Dorothy Encounters Boot Camp

At seven months, Dorothy is still an early riser.  She seems to be a big believer in the early bird getting the worm, and rising and shining and all that.  So sometimes we are at the nearby park by 6:15 a.m., and despite what you non-morning people might think, we are not nearly the only ones there.  There's always a few dogs being walked, and people cutting through the park on their way to work.  There are usually old women speed-walking in chatty pairs, and the people who spend the night in the park are often up and doing their ablutions, for lack of a better word.

Dorothy is not phased by any of these folk and generally will not pay any of them any mind.  However, there is one group of early risers that intrigues her -- the boot campers.  Several times a week there is a group of people taking a boot camp exercise class in the park.  There are about twelve of them, and they follow the barked commands of their leader as he gets them to do various sprints and push ups and other exercises.

Dorothy will often stop and just stare at what they are doing.  A few days ago as we came to the entrance of the park, the boot campers were running around the outside of the park, and when they reached the entrance we use, they would lie down on their backs (on the sidewalk upon which Dorothy often piddles, might I add) and put their legs up at a 90-degree angle from the sidewalk, lower them to a hover about 6 inches off the sidewalk, and then bring them back up to the 90-degree position.  Dorothy just could not figure out what they were doing!  She stopped and stared.  She sort of half-crouched half-tip-toed closer to them.  She sat again.  She tilted her head.  She looked at me.  She looked back at the people on their backs.  It was quite funny!  She really wanted me to let her go up to some of the exercisers so she could start giving them her "are you okay?" smooches, but I thought it best not to interrupt them.

I had a hard time getting her moving again after that!    A few days later we came across an old man doing what I assume was tai chi.  He was moving very slowly and Dorothy thought that maybe he, too, needed her help.  He did not.  You never know what strange thing you might see in the park.

Dorothy is trying to understand boot camp, but she just doesn't get it:  

Have they not heard of the sidewalk sit?