When I was Little G's age (1951 if you MUST know) babies were left in playpens or Silver Cross prams, preferably outside in all weathers, until they went to school. Fast forward 64 years and it's a totally different world.
Before she left London, Little G had been to Baby Massage, Baby Yoga, Baby Art and Baby Cinema. And then there was all the musical stuff: Baby Bach, Mini Mozart and Tiny Tchaikovsky. OK, I made up the last two, but you get the picture.
As I don't want her to inhabit the same cultural wilderness that I grew up in, we have started rocking up to Baby Rhyme Time at the local library. The best way I can describe it is Last Night of the Proms for under 2s, conducted by a nice children's librarian and a large blue teddy bear.
The audience consists of a variety of screamers, crawlers, shufflers, lurchers, topplers and their minders: a few yummy mummies, one lone daddy and a lot of nannies and Eastern European au pairs. Now augmented by me and Little G
Little G loves it. She sits on the floor, propped up by me in case of spillage, and waves our bus ticket enthusiastically while burbling something that bears no resemblance whatsoever to what the librarian and the rest of the adult participants are singing.
Because we SING. Oh yes. Songs about speckled frogs, songs about currant buns, songs about body parts, and a song about some elderly Scottish bloke who had a farm. Cultural wilderness? Not on my watch.
To be continued ... ...
Have you taken her to Soft Play, a vast hall full of rubber mats, ball pools, mini slides etc? I took Millie to a Soft Play cafe which had slightly longer slides for mummy or granny to take the child down on their lap. I seemed to be wearing very slippy trousers so we whizzed down, Millie smiling while I closed my eyes & tried to scream quietly.
ReplyDeleteSoft play has come up a lot. I think there's one in Harpenden. Must look.
DeleteNext stop - soft play. Which is fun or terrifying or humiliating, depending on your point of view!
ReplyDeleteTwo of you have mentioned this! sounds scary!
DeleteAlways happy to read about an early library user - setting her up for life there. But then, you know that!
ReplyDeleteAnd if you survive soft play....you can progress to messy play - where you (Grandma) will put your hands into such wonderfulness as cold baked beans, multi coloured shaving foam.. or mud caked spaghetti (worms to the Littlies) - while your Littlie looks at you like you're mad (which you probably are) and refuses to get messy herself ;o)
ReplyDeleteReally? Yikes!!!
DeleteYep, really! :)
DeleteYou could always have a go at this scary messiness at home.... as Littlie (who grew to love messy play) demonstrated last year on the blog.... Hold on I'll tweet you the link. I won't link it here.. bad bloggy etiquette I believe ;)
Carol, I knew you would love being a Gran, and you do seem to be enjoying it all!
ReplyDeleteShe is great fun. The cold/cough/exhaustion less so!
DeleteWe have fantastic noisy fun at our Baby Rhyme TIme and Toddler Times, mostly childminders, Grans and Grandad's and one Dad!Babies and toddlers seem to be fully occupied every minute of the day these days..I must have been a terrible Mother!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you weren't. Mind, I only did Mums & Babies...
DeleteBaby massage, yoga, cinema, art...? I had no idea! I have done the soft play bit though. It’s fine until the older kids gatecrash (they are supposed to stay in their own part) and then it’s every man for themselves. I remember babies sat in prams outside though...ah, the good old days ;-)
ReplyDeleteGatecrashing older kids get quite a shock when they meet a granny with a teacher voice.
ReplyDeleteEspecially if she is also an Exams Invigilator and they see her around their secondary school!
DeleteSounds like you're having fun exploring a whole new world, Carol. Shows you're never too old to learn!
ReplyDelete