My outlaws came up from Melbourne for this long Easter weekend so we took the opportunity to drive around and show them some of the Canberra region. On Saturday we went to a park out at Cotter which had been burnt to the ground after the Canberra fires that swept through the area a few years back.

The park has been rebuilt and has all new play equipment for the kids, so naturally Bella (our 2.5 year old) was climbing on everything and showing no fear - Nicola and I do enough of that for her. I've come to understand that Bella is a little bit of a thrill seeker which would be a problem if she didn't manage to pull off her little stunts. Anyone who takes the time to push per on a swing will no doubt get shouts of "higher" and "faster" hurled at them.

We regularly take her swimming down at the public pool and it is with some pride that I see her race off to the deep end and dive straight in (with a stressed life guard chasing after her). I usually get there in time to let them know that its OK and that she can swim perfectly well - actually seeing her swim across an Olympic sized swimming pool is something to behold.

I'm currently trying to teach her to swim underwater for more than a few seconds and her current technique seems to be something like an anaconda curving its body to propel itself forward as she only kicks with her feet and has her hands by her side.

Like every parent I am convinced that my daughter has something special to offer the world so I try to encourage her to have diverse interests beyond those which stereotypically belong to a little girl.

For example, she has a keen interest in aeroplanes and can spot them in the sky from her car seat with ease. All we hear when driving around Canberra is shouts of "look a plane". Admittedly it’s a little bit easier in Canberra because most planes fly directly over the region leaving white trails which extend for what seems like hundreds of kilometres.

Of course, whenever I sit in front of the computer she asks me if she can sit on my lap and "fly the plane". I made the mistake of installing and playing flight simulator once and for what seemed like an entire weekend I sat with her letting her crash 747s into the ground.

Eventually she actually managed to acquire enough patience to get a amphibious plane into the air and then under instruction cut back the throttle and guide it in for a smooth landing on the water again (it seems water is a bit spongier even at that speed).

Her interest in aircraft has never been clearer to me than yesterday when we went to a second hand book store and when asked what books she would like to take home she pointed these two out.

It gets better, on the way home in the car, sitting in the back with her Nanna and Poppa she didn't want to hear about Peter Rabbit, she was instead more interested in the maximum speed and armaments on the Grumman F-14A Tomcat. It makes me wonder whether computer games like this and this would be more her style.

This curious blend of talents (swimming in a weightless environment) and interests (anything with wings) has led me to believe that her eventual career will be a space pilot, and after yesterday its left me wondering whether NASA has a boarding school program.