that’s Doowah.
Sometimes I fear that she has OCD and that’s why she repeats things so often. But I think she just loves the interaction.
Yesterday I took her to the library (‘run-a-run-around’) and once I’d carried her up the ramp, she was let loose on the books. Her book selection strategy is quite random. She will grab the nearest book off the shelf, drag it to the middle of the floor and plonk herself down. She also confidently walks up to another little girl who is sitting reading quietly and takes one of her books.
“No, Leah, that’s this girl’s book. You have your own book.”
Eventually we made it out of there with The Runaway Dinner , Each Peach Pear Plum , a Quentin Blake and The Bear Under the Stairs as well as The Dance of Anger which is for my anger research.
The biggest treat of the week though will be tonight when she gets to watch some new episodes of Uki, who is her absolute favourite TV character. I’m quite relieved that it’s not one of the Tee-baas (teletubbies) and that these episodes are only five minutes long. Uki is sunny and cheerful, has a best friend who is a bunny and loves reading. She’s also smart as any bee can be and solves problems. A pretty good role model for any little girl. Instead of dialogue or voice-over they have a pretty clever musical accompaniment and this is sanity-preserving for any parent.
Most evenings when I get home miss F will greet me with a happy “Udi! Udi!”
Dada: Do you want to watch some Uki?
Miss F: Alright, Alright.
Posted by Pete 
