Country comes to town

We went to Dublin for Christmas to visit the in-laws.  After months in the dark, wintry countryside we just love getting in to the city. Especially my daughter who is only 4 but possesses all the confidence and poise of a grown woman. She lives in a tiny village in the highlands but the minute she hits the city streets you'd think she'd always lived in the city. She wasn't always like this. She used to act like she had been held in captivity, shouting from the top of escalators, "Hello people." Standing arms outstretched, eyes filled with wonderment, exclaiming, "look at all my people." She thought they were all there for her, well toddlers are like that, they think the world is all about them. Her little brother is at that stage now. He is 18 months old and walking down the busy shopping street holding his daddy's hand he did a little dance and shouted "Hiya, hiya, hiya," to everyone that passed. In our little country village everyone says hello, but not in the city. 

My daughter loves the hustle bustle, the buzz, the shops, cafes, lights, people and all the things there are to do like visit zoos, theatres, the beach and the parks. Especially the parks. There is a beautiful park near her grandparents. Everything is made of wood and there are lots of wooden animals including a herd of cows. The park is very popular and was full of children as usual. My child, of course, was the only child playing at milking the wooden cow. She pulled on its wooden udders for a good few minutes before offering me a go. No thanks, not today. I should have said yes but I was thinking about what the other mums would think. I have never seen any city kids try to milk that cow. Country comes to town indeed.