Belly Bump - SUMO

I have some of my family staying with me at the moment including my 2-year-old grandson, who is a little monkey and an absolute joy in equal parts.

The other night he wouldn’t go to sleep and rather than continuing the battle my son brought him down and we played for an hour before he finally gave in and went to bed.

I can honestly say it was one of the most joyous hours of my life as we played belly bump SUMO (sumo has to be shouted loud and in a deep voice)

This involves him lifting my t-shirt to look adoringly at my belly and slap it a few times to see it wobble and laugh a lot and then him lifting up his own top and running at me so that our tummies impact with a slapping sound, whilst loudly shouting SU MO.

Now at the age of 60 and with a large belly, it has been a long time since someone looked at my tummy adoringly and with the simple in-the-moment joy of a 2-year-old who hasn’t learned what is and isn’t beautiful from others or the media yet.

So for him, nannas belly is a thing of beauty, how it feels, how it wobbles and how warm it is, if only we could all love ourselves the way a child sees us (he likes my singing too!!)

Bodies are meant to be enjoyed and his joy was absolutely infectious, his laughter irresistible, he taught me something invaluable in this simple game and I’m still smiling now!