Busy
We have been so busy lately, and of course, I have no pictures. I really need to try to improve on that front. Nevertheless, here are some of our doings.
On Friday I got up bright and early and took Daisy to the YMCA childwatch with Eli so Robyn and I could exercise. To my shock, I was told that Daisy had USED UP her childwatch spaces and I have to buy a new card. Can you imagine? I would not have thought it possible for me to run out of childwatch hours. My last foray into childwatch, when Daisy was a baby, ended in complete failure as I could not bear walking away from her when she was crying, and then when I returned, there was always something that depressed me. One time she had fallen asleep, which was horrifying because it was not a time of day she EVER napped and so I knew that unconsciousness had come along to rescue her from the existential pain of Mama's absence. So: that's right, I was too neurotic for childwatch. This time around it is MUCH BETTER.
After that I ran home and took a shower and packed our bags, and then we met Dena and Henry. We took two Presidio shuttles to get downtown, walked to the Ferry Building, had a lovely lunch, and then took the ferry to Larkspur--Daisy's first ferry ride, and Henry's too! The kids were cold (we sat on the deck) but Daisy enjoyed making up a story about pirates. We walked around Larkspur Landing for an hour--the kids enjoyed running over the footbridge and then they spent a large amount of time demonstrating exercises to us on a bicycle rack--and then we took the ferry home. We bought the kids gelatos at the Ferry Building and were very impressed by their choices: Henry chose pear and Daisy chose coconut gelato. Then two shuttles back to Dena's. Daisy was so tired that night I have never seen her fall asleep faster, and I was proud of her that she did the whole outing without a stroller.
Today we took Daisy to her ballet class and then afterward drove to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk, where we met Craig, Beth, Cora, and Craig's sister Linda. I hadn't realized how extensive the boardwalk is, and Daisy did a ton of walking there, too. It was crowded and overwhelming, of course, but completely worth it to see Daisy's joy on the rides. We couldn't stay very long because Mark had a show that night (that's where he is right now), but Daisy got to go on six rides. She rode the helicopters twice (fun because you pull a bar to make your 'copter go up and down), then a boat ride with Cora, then a cave train that Craig and I went on with them, then two killer whale rides with Cora. She would have liked to stay and go on more rides, and there were plenty of rides for kids her age-- so we will have to go back. I had to bribe her into leaving with a cherry Icee, but the bribe was highly effective.
It is funny to watch Daisy's face on rides. Some kids look kind of terrified, and others have faces of pure glee, but Daisy's expression tends to look like intense concentration-- like she is getting something very profound out of the experience.
Daisy has grown sooooooo much this summer. I did many, many (MANY) activities with her even though I was in classes myself for almost all of the summer (pausing to take a humble bow). We did music class, swimming class, Jazzy Bugs class (where she did ballet, tap, and gymnastics), ballet, and two different summer camps--and I am probably forgetting something. Lest you think I was being a pushy mama, these were all classes she chose for herself and loved. The dancing and gymnastics classes have helped her to improve her motor skills immensely and we're hoping her teachers will see the difference when we return to school. She is so much more physically confident now, ending the summer, than she was when it began.
She's also being through some emotional and cognitive growth. She went through about a month of telling us every day, at least fifty times a day, that she had "a crying feeling." That phase seems over, although she still mentions it from time to time. She has also been asking unbelievably profound questions and saying mind-bendingly odd and deep things. As an example, she sometimes tells us that her "mind wants to do something," but her "self" doesn't or thinks otherwise. She presents this to us as a problem or conflict she is working on. I know it sounds like an odd distinction, but it strikes me as possibly the beginning of double consciousness or meta-cognition. Oh, and today on the drive back from Santa Cruz, she asked us to define "fatalism"! Mark gave her a definition and now she parrots it back when asked. It is pretty funny.
Her verbal skills have always been insanely advanced, but every now and then she manages to astound me, even knowing what I know about her. A couple days ago, for example, she sang the entire song "Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer" to me, word for word, with accompanying dance moves (and in a faux Cockney accent). Let me assure you that song is not easy, and I am certain she does not understand what large chunks of it mean ("they were plausible fellows who liked to engage a friendly policeman in conversation"?), but she pronounced almost every word correctly and precisely.
I really think she is a weird prodigy in certain areas, or at the very least has some savant-like tendencies. When I was her age, I could read and write (because my mother taught me, that hard-working woman), but Daisy is so much more...outward, and extroverted, than I was. She really puts out a startling volume of coherent and sophisticated speech. It can be easy to forget you are talking to a newly minted four-year-old when she informs you severely, "I really think you are misunderstanding me," in response to some injunction you've given her. She is also quite good at math and can do some pretty challenging addition and subtraction in her head (and today she counted to 100 in the car with almost no mistakes--pretty impressive). But at the same time, she struggles with motor tasks that would be laughably easy for a child a year younger and sometimes she seems lacking in common sense, as in her deplorable lack of both hiding and finding skills in hide and seek.
That's a bit of an update. I am so very grateful she is my daughter and is in my life. It makes me feel almost religious sometimes.
On Friday I got up bright and early and took Daisy to the YMCA childwatch with Eli so Robyn and I could exercise. To my shock, I was told that Daisy had USED UP her childwatch spaces and I have to buy a new card. Can you imagine? I would not have thought it possible for me to run out of childwatch hours. My last foray into childwatch, when Daisy was a baby, ended in complete failure as I could not bear walking away from her when she was crying, and then when I returned, there was always something that depressed me. One time she had fallen asleep, which was horrifying because it was not a time of day she EVER napped and so I knew that unconsciousness had come along to rescue her from the existential pain of Mama's absence. So: that's right, I was too neurotic for childwatch. This time around it is MUCH BETTER.
After that I ran home and took a shower and packed our bags, and then we met Dena and Henry. We took two Presidio shuttles to get downtown, walked to the Ferry Building, had a lovely lunch, and then took the ferry to Larkspur--Daisy's first ferry ride, and Henry's too! The kids were cold (we sat on the deck) but Daisy enjoyed making up a story about pirates. We walked around Larkspur Landing for an hour--the kids enjoyed running over the footbridge and then they spent a large amount of time demonstrating exercises to us on a bicycle rack--and then we took the ferry home. We bought the kids gelatos at the Ferry Building and were very impressed by their choices: Henry chose pear and Daisy chose coconut gelato. Then two shuttles back to Dena's. Daisy was so tired that night I have never seen her fall asleep faster, and I was proud of her that she did the whole outing without a stroller.
Today we took Daisy to her ballet class and then afterward drove to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk, where we met Craig, Beth, Cora, and Craig's sister Linda. I hadn't realized how extensive the boardwalk is, and Daisy did a ton of walking there, too. It was crowded and overwhelming, of course, but completely worth it to see Daisy's joy on the rides. We couldn't stay very long because Mark had a show that night (that's where he is right now), but Daisy got to go on six rides. She rode the helicopters twice (fun because you pull a bar to make your 'copter go up and down), then a boat ride with Cora, then a cave train that Craig and I went on with them, then two killer whale rides with Cora. She would have liked to stay and go on more rides, and there were plenty of rides for kids her age-- so we will have to go back. I had to bribe her into leaving with a cherry Icee, but the bribe was highly effective.
It is funny to watch Daisy's face on rides. Some kids look kind of terrified, and others have faces of pure glee, but Daisy's expression tends to look like intense concentration-- like she is getting something very profound out of the experience.
Daisy has grown sooooooo much this summer. I did many, many (MANY) activities with her even though I was in classes myself for almost all of the summer (pausing to take a humble bow). We did music class, swimming class, Jazzy Bugs class (where she did ballet, tap, and gymnastics), ballet, and two different summer camps--and I am probably forgetting something. Lest you think I was being a pushy mama, these were all classes she chose for herself and loved. The dancing and gymnastics classes have helped her to improve her motor skills immensely and we're hoping her teachers will see the difference when we return to school. She is so much more physically confident now, ending the summer, than she was when it began.
She's also being through some emotional and cognitive growth. She went through about a month of telling us every day, at least fifty times a day, that she had "a crying feeling." That phase seems over, although she still mentions it from time to time. She has also been asking unbelievably profound questions and saying mind-bendingly odd and deep things. As an example, she sometimes tells us that her "mind wants to do something," but her "self" doesn't or thinks otherwise. She presents this to us as a problem or conflict she is working on. I know it sounds like an odd distinction, but it strikes me as possibly the beginning of double consciousness or meta-cognition. Oh, and today on the drive back from Santa Cruz, she asked us to define "fatalism"! Mark gave her a definition and now she parrots it back when asked. It is pretty funny.
Her verbal skills have always been insanely advanced, but every now and then she manages to astound me, even knowing what I know about her. A couple days ago, for example, she sang the entire song "Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer" to me, word for word, with accompanying dance moves (and in a faux Cockney accent). Let me assure you that song is not easy, and I am certain she does not understand what large chunks of it mean ("they were plausible fellows who liked to engage a friendly policeman in conversation"?), but she pronounced almost every word correctly and precisely.
I really think she is a weird prodigy in certain areas, or at the very least has some savant-like tendencies. When I was her age, I could read and write (because my mother taught me, that hard-working woman), but Daisy is so much more...outward, and extroverted, than I was. She really puts out a startling volume of coherent and sophisticated speech. It can be easy to forget you are talking to a newly minted four-year-old when she informs you severely, "I really think you are misunderstanding me," in response to some injunction you've given her. She is also quite good at math and can do some pretty challenging addition and subtraction in her head (and today she counted to 100 in the car with almost no mistakes--pretty impressive). But at the same time, she struggles with motor tasks that would be laughably easy for a child a year younger and sometimes she seems lacking in common sense, as in her deplorable lack of both hiding and finding skills in hide and seek.
That's a bit of an update. I am so very grateful she is my daughter and is in my life. It makes me feel almost religious sometimes.
posted by Sarah Goss at 10:16 PM
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