Before I had kids, I never really thought too much about what my kids would be like. Growing up, my mom always wished on me a daughter just like me. She did that when she was angry at me, thinking a kid like me would be a karmic punishment. I hope she knows now how easy I was as a kid. You’re welcome, mom.
Anyway, maybe it’s partially because of the Olympics, but I’ve been thinking about the different activities we all end up in and how we get there. In China, apparently, the government puts kids in training when they’re quite young? Some American parents decide early for their kids, based on what activities they value. I’ve mentioned before that Alex and I decided to be intentional about not choosing for our kids (except for music, obviously) and giving them the chance to see what they were interested in.
With Lydia, it was easy. We put her in gymnastics as a toddler because she NEEDED to be in gymnastics as a toddler. She was throwing herself around so much that if she didn’t learn how to fall safely, something was going to break… either part of her or part of our house. And as she got older, it became clear she was interested in dance too. She has many other interests, but those are the things she’s loved before she fully understood they were things to love.
Naomi has been less obvious in her interests (aside from the color orange, which I was able to tell was her favorite color right before her second birthday). She hasn’t really had “a thing,” even though she’s WELL past the age where we could identify Lydia’s interest in gymnastics. She wasn’t into movement the way Lydia was. There was nothing she seemed really into. Obviously that’s fine, but we didn’t really have any direction as far as helping her explore things she might like. We knew she would be persistent. Once, at the zoo, I had to wait a few minutes for her to keep trying to jump up and grab a leaf that was decidedly beyond her reach. With each try, she would say, “Almost got it!” and try again. As someone who’s naturally not very persistent, I marveled at her. I was glad she had this trait and wondered what she would end up using her persistence for.
I think we’re starting to see Naomi’s first real interest. The girl has loved being in the water since her third lesson as an infant. Last year, she was always the one who wanted to stay at the pool even after Lydia was cold and wanting to leave. But now, with her in actual lessons again, she is loving it. I shared her progress from last week, and how she can now swim a little unassisted. Well this girl, with her ability to swim maaaaybe a yard by herself, was trying to race Alex and me across the entire length of the regulation size pool at Dunham yesterday. Repeatedly. We kept having to remind her that it wouldn’t work out so well for her, but she was having none of it. She wanted to race. She also kept jumping in, swimming to a parent, and swimming back to the wall, just to practice. We were assisting her, of course. But no amount of verbal reminders to slow down, water up the nose, or giant pool water burps was going to deter her from practicing. She really amazed me.
Wherever this interest goes, I’m excited to help her explore it. She was watching swimming in the Olympics the other day, and she told me she’s gonna do that some day. So I can’t wait to see!
TeamSheepOhio 