Monday 26 October 2009

People Watching.

Jack and I spend a lot of time at the park. Jack loves the park, it's certainly in the top three of preferred destinations on a Monday morning. Normally 2 hours at the park means 1 hour and 55 minutes on the swing and 5 minutes trying to go on everything else as quickly as possible before we leave.

Jack people watches while on the swing, I think that's the main reason he likes it so much. Jack is very inquisitive and I think that other people, especially children fascinate him. While the other kids run around and try to kill each other, Jack sits quietly on the swings and observes and makes little comments to me about what he thinks. Normally it's little things like, "That boy's got a scooter, I've got a scooter at home." etc.

One time the park was empty except for us and a mother a daughter of about the same age. The mother was struggling to control the little girl and Jack found it truly fascinating. The mother would stop her daughter from doing something a little dangerous but the girl would simply try it again.
After a few minutes Jack turned to me and said. "Daddy, that girl isn't doing as she's told."
"No she's not." I replied.
"I always do as I'm told."
"Not always."
"Yes I do I'm a big boy."
"I'll remember you said that."
The mother and daughter carried on in the same way. The struggle moved over to the slide where the girl kept trying to climb up it the wrong way. The mother scolded her over and over again for it to which Jack said, "Daddy, that girl doesn't listen."

Jack loves when another child takes up the swing next to us. Jack will insist on swinging the same direction and frequency of the other child so that he can maximize his time getting to know them. He cheerfully introduces himself and gives a brief overview of what he is and what he's doing. "Hi, I'm Jack. I'm a boy and I'm on the swing." the conversation varies depending on the child but it usually encompasses the subjects of 'being a boy', 'this is my daddy', 'this is my toy' and 'what have you got'.

Jack learned some jargon one of the last times we were on the swing. The little boy on the swing asked his dad for an 'Uppit', his dad obliged and caught the swing in mid swing. Jack immediately demanded an Uppit of his own and has since worked it in as a regular swinging maneuver.