Monthly Archives: July 2012

Keren’s Birthday Lunch

On July 31, 2012 - Uncategorized

Grace and I took Keren out to lunch at Cin Cin for her birthday.  While we were waiting for our food Grace was playing teacher teacher with Keren – 2 weeks at school and already playing school :).  Grace would hold up one of her alphabet cards, show it to Keren and say "say gift" or whatever else happened to be on the card.  If Keren said the wrong word Grace would repeat it until she said it correctly. 

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After lunch cappuccino's at Vida

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A little story from today.  Yesterday Grace insisted on taking out her 150 piece bug puzzle which is rather tricky even for me and although we built a little of it yesterday I knew she wasn't really that in to it so I decided to build 90% of the puzzle today while she was at school.  When Grace got home she looked at the puzzle excitedly and said to me "good job mommy, good job" looking very chuffed with me.  She then sat down and finished the puzzle. 

Group

On July 30, 2012 - Uncategorized

Grace likes group – the part of school when all the children are together after their morning session. I'm not really sure what all group entails, but I know there can be stories, singing, talking about some topic (like the Olympics at the moment) and a time to share anything that they want to. Janine said that Grace is really enjoying group, but gets a bit stressed during the change over and cleaning up between the morning session and group.

She is also very excited to start swimming lessons with another little girl. We had a lesson today and have organised to have a swimming partner, so Wednesday will be the first lesson together….which Grace is really excited about. More time with friends.

We are really glad that she is looking forward to and enjoying her time with other children.

Independence

On July 29, 2012 - Uncategorized
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Getting some shade while she makes her calls

It has been fascinating to see Grace being more and more independent. She has become very independent in her play and can spend a long time pottering about without looking for any input. Up until recently she has wanted us to be involved, or to at least be watching her doing whatever she is doing, but now she will happily get on with whatever it is that she wants to do.

This morning was a big surprise for me. Instead of coming to call me to get out of bed as she usually does, she playing in the lounge and then played in her room (giving me some much needed extra time in bed!) It was only when she got hungry that she decided that Daddy would be a good option to help. She also spent a reasonable amount of time jumping on her own on the trampoline while I cleaned up around the house – and jumping has always been a thing that she expects us to be around for. There was at least 15 minutes of her jumping and singing on the trampoline without calling for anyone, and when she was done it was because she was thirsty, not because she was looking for me.

The one downside (sort of) is that she can independently unpack her toys, play with them, unpack others, play with them,unpack….and so forth. Current mission? Teaching her to pack away things when she has finished with them.

Bush diving

On July 28, 2012 - Uncategorized
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All aboard the pram cruiser!

It was a beautiful sunny day, so what to do? Take a walk with the rest of the Capetonians (and the Bradshaw's) on the Sea Point promenade.

The thing that really jumped out from the walk today was a guy that we saw while I was swinging Jack. Jack says to Donné, "Look Donné, man jump over bush." Huh? What exactly are you talking about? "Look, do it again." We look around and a man is standing looking with some intent towards some shrubs. He puts his hands behind him, runs and dives over a rather tall bush (probably about as tall as he was). On that attempt he happened to break off a branch of the bush. He turned around and appeared to apologise profusely for his mistake, and then went on to dive over some other bushes too. Fascinating, and impressive to watch.

As far as Grace is concerned she thinks that if you are not using the potty seat on the toilet, then you are "hovering". I've said to her before that we are not hovering (as she does) but that our bums are bigger then hers and fit the seat. Donné was using the facilities and Grace says to her, "Mommy's got a very, very big bum, that's why you hover."

Jodi

On July 27, 2012 - Uncategorized
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Preparing for a trolley race with JP & Jodi

We met up with some special friends – JP & Lisa – who are visiting from the Cayman Islands and got to meet their little girl Jodi. Grace tends to stay away from other children who she does not know, but today she had loads of fun playing with Jodi. Before we even left to meet our friends, Grace had drawn a picture and folded it up for Jodi, as well as bought her a juice.

And when they met it was just loads of fun. Pushing trolley's around together, feeding bunnies together, jumping on the trampoline and going for a trolley race.

Now we just need to convince JP & Li that the lifestyle really is better here in Cape Town 🙂

Just one more push

On July 26, 2012 - Uncategorized
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The egg race at Caleb's birthday

When Donné collected Grace from school today she says, "School so short today." I guess time flies when you're having fun. Maybe it just goes quickly when you get to eat a chocolate muffin for Willow's birthday.

They went to Caleb's birthday party and Grace had so much fun playing with the other children. She played musical statues, carried her egg really well in the egg race and had fun in the sack race. There were ice-cream cones and Grace, only knowing eating ice-cream from a cup at the aquarium says, "Want a spoon." So there she sits eating her ice-cream cone with a spoon.

When it was time to go Grace was sitting in a chair next to Caleb's swing and pushing it. Donné said to her, "Come Grace it's time to go." Grace replies, "Just want to push Pluto one more time."

What time is it?

On July 25, 2012 - Uncategorized
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Painting polystyrene balls for baby brother's mobile

School has gone well the last two days. Yesterday Grace just moaned a bit when being dropped off, and apparently no crying, just some moaning during the day. Today, no moaning, just a question, "What time mommy come fetch me?" "Half past eleven, Grace." Smiles and a hug.

When Donné collected Grace the first thing Grace said to her was, "What time is it?" "Half past eleven, Grace."

Why brush my teeth daddy?

On July 24, 2012 - Uncategorized
One of the "Why?" questions that Grace asks daily is, "Why brush my teeth daddy?" (while brushing her teeth). I have the standard answer about healthy teeth and holes and dentists, but tonight it was story time…..

Once there was a little tooth who lived inside of Grace's mouth. Everyday a little bit of plaque would come and sit on the tooth, and everyday Grace brushed her teeth and got rid of the plaque. One day Grace stopped brushing her teeth and the little bit of plaque sat on her tooth and scratched and scratched until it made a hole in the tooth. "Ow, my tooth is so sore," said little Grace, "I need to go to the dentist." The dentist looking inside of Grace's mouth and said, "There is a little hole in your tooth – I will clean it and put a filling in it." So the dentist cleaned it and filled it and the tooth was all better. So that's why we brush our teeth, so that they can stay healthy.

A few seconds after finishing the story Grace says, 

"Want another book." 
"Grace, it was just a story, not a book." 
"Want another story."

Phenomenal

On July 23, 2012 - Uncategorized

“Grace is doing phenomenally today.” That is the text Donné received from the principal this morning.

It was such a relief after what I considered to be a really hard drop off. Yesterday Grace had been saying, “No go to school,” but this morning she was quiet about it, not saying anything about it when school was mentioned.

In the car on the way she ate her snack, and was just her normal self looking at cars, spotting white Citi Golf’s, and asking where people are going and about the different cars.

We got there and I went around to open her door, and her eyes just welled up. No crying or moaning, just these sad eyes filled with tears. The crying I can deal with, but those sad eyes just broke my heart.

In we went as usual, and later in the morning we get a message that she is doing really well. No tears when we collected her and good feedback from the day. Progress.

Daddy’s helper

On July 22, 2012 - Uncategorized

Grace helped me to put together her little brother’s cot and impressed me with her Allan key skills. It is probably the first time that I have really felt like she was helping with this sort of thing.

It was quite weird to be getting Grace’s old room ready for the new baby. There was a moment when all the sleepless night, rocking to sleep and a white noise filled room came rushing back to me….the best word I can find for it is anxiety….but it is not that. It was the sense of the reality of what lies ahead.