drennan a day

a daily dose of the Cape Town Drennan's

Monthly Archives: February 2013

Sensory seeker

On February 28, 2013 - Uncategorized

Grace has always been sensitive to stimulation, in particular auditory stimulation. Just like her mama, too much noise bugs her and can distress her at times – hence we bought her the ear defenders. There are certain things which she does love though, like vestibular stimulation. She loves being rolled on the duvet, swung around and hung upside down. Touch wise she is probably more cautionary, but not overly sensitive.

Eli on the other hand seems to seek out stimulation. He loves to be a part of the action and doesn't really seem to get phased by much at all. One of the things he is really loving at the moment is going to fetch Grace from school. All the noise and excitement of the playground, as well as the children coming to say hello to him, singing and jumping get him kicking and excited. Take him to a shopping mall and he is happy to be able to watch the hustle and bustle, and just about always ready to give anyone who looks at him a smile.

It is going to interesting to see how things work themselves out in our house, but I think in the long run they will be good for each other.

Notable news from school today: Grace stood up in group and sang twinkle-twinkle on her own.

Banana walrus

On February 27, 2013 - Uncategorized

"Nope, this one tastes the same as all the others – what's up with this fake food they keep giving me?"

Nosh, nosh, ice cake

On February 26, 2013 - Uncategorized

Hannah came over for a play date this afternoon and Donné prepared a water fun afternoon. One of the things she did was to freeze some things into a block of ice, and she gave them salt and warm water to melt the ice. Grace loved rubbing the salt on, and Hannah was dedicated to gettting all the toys out.

Last night when I was cleaning I picked up a bunch of small plastic animals and went to put them away saying, "Grace you need to pack your I-spy toys away." Donné suddenly jumps in, "Duncan! Those are for tomorrow, now you've ruined the surprise." Grace was upset and later on says to me, "You ruined my surprise, you not my best friend anymore. I'm mommy's best friend, Eli's best friend, then your best friend." Now I know my place.

Eli wants food. He is currently having a desperate need to grab any food that he says, to the point where he will cry if you are eating something and he can't touch it. So we have decided to start introducing him to some foods, like fruit, rice rusks, and rice cereal.

Hmmm, I thunk I'll just eat this banana

Hmmm, I think I'll just eat this rice rusk

And if they're not going to feed me, I'll just eat my bouncy chair.

Today was a very special day because Grace said Eli's name differently. She usually says e-i, dropping the l, but today she said, "E-di" which sometimes nearly sounded like "Eli", and at other times it sounded like a clear "d", but it is really amazing that she has started to place a sound for her L's

I stipp

On February 25, 2013 - Uncategorized

Grace played really hard on Saturday at the party – up and down the slip-n-slide until she was too tired to carry on. The next day she is moaning, "I sick, tummy sore," and such likes. I'm trying to figure out what the problem is and asking her what kind of sore it is, "Do you need to go to the toilet? Or are you sick? Or are you just stiff from playing yesterday?" So she says, "I stipp, need to take a break in front of the TV."

Grace is busy putting her panties on and says, "There's a hole in my panties." I have a look and don't see any holes, "Where is the hole Grace?" "There and there," she says pointing at the leg holes.

The sun is not up yet when Grace is, and on Saturday she looked for the sun and then started singing Mr Sun. She sang through the whole song, gets to the end and says, "It's not sunny yet," and then starts again. And round and round we went for a while, waiting for the sun.

Feel welcome

On February 24, 2013 - Uncategorized

It wasn't that long ago that Grace would be disturbed having new people in her space and take time to settle down with visitors, but not any more. Stéfan (who has been out of the country for two years) and Lauren came to visit today, and Grace was more than happy to welcome them. She knows Stéfan, but it was the first time she met Lauren, so what does she do when they arrive and we go to the table to sit down? "Lauren, you sit over here next to me." You can feel welcome, because Grace loves visitors, and it is wonderful to see her enjoying people so much.

Really?!? Do I really need to have sand on my head sis?

The lovely Lauren. who Grace spent lots of time playing with (and Lauren graciously played along)

Stéfan has gone all Camel Man on us

Foam slide

On February 23, 2013 - Uncategorized

Eli is just a few days past five months, which means it was time for the fifth birthday party of his life – Andre & Tyler's – which resulted in this awesome slip-n-slide moment.

Ultra HD sushi

On February 22, 2013 - Uncategorized

One of the rituals we have is that when Gogo and Gramps comes to visit, then we all go out for sushi for lunch, and today was sushi day. While we were eating Grace wondered over to have a look at the giant 84" TV on display that was playing The Lorax, and she got into watching (even with no sound).

The staff at our local Woolworths are really amazing, and always very kind to Grace. Juanita, one of the waitresses got Grace a chair so that she could relax at the cinema, and then went into the store and asked for the 3D glasses too.

Juanita & Grace at the 3D cinema

Slide ‘n fly

On February 21, 2013 - Uncategorized

Eli was pretty grumpy all day, but the end of the day playing seemed to help him calm for a while

My first raspberry

On February 20, 2013 - Uncategorized

Eli blew his first raspberry today! And he is 5 months old today

It has been fascinating to watch him working on blowing raspberries. He has been getting excited every time we blow one, and working desperately hard to stick out his tongue. Yesterday we had spats of drool each time he would try, and today – wala – there's a raspberry!