Swinging

Swinging is fun. Tahlia has always been a child who enjoys being lifted onto the swing and flung into the air. As a small baby, Mommy would sit on the swings just outside our house in the common area with Tahlia on her lap and swing, sometimes literally, for hours. There has always been something about the swinging motion that she enjoys.

Of course, she is not alone in this. Most children enjoy swinging. Since our neighborhood has a set of swings, Tahlia always saw the older children swinging on the swings, and, therefore, she too wanted to swing. Because the older children were able to swing by themselves, before she turned one, she rode on the big girl swing all by herself.

Tahlia likes the big swing. This is when Daddy pushes her. Mommy does a pretty good job pushing Tahlia, but, if you want to go "Real high!" it is Daddy you call. When Tahlia starts swinging really high, she just laughs. Her little blond hair bobs in the air, first flying back, then rushing forward into her face. Her laughter floating through the leaves and across the tennis court.

Tahlia is serious about her swinging. So serious is she that when she sees a child in a book who is standing on a swing, or holding on with one hand, she asks, "Mommy? Why that child naughty?"

But, even while swinging on your bum is fun, there is something even more fun. Swinging on your belly.

She has recently become bold enough to do this. She stands in front of the little swing and usually calls for help. But recently, she learned how to do it all by her "delf." Slowly she moves forward, carefully, carefully, then suddenly leaning forward, her little white and pink sneakers lift from the ground, and she is flying, flying very much like when she asked me about becoming a caterpillar.

"Daddy, what would happen if I was a caterpillar?"

"I don't know Tahlia, what?" We were walking Suki. We had just rounded the corner and were heading up the hill. Large trees loomed to our left.

"Maybe I would climb up high in a tree and maybe find a bird and climb and fly high up in the sky. But maybe when I'm older."