Last Friday evening I had two options. Take Lakshmi swimming or go for a walk in the neighbourhood. It was late by the time I returned from my appointment and so I decided to take her for a walk. Now the choices were Eddie in his pushchair or her ‘Mini’. Last time she expected me to sit on her Mini and go up the hill or push it up the hill. I didn’t fancy both options. So Eddie it was. A small fall at the beginning of our walk when Lakshmi tumbled over Eddie and the buggy. There was no scraped knees this time, but her first words on getting up was “is Eddie okay?”.
We stopped off at a couple of houses. I hadn’t seen Rani for a long time. She has retired but works part time at my Hospital due staff shortages. Rani was putting her bins in as I walked past. Lakshmi started to get bored as I tried to catch up with the news. I will have to catch up another time. Next was Patrick. He wondered whether we would like to go in and see Susan. Lakshmi hesitated and stayed away. When he asked her the third time, she said a firm “No” with sign language to make it perfectly clear that she was not going in.
A lady with her dog was walking further ahead. “Doggie!”, Lakshmi called out and he turned around and looked at her. She wasn’t expecting that. Further along, she marvelled at the houses and showed me the sign languages for house, windows and doors and for an aeroplane as one flew past. Children’s TV programs do have their advantages. She has picked up a lot of useful information from these shows. No wonder the lady on the tube was impressed with Lakshmi on our Croydon trip. She obviously got it while I wondered what Lakshmi was doing when she practiced her sign language skills.
I don’t let her see much telly when she is with me. Breakfast and dinner times are the only times, I let her watch some Peppa pig. She enjoys watching Laly’s ‘Aana’ videos, Alfie’s and my friend’s grandchildren’s video clips, but I reserve them for when I can’t settle her for any reason.
We walked quite a distance. “Lakshmi’s tired” she said as we were almost back home. “Do you want me to pick you up or push Eddie?”. “No, I’m ok” came the weary but happy reply. We had just enough time for dinner and a quick bath before I dropped her back at her place.