Saturday, December 12, 2009

A rather delicate subject...

Over the last 2 weeks Leah's vocabulary appears to have entered the explosive stage that we were warned may happen once they've mastered around 50 different words and animal sounds. She's now happy to have a go at any word we ask her to try (today's entertainment came courtesy of orange and elephant). However we know we're only a heartbeat away from our lovely girl embarrassing us verbally as well as physically - the raging tantrums are well underway and the immunity is building up very very quickly. I've just been "talking" on Facebook to one of Leah's best pal Ruby's moms and was inspired to blog about my dilemma.

Leah is very proud of her newly mastered words and has recently become fond of saying 'wee' every time her father disappears to the loo with Time magazine. After weighing up the options I figured that was probably one of the better scenarios and I've decided not to correct her for now. But I do realise that we are on borrowed time and sooner or later we're going to have to label body parts not covered by the 'head, shoulders, knees and toes' song (which she loves of course).

So my dilemma is, what do I do? All the rage in SF is to be anatomically, biologically and medically correct and to use the correct terminology. Now I have no religious affiliations whatsoever but I always remember my mum laughing at me as I tried to completely hide myself under an enormous beach towel when changing into my swimsuit aged 7 or something. 'You're such a prude' she'd tell me before I was really sure what a prude was, hell I'm not sure I knew what a prune was but I figured they must be related. So perhaps there's a latent puritan in there somewhere that just isn't relishing my little girl shouting out 'vagina' in public, and let's face it, Leah's not the quietest child. However nor can I stomach the cutesy cutesy words that are used over here but if I resort to British words 'tuppence' or god forbid 'fanny' it's only going to cause confusion in the long run. So for the time being it's 'bits and pieces' or, and this started as a bit of a joke but has stuck, 'ladybits' for the time being.

Any advice???

Friday, December 4, 2009

Training for SoccerTots

Mum has signed me up for the SoccerTots class that starts in January. I'm very excited about it and have been getting some practice in. Check me out!



I wonder if Father Christmas will bring me some football boots?

One of the hardest things about being a parent here...

it's not the sleepless nights, not the tantrums and clash of wills, it's not the worry or the non-stop clearing up, nor is it the fact that we're 6000 miles away from the nearest grandparent as bad as that is. It's the toddler singalongwitheverything classes!!!!

Today Leah and I went to My Gym which is a $78 per month children's gym / soft play place (very SF). I'd signed up for a free class before fully reading the ad which I later found out included the dreaded by me two words 'parental participation'. Still, I'll do it for my girl I thought, I'll sacrifice my inner and outer Brit and just go for it. We turned up a few minutes late and found the very large room full of toddlers and their caregivers (also very SF) having a great time just running around the place. There were trampolines, a ball pit, slides and stairs, bars to hang off, crash mats and a whole host of things to fling yourself on or over. 'Not too bad' I thought to myself and Leah clearly delighted with the place started running around laughing away to herself.

And then they cut the music and shouted 'OK it's circle time'. Cue everyone sitting around with their toddler on their lap as the action songs started. Now there's only so long I can get away with 'hmmm I don't know this song' but luckily for me Leah was having none of it. As all the other kids sang something about their chestnuts and happy hands Leah decided to make the most of the free class and check out all the equipment while the other kids were busy. I shrugged my shoulders and gave my best 'what's a mum supposed to do?' face and joined her on the trampoline quietly observing the rest of the mums.

So I've been to swimming classes with compulsory singing, music classes (well I did at least expect it there) and birthday parties. Clearly the kids love it and I know I just need to get over my discomfort and join in with my best cheery voice and beaming smile but boy is it difficult to do. I always find myself looking around for a mum who seems to be feeling the same way that I do, a kindred spirit in amongst all this depraved jollity but I very rarely find her which is why Erika is and will be my number 1 mum-friend over here.

Leah had an absolute ball, in fact she was so excited by the place she spent the entire hour doing what we call her 'fake laugh', this crazy, loud horribly fake sounding laugh as she trampolined, trapezed and somersaulted her way around the place. Then they brought out a large fan which left me very puzzled for a minute or two until I saw an industrial sized bubble wand. 40+ toddlers in a smallish place but all mesmerised and delighted by the bubbles floating through the air, laughing as they tried to catch them was a wonderful sight. I wish I'd had a camera to share a picture on here. So much fun and not one song sung.

We've signed up for SoccerTots starting in January. I had assumed there would be no song singing in a football class but of course I could be horribly mistaken....