Wings and Fins

The last two weeks have been focussed on Natural History. This wasn't planned, but it all seems rather appropriate in a week when we've seen our wonderful athletes push the human body to its limits in the London 2012 Olympic games. We have 43 medals as I write and even I'm in danger of becoming more interested in sport...

Last week we continued our unexpected summer theme of sharks and butterflies, an unlikely marriage first set by Hirst's magical retrospective at the Tate Modern (for an account of our first visit see here). Each time we have returned to Hirst's exhibition, Culturebaby has found the live butterflies the most exciting element. We therefore jumped at the invitation to visit Butterfly World in Chiswell Green with our friends. At present, 'world' is rather an overstatement (think tent), but the ambitious plans for the site promise a rainforest dome with 10,000 tropical butterflies, thunderstorms and mock Mayan ruins in 2013. Belize in St Albans? Yes please!

The site contains a number of different insect houses. The butterfly tent was sweltering but stimulating, with a stunning selection of bright butterlies which flew around heads and landed on the children. With help from the friendly staff, the 4 year old was able to excitedly locate butterfly eggs on the leaves. Culturebaby bounced with excitement and flapped her arms like wings as she gazed around her. The insect study centre was equally enthrawling for children. Culturebaby saw a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis and sat on convenient wide ledges to examine tanks of stick insects, cockroaches,  locusts, and various types of mantis, while her little buddies also handled giant snails. Next door we also found a colony of leaf cutter ants, carrying leaves long distances along rope to line their 'city' (visible as a cross section). This was a wonderous sight for adult and baby alike, and Culturebaby's little 9 month old  friend couldn't take his eyes off the activity.

 

  We luckily chose a beautiful hot day and were also able to spend hours wandering through the fascinating designed gardens. Culturebaby and pals particularly loved venturing through a giant flowerpot into a garden from Brobdingnag or the Borrowers with giant flowerpots and garden tools; exploring the rooms of a house from Wonderland (complete with Madhatter's tea party setting); and investigating a garden with numerous spangly or surreal installations. With lots to touch, see, smell and hide behind, and with flowers and plants designed to attract butterlies, these gardens were a wonderful surprise.
 

 

 
Two days later,  we met another old school friend and her sixth month old daughter at the London Aquarium. After the success of our visit to the Horniman (see here), we were both really excited to take our babies to see the enormous tanks teeming with fascinating species. I had never visited the Aquarium before and didn't know what to expect. With so many brilliant free museums, it is an expensive trip (look out for 2 for 1 offers), and as it is a private business it has annoyingly commercial elements (expect to be collared for a cheesy photo on entry and offered face-painting and other gifts as you move round) but it was also really great for the babies, who loved it (as did we)...

The entrance was one of the best experiences. We were lucky to steal a quiet moment and Culturebaby was able to sit alone on the (thick!) glass walkway floor with sharks swimming below. As we moved through the themed rooms, Culturebaby wriggled and chatted away and placed her hands against the glass. There were some great curved tanks and the babies could lean against them and examine their inhabitants from above. Big hits were the giant tank replicating a Pacific reef complete with 16 sharks, an area full of bright tropical fish (think Nemo and friends), turtles, a crocodile and the penguins. It was sometimes hard to pinpoint the specific things which made Culturebaby giggle and babble with excitement (which she did rather a lot) and sometimes her interest was caught by something unexpected, but she clearly found the whole experience thoroughly stimulating. The journey was also peppered with interesting facts and environmentally conscious messaging, which was interesting for us and I think will bring a whole new dimension for Culturebaby when she's a little older.

 

I'm also trying to pick out appropriate books and toys from our collection to accompany what we see (remember the champion charity shopping mother?). Last week we attended our first baby book club (a fabulous idea and run by a friend of ours as part of the Picture Book Picnic). Appropriately one of the books on the menu was a gorgeous new book by Petr Horacek called Butterfly Butterfly. Radiant is indeed the right word for this stunningly coloured book complete with story and pop up butterfly. It's a little delicate for tiny hands, but supervised I think it is fine for babies. Similarly amazing is a noisy book we found in the Horniman Museum bookshop called Bugs by Maurice Pledger. This brilliant series allows the reader to hear the recordings of the sounds associated with a particular environment whilst looking at the appropriate pop-up pictures. Again it is delicate, so needs to be held out of the reach of little paws, but Culturebaby still loves it. Other good bug related reads are the eternally popular and fabulous The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle; The Very Lazy Ladybird pop up board book by Isobel Finn and Jack Tickle; one of Culturebaby's earliest favourite books - Feely Bugs by David A Carter (we have a version from 1995 which could be sturdier, but it has really good feely materials and was one of the first books that Culturebaby really enjoyed - she turned the pages backwards and forwards and really examined the bold feely images); a retro find from my brother's old collection - My Garden, an early fold out board book about bugs by Rod Campbell; and finally the wonderful Fuzzy Bee and Friends cloth book by Roger Priddy. This series is Culturebaby's absolute clothbook favourite with catchy rhymes, touchy feely elements, bright colours and easy to handle and satisfyingly crunchy pages.

To accompany our underwater adventures, we also have the equally fab Squishy Turtle cloth book from the above series. Here are another few underwater themed books Culturebaby has enjoyed looking at from our collection:

•  Dr Seuss's One Fish, Two Fish, Three, Four Five Fish!  - A rhyming and bright board book with 5 counting fish beads which Culturebaby loves to play with;
• If You See A Whale by Powell and Larranaga - A great lift the flap book with bold images which introduces babies to five sea creatures and prompts actions with each new discovery ("If you see a penguin, waddle like a penguin....") It makes her laugh when I attempt to act them out.
• 123 Little Fish by Guido van Genechten - A beautiful bright little book I found in the Tate Modern shop. It has beautiful images, cute creatures nestling behind flaps for Culturebaby to find (she's really enjoying lift the flap books at present), and the chance for a game of peekabo at the end;
• Dart and Dive by Hannah Wood - I'm a big fan of Child's Play publishing, and this little concertina book is no exception. The boards unfold to reveal sea creatures hanging from ribbons, seemingly swimming - and expecially exciting when blown! This one is great for even the smallest babies to lie and watch;
• Of course for the less scientifically conscious, there's a plethora of Mermaid themed books - some great feely ones in particular from Usborne's 'That's not My'... series and the next stage up - Mermaids by Cartwright and Bird;
• We also found a couple of lovely story books for older children, but perfect also for a chilled out moment for us - the wonderful Julia Donaldson's The Snail and the Whale (in convenient board book format) is a heartwarming rhyming tale of two unexpected friends adventuring together and helping each other along the way; The Glass Bottom Boat by Peter Harris and published by Tesco (!) was a good charity shop find and introduces just the sort of characters we met in the aquarium; and finally My Friend Whale by Simon James is a lovely and simple moral tale for children about the plight of whales.

It must also be said that the value of cool bathtoys also cannot be underrated in this area. Other than Archimedes the rubber duck, we have great sets of squirty and sponge sea creatures and bath books, which Culturebaby definitely counts amongst her favourite toys (as well as being really educational). She often tries to go to bed still clutching Captain Crab or one of his comrades. For dryer playtimes we also have a giant snail shape sorter (we'll cover this in a later post but shape sorters are Culturebaby's current favourite thing) - if you ignore the slightly annoying tune it is not a bad and quite simple one - and of course we have the seemingly compulsary but wonderfully sensory pram accessory Freddy the Firefly. We also found a brilliant set of Baby Einstein Animal Discovery Cards a few months ago. Culturebaby loves sorting through these, examining the pictures and (hopefully) learning to recognise some of the animals from their portraits.

 Next stop, Culturebaby's first trip to the Natural History Museum...

Et in Arcadia ego

Last week we spent a few days at Grandma and Grandad's. One day it looked like a small ray of sunshine was threatening to poke its thumb through a cloud so we grabbed our brollies and headed off to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. What an amazing place! Bill Packer of the Financial Times described it as "probably the finest exhibition site for sculpture in the world". While I can't claim to have visited the alternatives, I'd be inclined to agree with Bill. With Hepworths peppered across a hill, a sculpture by Richard Long reclining by a lake and numerous Henry Moore pieces popping out between sheep in a meadow, a backdrop of Yorkshire countryside and a faint smell of silage in the July air, what more could a northerner ask for? West Yorkshire has produced more than its fair share of iconic sculptors, and boasts Hepworth and Moore amongst its famous sons and daughters. It is therefore wonderful that the county houses such a great collection... and the pieces look utterly at home in their surroundings: aptly signposted Arcadia (in poetic fantasy Arcadia represents a pastoral paradise).

The Sculpture Park was also great for Culturebaby. The site comprises around 500 acres of countryside with hills, animals, lakes, a country house and sculptures popping up round every corner. There are good paths, most of which are pram and wheelchair friendly and fabulous views. She bounced with excitement in her pram as we walked around.





Our three favourite things from this visit were:

1. The first major UK exhibition of sculpture by Joan Miró, which contained some wonderful, bright sculptures in primary colours, and large images. Culturebaby was really interested in these, and the only disappointment was that she wasn't able to reach out and touch the exciting textured surfaces!
2. In the Orangery we stumbled upon William Pye's Offspring. This was the highlight of the whole trip for Culturebaby and a fantastic sensory experience. The sculpture, in polished mirrored steel, is a large waterfeature with water running down the surface. She was able to touch the sculpture, put her hands into the water, splash and view herself in the distorted reflective surfaces. She spent a long time with the work, babbling away at it, and continually reaching out.
3. I'm rather a fan of Richard Long's work. He speaks both to my inner archaeologist and art historian with his themes of walking and creatively leaving marks on the landscape. (For a good book on this see Renfrew's Figuring it Out.) In a beautiful spot by the lake we found Red Slate Line (1986). Perhaps it was because it was a glorious day, but the red of the slate, though incongruous with its surroundings, helped to pick out the purple of the foxgloves, the trees and the lake, lending the scene an otherworldly quality. The walk there was exciting for Culturebaby, along the side of the lake, passing a number of interesting works, and we had great fun exploring the site itself. The loop from there back to the car also took us through a meadow with sheep and Henry Moore sculptures.

A couple of hours was nowhere near enough to scratch the surface of the park (particularly given that we rather misjudged our explorations and had to dash up a rather steep hill at the end - we must have looked rather a sight (at least to the curious sheep) - a trail of increasingly flustered bodies taking it in turns to push a pram), but it served to whet our appetites. For all of us it was an ideal combination of fresh air and nature, art and entertainment. Next time I think a few more hours will be required...

These are a few of my favourite things: Music

Right from the day we brought Culturebaby back from hospital she's always shown a real interest in music. When we laid her on a rug in her first couple of days and put on my retro Fisher Price record player musical box next to her (thank you mum the hoarder...), it was amazing to watch her turn and follow the sound. This week has also been rather a musical watershed. Culturebaby has begun spontaneously bouncing and dancing along whenever she hears music. It's incredibly cute, and very exciting to watch.

Whilst music is a subject of lively debate and contention in our household, (I stand by my lifelong love for Paul McCartney despite ridicule from a number of quarters), and it is possible that Culturebaby will grow up with rather schizophrenic tastes that will range from 90's Northern Indie and 60's Rock and Roll, to UK Independent hip-hop, jazz, classical, Motown and a dash of cheesy musical thrown in, I hope that our combined enthusiasm will at least have some effect.


The Science

There is some evidence to show that babies can hear and are affected by music played to them in the womb, and can remember it up to a year after birth. From around 20 weeks, babies can hear, although this will be muffled by the liquid and tissue around them (like listening to music while underwater). In a well known (and mildly worrying) experiment, Peter Hepper of Queens Belfast showed that newborns seemed to respond and stop crying when the theme tune of Neighbours was played to them if their mothers had watched it regularly during pregnancy. Those whose mothers hadn't, showed no reaction. I'll know I'm to blame if Culturebaby displays an unexplained and slightly misplaced patriotism towards the United States, or a tendency to overly verbose and precocious musings on life during adolescence (The West Wing and Dawson's Creek kept me sane through several weeks of horrendous sickness)!

There is certainly rather a lot of debate on the internet about whether playing classical music to babies pre and post-birth helps their brain development. Some believe that it does, others question the evidence, but it is believed that listening to music reduces stress for a pregnant mother, which (if anyone had as rotten and puke-themed a pregnancy as me) can only be a good thing for mother and baby (for an interesting article on this see here), plus, of course, listening to and playing music as a child (while it may or may not make you better at map reading or maths), is likely to make you more musically adept.

I was, therefore, not one of those mothers who lay on the couch with earphones blasting out Mozart strapped to my belly (I was too busy hugging the loo, navigating the London tube system in the heat of summer, finishing work and trying to stay awake long enough to get through dinner)... but simply, playing instruments, singing and listening to music has provided a huge amount of happiness in my life, and this is what I want for my little lady and I've tried to introduce this to her in a number of ways.

Here's some of the ways that Culturebaby and I enjoy music together:

1. Turning our days into a musical: It doesn't really matter how well or badly you sing. Babies love and recognise their mother's voice and enjoy the attention and chance for reciprocal communication. Culturebaby absolutely loves being sung to. It wakes her up or helps to calm her, sends her to sleep or gets her excited. We have songs for everything, from fabulous classics to the amateurish addition of new words to stolen tunes. It doesn't really matter to her. She happily gurgles along in rather a sing-song way, and has done from a few months old. One of my favourite videos of her is lying on her (musically talented) uncle's knee at a couple of weeks old, staring intently at him as he played on her brand new Ukulele and sang the Beatles to her. Interesting research also shows that singing traditional lullabies and nursery rhymes to babies and infants before they learn to speak, is "an essential precursor to later educational success and emotional wellbeing" as "... song is a special type of speech" and "...lullabies, songs and rhymes of every culture carry the 'signature' melodies and inflections of a mother tongue, preparing a child's ear, voice and brain for language."
2. Going to music classes: There are so many music classes available for babies that it can be rather overwhelming. We attend a simple and lovely weekly drop-in session with a woman, a guitar and a basketful of percussion instruments. The babies and toddlers seem to love it, and it provides an excellent chance for me to revise long-forgotten tunes and rhymes.
3. Learning action songs: We attend a wonderful baby signing class which uses music and British Sign Language to provide another opportunity for early communication for babies. The local library and childrens' centres also run free rhyme time and music sessions with lots of fun action songs. Even if Culturebaby can't do much more than wave and shake her maracas at present, she adores watching older toddlers dancing and doing the signs. I can see her trying to move with them and it is clearly an inspiration for her to join in.
4. Experiencing live music: This can be rather tricky as concerts are not always the most appropriate places for babies! I recently considered strapping my bottle-rejecting little lady to my front to attend the Stone Roses reunion tour in Manchester, but of course in the end I sold my ticket, had a little weep and carried on... If you are in London there are some great opportunities to attend tailored classical concerts, but I've found that Culturebaby just loves any live music, from bands at weddings to hymns at mass. This week we've been visiting her uncle and had a couple of brilliant times together when he played the guitar and she bounced around and moved her legs to the music. Amusingly on our return journey, when we put on one of his recorded tracks, she stopped crying and started tapping her foot.
5. Dancing together: I don't quite have two left feet, but I'm no ballerina. However, fortunately, at this stage the little ones are not that picky and Culturebaby is completely delighted every time we dance together. It's one giant, exciting chance for either great exercise or a cuddle and we both have a penchant for a bit of Ella Fitzgerald at the end of a long day...
6. Music to sleep to: We have a great baby monitor that plays soothing classics at bedtime. It really helps Culturebaby to calm down and prepare to fall asleep. Even more welcome - with a touch of a (lovely lovely) remote button - it often helps to get her back to sleep if she wakes in the night. Musical mobiles also provide an ideal combination of sights and sounds for little babies and can be attached above a cot. We've customised ours to keep the music and change the mobile attachment from time to time (as babies clearly get a bit bored of looking at the the same thing hanging over their head after a couple of weeks).
7. Singing along to books: There are some great, and beautifully illustrated books of nursery rhymes and songs - from the classics (such as those by Kate Greenaway), song books with feely textures, my dusted off childhood favourites (such as Oh Soldier Soldier and The Hums of Pooh), to new versions such as Doing The Animal Bop and Whoosh around the Mulberry Bush.
8. Watching little clips: Culturebaby doesn't really watch TV - I don't think she needs it - but I do make the exception for occasional song clips and videos. She bounces with excitement when we watch and sing along to tunes from Mary Poppins, The Sound of Music or Disney classics.
9. Playing musical instruments: I've always had a rather bizarre habit of collecting musical instruments in every country I've visited on holiday, plus there are so many gorgeous and affordable wooden percussion instruments for children I've encountered that we've amassed quite a collection. Our basket of instruments is one of the most versatile of our sets of toys and is as exciting to four year old visitors as babies - and can entertain them both at once (excellent for babysitting duty). Whatever we are listening to, from The Beach Boys to Beethoven, we get our instruments out and shake them along. The best musical instruments are always the simple and natural ones - and Culturebaby seems to prefer these to more snazzy electronic versions. Some of the best items in our basket are: A Ukulele, rainmakers, a wooden painted shakey egg (absolute favourite), various sleigh and hand bells, shakers, castanets, maracas, a couple of tambourines, drums and a monkey drum, a xylophone and a mini-piano.
10.  Visiting exciting musical places: There are many great museums with the opportunity to try out musical instruments. We already wrote about the fantastic collection of interactive musical instruments at the Horniman Museum, the chance to try a Grand piano at Dunham Massey and the sound garden at Stockwood Discovery Centre. We've also recently found a real old cinema organ to try in St Albans Museum's exhibition about the old Odeon.
11. Making classical music exciting: When I was a baby, my mum used to introduce a new classical piece every week. She'd play it every day and I'd learn to recognise it. It must have worked well as I can still remember the excitement of acting out Grieg's In The Hall of the Mountain King- creeping round and round the lounge, progressively faster and having to dive behind the chair and hide before the door to the mountain closed! Babies learn from repetition and I've been trying this idea out with Culturebaby. I thought I'd acquaint her with her 1/8th Cossack, so this week we've been listening to Prokofiev's Troika. This is such an amazing and exciting piece for anyone (and encapsulates the excitement of Christmas perfectly!). Culturebaby has begun to recognise it as it starts, smile and laugh and shake her sleigh bells. There are times she has also focused her gaze on the speakers and babbled until it has been turned on again. We've varied what we've done as we have listened to it and used percussion, humming, dancing and even watched videos of it on You Tube. It's been hugely rewarding and, I think my mother's idea will be resurrected as a weekly tradition. Hmm... what for this week?

"I was born with music inside me. Music was one of my parts. Like my ribs, my kidneys, my liver, my heart. Like my blood. It was a force already within me when I arrived on the scene. It was a necessity for me-like food or water."(Ray Charles)