I pictured Alba and me singing along and dancing happily to “the wheels on the bus” and “dingle dangle scarecrow,” and giving her a little cuddle and kiss in between songs. One can dream.
Alba and I recently joined the community library. She loves reading, and there are sing along groups for under 3s, and story time for under 5s, so I thought it would be a great idea to add these sessions to our weekly schedule.
Monday morning, I dressed us both in matching colours. Alba in her mint green onesie and grey dungarees, and me in my off black jeans and green top. I was excited for the nursery rhymes playgroup and pictured Alba and me singing along and dancing happily to “the wheels on the bus” and “dingle dangle scarecrow,” and giving her a little cuddle and kiss in between songs. One can dream.
As we entered the library, I greeted the other mummies and their toddlers, hoping that my eyes conveyed the smile my face mask was hiding. “Are you excited pumpkin?” I asked as I unleashed a wiggling Alba from her buggy. Little did I know that her laser beam eyes had already spotted a book with Gruffalo (a character from one of her books at home) on the cover on a nearby shelf. As her feet hit the ground, she shot off in that direction. “She loves Gruffalo” I laughingly explained to the mummy at my side who looked on at Alba’s speed in wonder. But before I could even finish the phrase, Alba unceremoniously dropped the Gruffalo book and started to run to another shelf to retrieve another book with a bus on the cover. “Oh, she loves buses too”, I added hastily while rushing over to put the Gruffalo book back. At this point Alba spotted me coming and started baby sprinting with her hands flailing, desperately trying to escape my outreached arms.
We then sat down as the group lead started to play the guitar and the “hello” song. This moment of calm lasted for about 30 seconds, before Alba decided she wasn’t in the singing mood today with so much around her to explore. The half an hour that ensued involved her fighting me off, making grabs at other children’s books, hair, and chairs, and telling everyone “hi” and me “no” every time I tried to settle her back down. Eventually, I had to pick her up and carry her out to the main room to run for a bit. As I sat there fighting back tears, Alba ran joyfully in circles to the sound of the other mummies singing “if you’re happy and you know it clap your hands” to their babies. I left deflated and texted Hasani and Kirk (my brother) details about how it went.
“Simsy, you need to let her run around for at least an hour before these things, tire her out a bit before, she has a lot of energy.” This was Kirk’s advice and it sounded solid to me, so Tuesday morning Alba and I were up early and at the park before baby club. Baby club is outdoors, and the toddlers there, tend to run around too, so I was feeling positive about the session ahead. We played and explored the grounds, Alba told all the gardeners “hi” and smiled mischievously at them, we had breakfast on a bench in the shade, and then we made our way over to the garden for baby club.
Alba is very sociable and loves sharing. I mean, she really loves sharing. If she offers you her tambourine, you better take it so she can clap for you. Unfortunately, a little boy did not get that memo, and he didn’t want her tambourine. “Albie he doesn’t want it honey, you play the tambourine. Play the tambourine for mummy.” I said to her as she tried to force it into his hands. “No!” (No is Alba’s favourite word) She then proceeded to chase the boy with the tambourine for him to take it. After this, she got fixated on everyone’s water bottles and kept trying to take them while I chased her with her bottle saying, “Alba look your water is here love” and apologising profusely to the other parents. Then there were the snacks.
Baby club is snack heaven because every mummy packs chopped up fruit, crackers, and cereal bars for their babies and lays them out while the other mummies “ooo” and “ah” over the latest baby hummus and exchange tips on how long to boil the carrots before chopping them up to make it easy for their babies to chew. I also had chopped up strawberries, Greek yoghurt, and a blueberry muffin for Alba. But did Alba want any of these? “No!” Instead, she made the rounds checking out what the other toddlers had with me behind her saying “no Alba, that’s his/her food. You have yours” and smiling apologetically. But the mummies all smiled and said “oh it’s just cucumber/ cantaloupe/ spinach pie, I’m happy to share.” To which I smiled saying “say thank you Alba” while knowing fully well that obviously Alba cannot say thank you, but what else do you say in these situations? And of course, Alba didn’t want any of these snacks because she had just finished breakfast, so I ended up eating all her loot to be polite.
I could tell you how Wednesday and Thursday went too, but I’m sure you can guess. Today Hasani is off and we’re carrying her to the zoo. I know her excitement and curiosity will go into overdrive at the sight of the animals and the train ride, and despite it all I can’t wait to see it. For though tiring and at times frustrating, it really is wonderful seeing how exciting the world is through her eyes, especially in covid times when everything can seem hopeless.