WANAKA I: HOW TO MASSAGE A CRAWLER

One day dad told mum about the baby massage course which was being organized in Wanaka. Mum signed us in immediately. At the time I was 5 months old and I had just mastered rolling over and was slowly progressing towards rocking on my knees so it seemed to be a great idea (and good reason to leave the village and enjoy a few days in the town).

The first Tuesday in April came and ten to 3 pm (we just could not wait) we were entering a tiny room where the course was supposed to be held. With us there was Belinda, the couch, and two young mums with their babies – tiny babies! Till then, everywhere mum and I came, I was used to being the youngest and smallest. Definitely not this case: I felt massive!

When Belinda told mums to take our clothes off and lay us down on our back, the other kids just did obediently what they were asked for. Not me: I rolled to my belly immediately. Before mum could ask me if I wanted a massage today (she could hardly expect clearer answer), I was on my way to the 3-month-old redhead girl. To make it short: after a few attempts to please my legs with “Indian milking” and “hugging glass”, mum gave up and let me explore the room.

The next week a belly massage came up and – man! – I hated it. I was super keen on showing those little guys my new tricks (I might have been showing off a little bit) but mum tricked me. This time she brought with us some of my favourite toys and while I was playing with them she managed to give me couple of strokes.

Massaging arms means I can´t hold my peepee penguin and it is pretty unnerving, right? No wonder I expressed my discontent out loud. Facial treatment was just a pure disaster and mum really pinned her hopes on back part of my body because it is simply the one which is exposed most of the time. Unfortunately I managed to figure out how to sit up myself a few days before back happened and it ruined all her plans. I got also much more confident with the crawling thing and nothing could stop my approach towards the plastic doll that Belinda was using for demonstrating all the techniques.

At tea time when the other mums were drinking their coffees, enjoying biscuits and discussing their sleep deprivation and similar issues, mum was running after me trying to prevent me from ripping Belinda´s massage manual into nanoparticles.

Very relaxing, mum, nice job! (How much did you say it cost you?)

Your Annie

Some facts

When: 4. 4. – 9. 5. 2017 Where: Wanaka (New Zealand) How: car, oily hands How long: 2,5 hr. + 1 hr. (*5)

How far: 209*5*2 = 2 090 km