MsI declared that we were going on the bus.
No one else felt like joining us for a bus ride, so MsI and I headed to the bus stop. She asked if we could "ride a tall bus," so we waited for a double decker bus to pass by.
We snagged the seat at the top front and had a perfect view of everything. MsI kept up a running commentary the whole way, even though we're not supposed to talk on the bus (Covid rules). The first few minutes went like this:
MsI: "Did the bus hit a rock? It’s really sway-ie. Do we have a flat tire? I can’t see the pink bus. Look mama, a green light! I think it’s a cement machine! It has sticky stuff so the construction guys can stick more on and more on till it looks like a house. Is this our stop?"
Me: "No, not yet. What should we do when we get off?"
MsI: "Go and dance. I like dancing. I think I see construction guys." [They were riding in the open back of a work truck.] "I think they’re building a house. I see the house!" [They turned into a worksite].
I think I see a dog statue. It IS a dog statue! I saw something thing with spots. Maybe it was a cheetah. I like cheetahs. They are the fastest animals. We can’t play tag with cheetahs. A mommy cheetah and a baby cheetah and a daddy cheetah could play tag. It would take an hour to tag a baby cheetah."
We really didn't know where we were going, but it wasn't long before we passed a green space and I figured it was worth getting off the bus to investigate.
Turns out we were in Clementi Woods. I've heard of this neighbourhood before and it sounded far away - towards the West Coast - so we've never been. But it's Singapore, so actually nothing is far away. Its really close by my Canadian standards.
MsI chose the path with the yellow stairs. "I like yellow," she declared. Near the top we discovered a nature playground, which helped ease my fears that the kids don't get to play properly here. Sometime it all feels like pools and plastic playgrounds, especially now that MsE won't let us venture into the nature reserves because "that's where monkeys live". It can be hard to find enough sticks and mud and logs to climb over for my liking, let along hills to roll down. It's unusual to find grass we're allowed to actually walk on in Singapore.
This playground actually came a sign saying "Creative and nature play may entail some risk-taking". We loved it, but it was pretty tame. I couldn't figure out how MsI at 3 or 4 years old could possibly have hurt herself on it. On the other hand, she's so used to walking on flat concrete paths that uneven paths cause her to trip repeatedly until I explain that she needs to pick up her feet higher, so I imagine many Singaporean children haven't played on something similar.
It was so much fun letting MsI explore and figure out all the features by herself. Normally she's with the big girls who would have run off and been first to do everything. She would have been more likely to trail along after, copying what they did.
It didn't take long to refreshingly figure out how to get wet. After she figured out where the water was going in this water feature, she tried floating little sticks and leaves down and even making little dams.
When she found the higher water taps, she just stuck her head right under and intentionally drenched her head. She was quite happy about that. It was the afternoon, so we were quite hot.
She found some loose parts to play with too. She counted nuts on the table and washed loose wood pieces. She even found some sand to write in. She said "X makes the spot," then she came back and tried to dig there later.
We found a few things to climb, and even another regular playground near the bus stop when we were heading towards home. She tried swinging on the monkey bars for the first time there. On the ride back home, we passed another worksite. MsI yelled out, "I see a cement mixer. It's just what I wanted to see."
Perhaps, that's why we were riding the bus in the first place.
