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... or possibly just gradually developing independence. Rosemary's latest 'thing' is opening and closing doors. And shutting us out of/herself in rooms. And for the most part she's happy to stay in there on her own for a bit. I think she'll be happier still once she's properly got the hang of turning the door handles in this house (they aren't the easiest for a little person to master). She's managed the bathroom one a couple of times, now, and is quite close to getting the living room one mastered as well. The kitchen door doesn't ever shut properly anyway, so she's in and out of there with no trouble. It helps, I think, that all the downstairs doors have glass in them, so she can see us (given the correct angles, of course). Oddly, though, this bid for independence has been accompanied by a sudden fascination with the word 'No': – Right, you need to put your shoes on, so we can go out. – No! – We can't go out unless you put your shoes on. – No! – Do you want to put them on yourself or shall Mummy do it? – No, no, no, no! – Would you prefer your wellies? – No! – OK. Well, Mummy's going to pick you up and put your shoes on, anyway. – No! No! No! No! And many other similar scenarios. Particularly when she's tired. To be fair, this was only really yesterday and a bit this morning, but we're so used to having a reasonably accommodating daughter who, though often requiring a bit of cajoling, explanation or bribery, tends to get there reasonably quickly and with few tears, that it's come as a bit of a shock. Please, please, please don't let this be the start of the 'Terrible Twos'!
... well, not quite.Rosemary went under the water at swimming today. And, as with so much of the swimming so far, this was a much bigger step for me than for her. The instructor (honestly can't remember her name, though it might be Sue) said 'Right. We haven't done this for a few weeks, so we're going to do some submersion.' And at that point her voice was coming across in a foreign language. All I could hear was 'Blah, blah, blah'. This was one of things I'd been most concerned about, with taking Rosemary swimming. One of the things that contributed to my not trying it until she was 18 months. Surely she can't go underwater? She'll drown. How can it be even remotely possible for her to go underwater and not drown? I stayed by the edge of the pool clinging to Rosemary far too tightly. The instructor came over and I told her that we'd never done it before. She walked me through it very clearly and suggested starting off with just letting her go down to over her mouth, first, to see how she found it. We tried it. She loved it. We tried it again. She still loved it. We tried it with the whole head. She still loved it. Though she was a little bit surprised. Wow!Other things she enjoyed at swimming today: climbing down the steps (in the deep end); climbing out of the pool; jumping into the pool (with me catching her) about 10 times; doing The Hokey Cokey. Things she wasn't too keen on: pushing a duck through the water (though she did manage it after a while, mostly she wanted to chew the duck); sliding along the top step and under the railings (she walked and then got down and bum-shuffled under when she go to a railing, then got up and walked again). And in the prior to swimming she enjoyed a trip to the bank and a visit to the shoe shop to, in a departure from the usual, buy Mummy some new shoes. (I thought it was my first new shoes in about 3 years, but Tia Eva pointed out that I got some cheap sandals last summer.) And after her nap in the afternoon, we went to the library and got 10 new books out and she did lots of running around and gave a couple of random children a hug.Mummy Rosemary Tuesdays are fun! (Hopefully not just for me.)
