The Girl and the Petting Zoo

Every season from Victoria Day to Labour Day, they open a petting zoo at Queen’s Park here in New Westminster. There is something about animals and kids that just go together. They have a bond. Or at least, a fascination with animals seems to be a primal impulse among children.

The thing I notice about the Girl is that she identifies with furry creatures, and even a few scaly ones. I’ve talked about her intense love for her cats here on a number of occasions, for instance. For a while, animals were perceived as mobile stuffies.  Now, I think she’s reached a point where she wonders what it must be like for animals. I think she wonders how they experience the world.

I often wonder what a child’s fascination with animals indicates. Maybe it’s a primal impulse to situate ourselves into nature, to connect with it, and to find some kind of context for ourselves as a part of a species, and then an ecosystem.

What I can see in The Girl’s interest in animals is mostly about nurturing and the ability to express that impulse. Animals draw a certain kind of affection out from her. I don’t think she’s unique in this. This could certainly be observed in the behaviours of the other children who were there that day.

Well, maybe not the kids who loudly shouted “EEEEWWWWWW” whenever one of the goat’s pooed …

"Aren't they *so cute*, Dad?" Was the Girl's position on the rabbits.

The sole calf in the Queen's Park petting zoo gets some love and affection.

The two sleeping kittens are called Chip and Dale. They were deemed to be the highlight of the petting zoo experience. Perhaps this is not surprising.

The Girl noted that the goats wanted to keep the rocks to themselves, as each goat in turn tried to knock the dominant goat off.

The Girl stands behind the chain of the animals' 'rest zone'. She knows by now that everyone needs their space.

The Girl and Fun Fair Rides

Recently, in celebration of Queen Victoria’s birthday, a fun fair came through town (courtesy of ShootingStar.ca) and landed in our beloved Queen’s Park. And so, given that there are all kinds of events happening around the day, since Queen Vic named our fair town of New Westminster personally, we ventured forth.

We saw the flashing lights and the giant spinny things that make me feel queasy even looking at them from across a green field. Jesus Jones’ “Right Here, Right Now” blared in the middle of the morass somewhere. The Girl was reticent at first (not because of Jesus Jones I don’t think, but you never know…). I think she must take after me in this respect. She enjoys the simple things. Grand thrills don’t really resonate with her all that much, at least not at this historical point. But, we took a walk through the fair anyway.

And of course, she eventually saw a ride that appealed to her.

What’s not to love about a big, churning strawberry?

The rotating strawberry ride is one of those spinny things where the ‘cars’ spin too. So, double the spin. As the ride started up, I scanned her face for expressions of worry. But, on each pass, I saw her face lit up, open-mouthed with excitement.

Later, she won a stuffed bumblebee at a ‘choose a floating duck, and check it’s underside for a prize’ game.  The bee’s name? Starsong.

“We should have come here the last time,” said the Girl.

“It’s a fun fair.  It wasn’t here the last time. It’s only here for special days.”

“Is this a special day?”

“Yes.”

And it was. There are those days where you make plans and you carry them out. But, sometimes, there’s the hint of something magical about them, like you have been drawn closer to the one you’ve spent it with – forever.

This was one of those.

The Girl later mused: “I like girls better than boys. But, I like you, Dad.”

“Well, I like you too. I love you, actually. I love you and like you at the same time. What do you think of that?”

“I love you, too, Dad.”

Happy Birthday, Queen Vic!

The Girl and the Rainy Day Variety Show

This Saturday, it rained when it was supposed to be sunny. So, The Girl and I made a TV show.

Here it is.

The Girl and Swings

I used to love swings.  But, these days, I can’t really use them. In addition to being over 40, and would look slightly creepy on swings, the fact is this; I get motion sickness.

But, the Girl? She’s in her swingin’ prime!

The Girl and Ice Cream

When you’re a kid, it’s rare that you choose an ice cream flavour based on the actual flavour itself. No.

You pick it for the colour. If it tastes great, then all the better.

This was true when I was a kid, eying up the vibrant green pistachio ice cream at Laura Secord, Baskin Robbins, or pretty much any place in the shopping mall you could get ice cream.

In this 21st century of ours, the colour palette has widened, or perhaps become more lurid, depending on your point of view. I think a lot of this has to do with the acknowledgement that new cultures integrated with the standard Anglo-Franco-Celtic one here in Canada have a lot to offer, color and flavour-wise when it comes to the food we eat.

I remember once when the Girl was about three, and we were walking around Deep Cove, near where the Girl’s Nana lives. We stopped into get some ice cream. There before us was a rainbow of options. The Girl’s choice?

“I want the GREEN one.”

It was green tea ice cream, a flavour that at the time of this writing has become pretty popular with everything from lattes, to ice tea, to ginger ale, to ICE CREAM. Remember; green tea is for hipsters, not post-toddlers. But, that colour! So rich, so very GREEN. I was skeptical. I thought for sure that the promise would greatly outweigh the result.

Yet, down that green tea ice cream went; and it tasted like green tea, straight up. It was not sweet, or ‘kid-ready’. But, she loved it.

Of course on the other side of the spectrum, there’s BUBBLEGUM FLAVOUR!

This is very often the choice of choices went we go to Purdie’s. And the D’Artagnan ice cream moustache is pretty standard, too.

The Girl’s favourite is chocolate. That’s understood. But, when she’s got a range of choices, it always goes to the most radical, the most lurid colour she can spy out. Chocolate is still the man. But, when going out to get an ice cream, as long as it captures her eye, and interests her, she’ll choose the one out of left field rather than the one she knows.

I don’t know if this says anything about the kinds of choices she’ll make after she graduates from high school, for instance. But may the D’Artagnan ice cream moustache of her future be as bright as bubble gum.

The Girl and Her Dad At Northern Voice 2011

Well, the Girl isn’t here with me.

But, because my writing schedule was interrupted somewhat by my attendance at Northern Voice 2011 (for you newbies, or non-Vancouverites, that’s a big, geeky blogging and social media conference held here every year), I was unable to deliver you this Friday’s post.

But, luckily, I have lots of pictures!

Here’s one to tide you over until next week.

The Girl, with trademark cheeky smirk. Oh, and me.

See you next week!

The Girl and Mother’s Day

The last time I bought a card, I thought to myself: how much more would I prefer a card made by the Girl, as opposed to Hallmark, or whomever? Then, I thought: I’m sure anyone would prefer a card showing a portrait of themselves, with a portrait of the Girl along side, with a couple of faeries hovering about for good measure. Wouldn’t you?

Faeries add that little extra something. Even I think so. It’s from my days of reading Enid Blyton faerie stories, and now the Girl comes to them through Disney. Well, it’s the destination that counts, not the route. Am I right?

Here she is making her Mum a card, while spending time at MY mum’s – her Nana – this weekend. I think The Girl has come around to the idea that Nanas are mum’s too.  And she got a nice Mother’s Day lunch out of it.

I expect faeries on my card, too. Which is way awesome.

The Girl and the Library

I’m a fan of libraries, and so is the Girl.

I actually wrote a piece about the New Westminster library last year on the hyper-local New West blog Tenth to the Fraser, wherein I talked about how libraries symbolize an essential aspect of a free society; the capacity to make information accessible to everyone in the community. That’s only a part of why libraries are great, and why they’re so important. The Girl, as I said, agrees.  She’s fascinated by books, and by the other services the library offers, including educational computer games, puzzles, puppets, and just as a place to go.

Anyway, this is part of what I wrote where the Girl and I are concerned:

I am lucky enough to live very close to New Westminster Public Library. I take my daughter there a lot. She’s four. And when we go, she bee-lines to the puppets, who then come alive to her, and to me. Because she gives them voices, breathed into them by her imagination.

Then, it’s the puzzles. And then, it’s the first eye-catching book she can find. She doesn’t just choose a book, she mines for one, focusing her eye on a bejeweled spine, drawing it forth. Then, we delve together – books about trains, about dinosaurs, about bees. We explore. We’re explorers, together. [Read the whole New Westminster library article I wrote]

Since starting school last September, the Girl has been introduced to her school’s library. Monday is ‘library day’ for her, and she brings books home to her Mum’s.

At the computer in the New West library, just before we chose some books about cats. She wanted to know why her cats Daisy and Teacup act the way they do. After story time that night, she knew. Thanks, library!

Before that, she’d received own library card, which we got her at my local branch one Saturday morning.  There’s something about owning your own library card, and being able to go into the library, and deciding for yourself what it is you want to learn about. One aspect of all this has something to do with self-direction, about self-education, and the seeds planted of the habit of setting one’s own agenda when it comes to expanding one’s possibilities.

One job I’ve got, it seems to me, is to try and set the Girl on a path to learning, beyond the path mapped out for her at school. Visits to the library help this along nicely. I think libraries make for better citizens, largely because of this. And I think The Girl’s love of learning, outside of school as well as in, will enrich how she experiences life in general; a reader, a social critic, one who’s habit of spinning stories has carried into adulthood, and with the capacity to enrich the lives of others as a result.

The Girl and My Neighbourhood

I trumpeted my decision to buy a car recently, as many of you may know.  A big part of that was actually about buying more time with my daughter, without having to spend a bunch of time dragging her to stations, to buses, to bus shelters in all kinds of weather, etc.

But, even though I now don’t have to worry so much about that stuff, I am still dedicated to the idea of the walkable neighbourhood. And just as importantly, I’m dedicated to reinforcing how valuable a walkable neighbourhood actually is. Where she lives now, it’s very hard for her not to have to be driven everywhere, as I eluded to. It’s not really anyone’s fault, with the exception of city planners, maybe. But, my neighbourhood is a contrast to that.

It’s an older neighbourhood, actually the oldest city in this region – New Westminster. In days of old, there were no massive parking lots, big box stores, and highways masquerading as residential streets. No. When this city was established, the main drag, or the high street, was the heart of every community. And main drags are meant to be accessed on foot. That’s where the phrase ‘window shopping’ comes from, folks. As such, the culture of walking flourishes here to this day. There are people on the street here. There is life.

The Girl at Moody Park in New Westminster. Here, there are sports fields, climbing equipment, tennis courts, lawn bowling, a public swimming pool, within striking distance of the library. And no need to find a parking space. The 'trees' she's leaning against here are a part of the water park, currently in hibernation, but waiting to refresh the neighbourhood come summer!

Within ten minutes on foot, I have access to:

• a park
• a library
• a public swimming pool
• a coffee shop
• a book store
• at least one family restaurant
• a convenience store
• a grocery store – actually, two!
• a drug store – two again!
• a mall with a food court
• four buses that take us to two SkyTrain stations
• lots of other stuff!

For me, it’s easy to balance off the Girl’s experience as a suburban kid who is constantly bundled into cars to go pretty much everywhere. She’s still a suburban kid when she’s with me. But, I think that a neighbourhood that she can explore with me on foot is somehow more accessible to her. In some ways, I think it can feel more welcoming.