Happy Lion

This - I must admit - is a bit of an emergency blip. My camera stayed in my bag for most of the day and the only outdoor blips were of sunset and monkeypuzzle trees but nothing really to look at or say anything about. (Although I do want to blip a proper monkeypuzzle tree, they fascinate me and will therefore be in my blipbank for another day with more light).

This is Happy Lion, a lovely lion who lives in a zoo somewhere in France and in this particular book he is at first deeply unhappy, then gets infatuated with a circus lionness whom he then releases in the middle of the night only to take her back to the zoo where he is then allowed to keep her because he is now so happy. The blip is of him concealing her in his cave at the zoo.

Happy Lion was one of my favourite pictures books when I was a child and lions still are my alltime favourite animals (together with swans). Looking at this blip my heart lifts so I really did/do like him still.

I was thinking about my kids this morning and how much in bringing them up depends on trust and encouragement and belief. What brought this thought on was leaving L really early in the school playground, first in line with a few other parents staying with their children. I left her and went on to the nursery. When I first left her like that I was wondering if I did the right thing, if I should stay around longer but then I thought what can happen, she won't willingly go with anybody she doesn't know, all she wants to do is go to school (still) and therefore nothing can really happen. I won't be able to protect her for ever and surely giving her that bit of independence is only a good thing? Maybe it is cultural, I don't know. The other example was getting S out of nappies, again me being too worried and not trusting her to be able to do it doesn't achieve anything, it usually makes it worse (for me at least). Again, me having relaxed about it I am amazed at how well she is progressing and my trust probably helps her too. (And there will still be lots of accidents but hey, we all had to learn this and managed so she will too.

The Happy Lion book series was written by Louise Fatio and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin (and I just discovered that Louise Fatio was born in Lausanne!)