Today Grace and I met Fiona and Ben at Stodals for some clambering, jumping and feeding the animals. While Grace and Ben played the the two mommy's went about catching up (2 months worth). Grace really enjoyed feeding the goats, bunnies and ponies, but kept on moaning about the rooster being noisy.  I started getting a little frustrated with all the moaning so I turned to the rooster and said "shut up rooster"  the next time the rooster crowed Grace turned to it and said "shut up rooster". 

This year we have changed our schedule around a bit. The main reason was so that we could all eat together at supper which will hopefully encourage Grace to eat the same food as we do in the evenings. We have been eating earlier, and I really enjoy the time together as a family. Now that we all eat together we are saying grace with Grace. Some days she stops before eating, holds out her hands and says, "Tank God," and other days we have, "No tank God." It is very sweet how she tightly closes her eyes and loudly says "Amen!" when we are done…..or sometimes "Amen!" when she thinks we should be done.

Swimming has been going really well this year and Grace is loving each time we go to a lesson or for a swim in the pool. The thing she is loving the most is jumping into the pool. She jumped in on her own (with me there to catch her) for the first time early this year and has just gotten more and more confident as she practices. Now going for a swim at the gym involves jumping in, a little help from dad to get to the pool noodle and then back to the steps to start over again (getting back requires help). She is also launching herself off the step towards me, and quite comfortably to go under and float up to the top before I help her.

I had foot-in-mouth disease tonight. Grace was doing well and having fun, and I put my foot in it. I was singing while she was bathing, and as usual she said, "No singing, sing Silent Night," (because that is the only song that may be sung). I decided to do what she usually does to us (in retrospect this was stupid) and said, "No Silent Night, no Silent Night," in the same kind of way that she would say it.

Grace has been asking to see an, “Apie,” this last week, which translates to, “I want to go and see a giraffe.” So we set off for The Giraffe House (which is on the way to Stellenbosch) and had a great time at a really lovely “wildlife awareness centre” (as they call it).