The climbing wall

Sunday was a glorious afternoon. From grey and cloudy beginnings the sun broke through and shone in a clear blue sky all afternoon. From memory it does this every year the weekend of the Lambeth Country Fair.  We were there with Lulu, Frog's best friend, and her family.  


For those of you who read this blog regularly you will know how much Frog loves to climb.  Nothing makes her happier than scaling an enormous tree and sitting in it. I'm not sure what she does up there: thinks, watches, sits, watches and thinks I guess. Anyway she loves it and is truly fearless.


On Sunday at the Country Fair they had some fantastic (and free) activities for the kids, including basketball, tennis, football and a climbing wall. Understandably this was like giving Frog all the sweets in the sweetshop. She literally squealed with pleasure when she saw it.  


She and Lulu scaled the first wall, the easy one, faster than you can say "go spidergirl go". 


The harder wall was trickier. The spaces between the 'grips' were further apart and the girls are still only little.  Frog did well, she got within a metre of so of the top, then came down.  Lulu was still climbing.


I expected Frog to call to her friend to come down and get on with the next activity. But no, she stood on the ground below her friend and bellowed encouragement; she pointed out good places to put her hands and feet and truly supported Lulu during her final burst to reach the top. And when Lulu touched the buzzer that signalled her success both girls were equally, ecstatically thrilled.


In those moments my daughter reminded how pure and perfect friendship can be. About how it can be both competitive and yet supportive. About how your best friend cheering you on makes anything possible. And about how when success is shared and celebrated together it makes it so much more fun! 


Awe and wonder at its best.

The Plan

The frog has a best friend.  They've been best friends since their first day at nursery and the only time Frog is sad is when they've had a falling out, which thankfully doesn't happen very often. The best friend's name is Lulu.


They are totally smitten with each other and would choose to be together 24 hours a day, seven days a week if they could.  


This passion is truly brilliant when I'm trying to get Frog motivated to go out on a day trip with Lulu and her family ("do your teeth/tidy your bedroom/finish your homework ... or else we won't be able to meet up with Lulu").  All tasks are done with time to spare, with no fuss and nonsense and mostly with a smile! 


It's less easy at the end of the day.  Having to go their separate ways often ends with the mums having to hunt one of them out from a secret hiding place or prize one off the other's leg as you might with an over enthusiastic puppy. It's sweet if somewhat irritating. 


Last weekend we took the girls and Rowdy to Brockwell Lido. It was a great day, we had sandwiches and ice creams, braved the freezing water and got a glimpse of the future as Frog and Lulu sunbathed like teenagers, whispering secrets about school and giggling furiously at their own in-jokes.


Later, as we walked across the park to the car (lazy, but essential with two exhausted three-year olds in tow) the girls announced they had a plan.  They were in extremely high spirits about it too. They made various attempts to trick us into giving them chewing gum and we thought the plan had been executed/thwarted.  Wrong.


Lulu's mum dropped us off at our front door and Lulu was out of the car and at my front door before you could say "I need a wee". And this is what she did say with accompanying ham-acting to go with.  


And it was the ham-acting that caught them out. Lulu didn't need a wee at all, it was all part of 'the plan' to get her into my house, to drag out their last precious few moments together. The chewing gum was just a decoy.  


This incident, though not easy to describe, was full of awe and wonder. The tricksiness and deviousness of these six year old minds is simply awesome; in the end the plan was pretty good at a strategic level, they just need to brush up on their execution! 

More important is the wonder of friendship - so strong that you never want to be apart, so profound that you'll risk getting into trouble just for a couple more moments together.  Friendship is grounded in making plans and being creative together, where together you are better than the sum of your parts and when together everything is simply more fun.


There's nothing quite like a best friend.






Pic taken Winter 2009