I enjoyed today
Today, of all days, Daisy slept till almost 8:30. !!!!!! You don't understand; this NEVER happens. And it was the worst day for it, because we have a swimming class at 9 AM that Daisy has been looking forward to all week. (Why did I pick the 9 AM swimming class, you ask? Well, because Daisy always gets up early in the morning. Except for today.)
I knew she'd be sorry she missed it, so I grabbed her out of her crib and raced her to the swimming class. It's at the Presidio, close-ish by, so we weren't that late. I am so glad I went, because we had a great, great time. It was only our second time, and the first time, Daisy was quite afraid of a lot of the activities and hung onto my neck a lot. I was surprised when later that evening she told me she had loved the swimming class. This time, she was all smiles and laughs the entire class and participated in EVERY activity except one--which, mind you, is a pretty courageous activity: sliding down a water slide and splashing into the teacher's arms at the bottom.
BUT: she went underwater today! (She did this as a baby, too, but that was before she was old enough to understand why it's scary.) She was smiling afterward. She did all the jumps off the magic carpet, and the wall; she scrambled up the wall to the ledge, almost entirely by herself; she backfloated with the teacher's help through a tunnel; and this time she participated in the activity that terrified her last time, "run and jump off the magic carpet." Okaaaay... since you're pressing me, I'll admit that she didn't run and jump so much as scoot on her butt and then sort of kerplop off the end. But it was still major headway, because last time she wouldn't go anywhere near this activity and was upset when the teacher wanted to hold her. This time she went to the teacher without any fuss, and laughed and smiled through the whole class. YAY! I want her to enjoy the water, and that's more important to me than whether she runs and jumps off a floating board. (The butt scooting was pretty cute, too.)
Then we had another big adventure: taking the Geary bus downtown to Union Square to meet Mita, who is in town for the 4Cs conference! Daisy wanted to sit in her own chair, NOT in my lap, so I stood most of the way (which is fine), hovering over her. But she was completely fine, and held conversations with her seatmates at various times. At one point she did say suspiciously to me, "Are we passing a nursing home? Is this a nursing home?" I am not sure if she really knows what a nursing home is, but she also asked, "How old are these people?" She then informed me, "I am going to a nursing home." I hope not.
The busdriver was very, very nice and patient with us, getting on and off the bus. The ride home was not so lucky. We had a jerky busdriver who rushed us in and out and made us move a couple of times. But it was still okay, given that coming from that direction is harder (getting on a packed bus, that is). I was proud of Daisy for being patient with such a long ride and with all the chaos that is a Geary bus ride. The only other bummer was that an elderly Russian lady, who was quite entranced with Daisy, reprimanded me for having her in such a light sweater. "That is BAD," she told me, shaking her finger in my face. This has happened to me before, with other elderly Russian ladies!
In the very last leg of the ride, a nice woman from our library story-time got on with her cute little daughter and shared some Chinese coconut crackers with Daisy. Daisy was ecstatic. She clutched on to a cookie in one hand, and in the other, a carnation a homeless man had given her in Union Square (he also tried to give her some balloons, which were not attached to the string he was handing her and immediately flew up to the sky. He then asked Mark for ten dollars). It was a great day out in the big city for Daisy!
We are going to see Mita again in a few hours and we can't wait.
I knew she'd be sorry she missed it, so I grabbed her out of her crib and raced her to the swimming class. It's at the Presidio, close-ish by, so we weren't that late. I am so glad I went, because we had a great, great time. It was only our second time, and the first time, Daisy was quite afraid of a lot of the activities and hung onto my neck a lot. I was surprised when later that evening she told me she had loved the swimming class. This time, she was all smiles and laughs the entire class and participated in EVERY activity except one--which, mind you, is a pretty courageous activity: sliding down a water slide and splashing into the teacher's arms at the bottom.
BUT: she went underwater today! (She did this as a baby, too, but that was before she was old enough to understand why it's scary.) She was smiling afterward. She did all the jumps off the magic carpet, and the wall; she scrambled up the wall to the ledge, almost entirely by herself; she backfloated with the teacher's help through a tunnel; and this time she participated in the activity that terrified her last time, "run and jump off the magic carpet." Okaaaay... since you're pressing me, I'll admit that she didn't run and jump so much as scoot on her butt and then sort of kerplop off the end. But it was still major headway, because last time she wouldn't go anywhere near this activity and was upset when the teacher wanted to hold her. This time she went to the teacher without any fuss, and laughed and smiled through the whole class. YAY! I want her to enjoy the water, and that's more important to me than whether she runs and jumps off a floating board. (The butt scooting was pretty cute, too.)
Then we had another big adventure: taking the Geary bus downtown to Union Square to meet Mita, who is in town for the 4Cs conference! Daisy wanted to sit in her own chair, NOT in my lap, so I stood most of the way (which is fine), hovering over her. But she was completely fine, and held conversations with her seatmates at various times. At one point she did say suspiciously to me, "Are we passing a nursing home? Is this a nursing home?" I am not sure if she really knows what a nursing home is, but she also asked, "How old are these people?" She then informed me, "I am going to a nursing home." I hope not.
The busdriver was very, very nice and patient with us, getting on and off the bus. The ride home was not so lucky. We had a jerky busdriver who rushed us in and out and made us move a couple of times. But it was still okay, given that coming from that direction is harder (getting on a packed bus, that is). I was proud of Daisy for being patient with such a long ride and with all the chaos that is a Geary bus ride. The only other bummer was that an elderly Russian lady, who was quite entranced with Daisy, reprimanded me for having her in such a light sweater. "That is BAD," she told me, shaking her finger in my face. This has happened to me before, with other elderly Russian ladies!
In the very last leg of the ride, a nice woman from our library story-time got on with her cute little daughter and shared some Chinese coconut crackers with Daisy. Daisy was ecstatic. She clutched on to a cookie in one hand, and in the other, a carnation a homeless man had given her in Union Square (he also tried to give her some balloons, which were not attached to the string he was handing her and immediately flew up to the sky. He then asked Mark for ten dollars). It was a great day out in the big city for Daisy!
We are going to see Mita again in a few hours and we can't wait.
posted by Sarah Goss at 3:30 PM
3 Comments:
Sar, Daisy probably heard you mention nursing homes in connection with Shannon. And she was always asking if Shannon was old. She doesn't seem to forget very much. I'm so glad she had fun in the pool and was so adventurous! That is really wonderful. M.B.
AGAIN with the Russian ladies? Wow!
I have the feeling it was the same Russian lady as in my Facebook status! See how confusing it gets, talking about yourself in more than one place in internet-land....
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