rude boy

took the bean to a 'country' festival this morning, which is really just a 'bush' band on stage performing songs about sheep shearing and a couple of fenced pens with goats/chooks/ducks/sheep/rabbits. there were free 'train' and pony rides but the queues were so long it was not worth waiting: imagine just me (dh couldn't be with us) standing in line for over an hour with a toddler when it is near lunchtime and there are kids eating ice creams nearby...nah-uh.

anyhow, despite the heat and the crowds (it was a spectacle of prams/strollers too and it made for quite interesting traffic congestion around the kindy farm exhibits) i had to honour my promise to show the bean "farm animals". i think she was more fascinated by the rabbits - there were a few largish ones twitching their noses about - as she was able to pet one very docile floppy-eared critter at the zoo 2 weeks ago. so i had to find a space for the bean to see the animals and especially the rabbits up close.

after waiting patiently for other children to have their fill and get out the way, she finally had a chance to stroke or at least get closer to a rabbit. but after a short while, a boy (considerably older - maybe around 6?) who had been hogging the rabbit space started to shove the bean out the way. so i went up to them and told the bean loudly, "this boy is very rude for shoving you." and then extricated her from the scene. because by then the rabbit was trying to escape from the boy's clutches too and i was thirsty and needed a break.

the organisers had promised dorothy the dinosaur and wags the dog (they are part of the pantheon of characters from the wiggles' tv show) but it was approaching high noon and there was no sign of them. so i got the bean a lemonade and we went home. me having decided that i didn't want to wait another 20 minutes in the heat for a character in a saggy suit with an irritating high pitched giggle (i.e. dorothy).

i am not sure what the objective of this post is. maybe just to observe that the bean still isn't quite able to stand up for herself. for ince, she didn't/wouldn't muscle her way to the fence of the animal pen the way the other kids did and didn't really fight back when another toddler muscled in, pushing her out of the way.

when dh was told about the "rude boy"'s behaviour, he advised that next time, the bean should say, "stop! don't push me." to whoever tries it.