Glouglou between falling down and drumming

Glouglou was a play. It was part of the Imaginate Festival that offered many theatrical productions by adults for young children - as young as 2 years old mostly, though there was one for 0 year old onwards. I had preferred another play, but that was too far away and entailed a bus ride. Since the ticket already cost 10 pounds (5 for child and 5 for the compulsory adult), I did not want to spend further on the bus ride. So I chose one at a nearer venue. These are my thoughts after watching the play. And Ethan's reactions of course. And since I could not resist putting photographs (of the play I did not take) and lengthening this post, I'll add in other things like how Ethan fell down once and what happened after the show.

Frankly speaking, the play required some huge effort at being open-minded from me. It was about the 'first times' of a baby - the first time he saw colours, the first time he could walk, the first time he played with water... 'Glouglou' (pronounced as 'glug-glug' in the play) was the satisfied sounds made by a baby. It was performed by three actors - a male and two females. The guy acted as the baby. One of the female actors tripled as baby-next-door, father and mother. The other provided the background music - she blew some recorder-like instrument or played some string-like instrument. It was hard for me imagining the big burly man as a baby, crawling on the floor, kissing the floor, kissing the other 'baby', breastfeeding (not with a real breast of course!), sucking his blanket etc. A boy slightly older than Ethan sitting beside us asked his mummy a few times 'Why is the man doing this...?'

When we first reached there, me breathless and actually sweating from the hot Saturday and exercise of pushing his stroller, the show had not started yet. The children and parents were all gathered at a court. There were cushions on the floor and some books and toys for the children. But Ethan was disoriented and shy again and did not want to go into the court. So, he stood munching his biscuit, I squatted wishing there were space at the cushion for me, at the edge of the court, till the doors opened and he zoomed in. He did not mind the darkened room, or the times when the actors were behind the curtains like ghostly silhouettes. Neither did he have the queasiness I had about big grown-ups acting 'artistically' baby-ish. I am not sure if he understood what he was watching. There was a time when he sat astride my lap and turned his head the other way. I do not know why. When the man mentioned the rainbow, he asked me where the rainbow was. I do not think he got my explanation that the row of varied-coloured downlights above our heads represented the rainbow. He was also sporadically interested in the kids sitting beside us, especially when his foot got into a girl's way and he believed she had intruded upon his 'space'. When the show was over, he was not willing to leave for awhile, but later seemed glad to be out in the sun. Back home, I think I sometimes heard him say 'glug-glug', though I am not sure if that's the effect of the play.

Thus ended this first foray into an alternative form of investment for Ethan's 'future'. Just that, I am not sure if I can be consistent (or persistent?) in my role here.

When Ethan had a great fall
有一天，我带靖恒到游乐场去。他兴致勃勃地想爬上一个挺高的滑梯。我不想限制他，就让他去试。没想到，他真的爬上去了。当然，我有在一旁给他一点提示。我感到蛮骄傲的，还拍了几张照片。谁知，在他第三次爬上去的时候，竟从上面跌下来。我来不及抓住他，就只能眼睁睁看他跌倒。还好地上铺着木屑。而且，我应该有在扯住他裤子时减缓它的速度吧。不过，他还是哭得很大声。下次再带他去那里玩时，他还记得，对我说：“我不要玩那个了。”

There is this playground at the Meadows, some of the structures are for older kids and I have always been cautious about letting Ethan try them. But one day he said he wanted to climb up a taller slide that he had never tried before. Glad that he's being adventurous, I let him. And there were indeed some small proud moments when he managed to climb up the slide, with just minimal help from me. So, even when he lost his footing and fell down from the top on his third climb, I still felt it was a good try. But perhaps not to him, for he cried rather loud - it was after all a high fall, despite the wood shavings on the floor, and a probable brake due to me tugging at his pants (I couldn't stop the fall however). The next time he went there, he avoided the slide. Wonder if he would ever forget about it or summon enough courage to try again?

Bang! Bang! Bang! Goes the big bass drum...
上个星期六我带靖恒去看一场舞台剧。看完之后，我们在热闹的街上走着。那天天气挺热，太阳好强。回家时经过一些路边演出。靖恒看到有气球，嚷着要“balloon”。我代他跟那个戴着装满气球的袋子的叔叔‘讨’。他就给靖恒折了一个小熊气球。旁边，有一支乐队正准备表演。靖恒看到有风笛，就不肯走了。我们在那里看他们吹风笛，打鼓和跳舞。靖恒拿着那个新的气球当起风笛‘吹’起来，还随着音乐把肚子鼎起来，缩回去。演奏第二首曲子时，跳舞的姑娘尝试邀靖恒出来玩小手鼓，靖恒当然不肯。结果上去玩的四个都是比较大的孩子。靖恒跟我说，他在吹风笛，不玩鼓。好不容易，听完第三首曲子才哄得他回家。回到家，他却开始敲起‘鼓’来，好大声，吵得正在赶写论文的建明啼笑皆非。

After the 'Glouglou' play, we were walking along Princes Street on our way back. It was a sunny day and as lunch was already prepared, I allowed Ethan to wander about a little. At the end of the street, just before we turned, there was this roadshow promoting some medicine to alleviate hay fever symptoms. Ethan wanted the balloons on display there, and I saw a man shaping those long balloons for kids. So I had to go up to him and ask if Ethan could have one, since Ethan would not ask anyone but me. The man made him a bear out of a blue balloon. Then, a band promoting its CD was preparing to perform next to the roadshow. Ethan saw the bagpipe, and refused to bulge. When they finally performed, with bagpipe, drums and a lady dancer, he actually pretended to blow bagpipe with the bear balloon as the bagpipe. Later, the lady asked some children to join in with shakers, tambourines and dance. She tried to get Ethan to come out. Needless to say, it was not successful. He told me he was playing bagpipe, not drums. Well, at home, drumming suddenly became his favourite play, much to the chagrin of an inundated Jianming.