Acroma-Summer

It's timely to give an update of how Charlotte has been getting on during the course of our summer activities.

As each year passes, she gets older and becomes more independent; we get a clearer idea of what is in store for her.  I've been more conscious about what goes on at school but I don't often take the time to document what is going on in other areas, particularly outdoor activities. 

I'm pleased to say that she is busy living an active life, playing hard, having fun and we don't notice many areas where she is limited in what she can do.  To most people she is a normal child who wears cool sunglasses.

It is important to say, in every setting, Charlotte never, ever, hesitates to get outdoors.  She loves being outside and she loves sunny days.  She does not seek out the darkness, nor does she exhibit a preference for cloudy days.  Sure, she sometimes chooses to go indoors after playing outside, but no more than her older sister, who can often be found reading on the sofa.

I'll break up my outdoor observations into three different areas: at home, out and about, in nature.

At home

In our own garden, Charlotte shows complete independence.  We have some tricky steps down from our back deck to the lawn.  They are different depths, heights and materials and have no handrail.  Nightmare!  She has no difficulty with them because she has memorised them perfectly.  She does take them slowly and gets on to the lawn as fast as possible.

Once in the garden, we have a very flat lawn with no lumps, divots or banks.  But she doesn't restrict herself to the lawn, she loves to explore, climb up in the flower beds, behind the shrubbery, everywhere she shouldn't be!  She is a huge fan of the trampoline and climbs on and off independently.  The only thing she can't seem to do is find her shoes if she has kicked them off willy-nilly and they have landed under the trampoline.

Out and about

Being out of the school/home routine has given me an opportunity to observe Charlotte in unfamiliar environments.  She rides her scooter to school, this takes 7 minutes and covers very familiar pavements (usually being pulled by me).  I'm guessing here, but I think the scooter gives her a lot of confidence because it provides a constant connection with the ground.  When we were away recently, we didn't have the scooter, and she had to cover unfamiliar ground, all the time .  She held on to my hand almost constantly.  I am unclear if this is because I always take her hand, and often insist on it, or if it is because she wants to.  I'm thinking she wants to because when a friend took her hand one day, the reaction was immediate: "Wow, Charlotte, you have a strong grip!"

I am always very clear about telling her every time the ground changes level.  "Step.  Step.  Step" is a constant refrain.  "Big step."  "No step."  I do it instinctively and don't even think about it, until I get frustrated with my husband for not doing it.  I describe how far the step out of the car is, even tell her when there are no steps but the ground surface has changed.  She also benefits from assistance at a new playground, just to find all the equipment.  A big sister is very helpful here and they are soon at the top of the tallest slide.

When we stayed in someone else's home, I put masking tape down as markers on the outdoor steps.  The tape wore off after a few days and Charlotte asked me to replace it.  She told me where the tape used to go, that it was there for her and that I was to replace it or say step-step-step!  She seemed so knowledgeable about the steps that I didn't replace the tape!

In nature

Lumpy ground is really difficult for her.  Going from the car, across a pavement, uneven lawn and on to the beach is quite an obstacle course and I don't think she enjoys it at all.  At the moment, I am trying to get her to lift her feet high when she walks, to avoid tripping and to deal with changes to the surface level.  She is such a shorty that she pretty much needs to lift her knees to her chin at all times.  I'm so pleased that she is in Crocs this summer and not flip flops, they are protecting her from stubbing her toes endlessly.

We tried a little "hike" while we were away.  It was essentially a nature trail through the woods.  It was covered with tree roots and rocks with some steep up and down sections.  She did really well but there was no way she could have navigated it independently.  Walking a nature trail, holding someone's hand is quite a challenge, the path is too narrow to walk side by side so I often had to take the side edges and try not to fall off.  When we got to the rocky river bed, there was no way that she was not going to try to leap from rock to rock.  Little mountain goat!  I'm not entirely sure how the nature walking is going to pan out as she gets older. 

The girls enjoyed walking around on some old train tracks.  I hated it: it was too hot and the going was really slow, stepping from sleeper to sleeper or balancing along the rails.  I talked her into walking along the gravel path beside and we made much faster progress.

She loved swimming.  When we started lessons, I told her teacher that she has really, really bad vision.  I didn't go into more detail than that - there would be other kids who need glasses who have to take them off for swimming.  At the beach, we were paddling rather than swimming and she was always the last to get out of the water.
I do worry that I find myself pointing out details to her older sister and not bothering to show her extra stuff.  I don't know if I should try harder or not.  If I see a crab or a tadpole, I could spend ages trying to point it out to her and she still won't see it, and then it's gone.  Frustrating for her and for me.  Maybe when she's older.

We've been having a really good summer and, fingers crossed, it's not over yet.  When I first found out about Charlotte, I thought that meant the end of beach holidays for our family, that she would prefer rainy days and indoor games.  But none of that has proved true.  She is active, outgoing and adventurous and she doesn't, for a minute, think there is anything that she can't do.