Breastfeeding & Circus School

Last Saturday morning our family went to Complex Desjardins to drop off my wife and the baby. It was an assembly to raise awareness for breastfeeding. At 11am, all of the mothers would attempt to feed and they would be counted. There were 920 feeding of the over a thousand participants who were trying at that time. We received two tickets to see Monsters on Ice since we participated. Although myself and our older kid were not there for the event, we did spend a bit of time inside before we had to leave. The atmosphere was a little on the surreal side. A gathering of babys with mothers who are more endowed than your average woman on the street. Baby carriers, diaper bags, strollers. And quite a few fathers who seemed a bit uneasy and out of place. They were asked to stand on the side while the mothers gathered in the center court.

Our older daughter and I left and went to Circus School. That is really a cool place. They have all kinds of apparatus. Trampolines, high wires, trapeze, tumbling mats, items to juggle, and high bars to balance yourself while atop balls, rollers, or stilts. And there are at least five different groups all going at the same time in different corners of the room. Flips on the trampoline, handstands on the mats, or walking up the stands while juggling balls. Its interesting to see these kids already doing circus type exercises and all looks like so much fun.

Well, last weekend I had the chance to join in. The youngest children are required to have an adult with them, so it was my turn. It was much tamer stuff, but it was still a blast to do things similar to what they do in the circus. We did an exercise where I throw and flip her in the air. She had to balance on my hands while I lifted her up. And there were some basic balancing and tumbling exercises. At times I found myself concentrating more on what I was doing as opposed to helping my kid do what she was doing.

It reminds me of two things. First, it reminds me of the exercises we did in high school. Our cross country and track coach was a pole vaulter and a bit of a nut. At times we did unrelated exercises like handstands for cross country. And for the year I attempted the pole vault, we were doing gymnastics on the rings or the high bar. Swinging on a rope up over the bar in order to simulate pole vaulting and jumping off the gym balcony onto the mat in order to get used to the falling. Actually I tried the pole vault just to do those exercises. I was really not good at it. I was too slow to generate enough energy to produce any height. And my weight didn't help things.

But the other thing it reminds me of is my grandfather and it makes me wonder if one of our daughters may follow in his footsteps. There is a very strong circus presense here in Montreal and part of me wonders if they may follow that path. For now we'll just have fun with the classes. Maybe I'll try one.