Weekending - in the City

 

I love visiting Brisbane City. There is always a sense that something is happening. A sense of possibility. A sense that you may stumble upon something fun, interesting or different. Something out of the ordinary from our usual day to day. And so it was Saturday.

 

When our previous plans fell through I asked Cohen what he wanted to do with our day. "Make art at the gallery." (Music to this Mama's ears.) And so we did. First there were little mouths to feed, public art to admire and bridges to cross. We peered in to the river, peered up at the buildings, pointed out all the interesting things we saw. We discovered a live band at the top of the Mall and Cohen did a little dance. We treated ourselves to our favourite foods. Looked at a few stores. Then we found our way to the Pop Up Ekka at Southbank, where we patted baby animals, feed balls in to the mouths of clowns and Cohen proudly caught a rubber duckie. As we neared the end of our loop Emerson fell asleep. We wandered through the Queensland Art Gallery and on to the children's art centre at the Gallery of Modern Art, where we decorated kangaroo masks and hopped around on the scenery. By the time we were driving home both children were asleep.

 

Yes, I love visiting the City, and the City didn't disappoint.

"I can like the City"

I remember my excitement when Cohen was learning to talk, yet people often commented that I would eventually wish he wouldn't talk so much. I couldn't even imagine such a thing. Oh, how I understand these sentiments now. Toddler speak. I love it. But at times my brain reaches saturation point and I begin to tune out to the incessant chatter. Cohen is like his own commentator and talk back radio host rolled in to one.

But there are many moments where his grasp on language surprises me, and times where he applies his logic and his vocabulary and comes out with some sweetness. For instance, recently he pointed to a ink stain on a thrifted wool blanket and asked, "What's that bruise on the blanket for?" He uses "all days" to mean all the time or always. And lately he lets you know his opinion with either an "I can't like that Mama," or an "I can like that."

Yesterday we spent a family day making the most of the delights of the cultural precinct in the City. We explored Southbank, visited the galleries, made paper birds in the children's art center at GOMA, ate by the river and wandered through the museum. Cohen assured us as we walked back to the car, "I can like the City."

Me too.