I still can’t quite believe it, Eli is two. It feels like he is still little, but he’s not, he is growing and becoming a little man.

Father God, may you bless Eli in the year ahead. Reveal your great love to him and may he see you filling the world around him.

From us Eli got a three wheel scooter, a helmet, and a set of dismantle/rebuild toys which comes with a toy electric screwdriver. He loves the build & play toys and spends lots of time screwing and unscrewing them, and saying “Zzzz” for the sound of the screwdriver (which is also the sound he makes for real power tools).

Sissie is there to help (and to play with the toys herself)

We had a fun party today which went really well, but I’ll post those photos tomorrow.

The day before the party….is full of preparation work, like making yummy treats

I think one of the most challenging things about a move is establishing a new rhythm – the flow of a day and how it fits together to make everything function well. We seem to have the breakfast and school run working well in the morning, but I’m not sure that anything else has quite settled into a rhythm yet.

Establishing that daily flow is definitely being hampered by things like the pool people working on the pool, us painting cupboards in the evenings, preparing for Eli’s birthday on Saturday, the general long list of things that need to be done to make this our home, and just figuring out simple things like how we manage our grocery shopping.

I rely on that rhythm to get my work flow right, it helps our kids pace themselves, and brings sanity to Donné’s day.

I know the rhythm will come, but right now it feels more like a topsy turvy downhill roll – it’s fun, but at the end of the day we’re all a bit tired. Overall though, given all the things that are going on, and a reasonably big life change, I think we’re doing pretty well.

Yesterday we heard a frog in the garden, but it went quite when Donné looked around for it. Then last night, this frog (and friends) get really loud…loud like monkeys in the garden….loud enough to disturb sleep.

This morning I spotted a frog in the pool and fished it out with the net. Looking at it, it looked more like a toad, and after a brief internet search about noisy toads, it turns out that this is a Raucous toad – which is very aptly named.

The Raucous toad from our pool (one of the two I fished out), around about the length of a palm

They really do make quite a bit of noise (which fortunately only seems to be during the breeding season), and you can get an idea of what they sound like by listening to this toady sound file.

And he clocks in at 13.8kg just before his 2nd birthday

Show him a camera, or phone, or even a power brick (which I guess could look a bit like a phone), and he’ll say, “Cheese!”

One of the Koi has been spending some time near the pond aerator which meant that is was quite easy to sneak up, reach out and touch the fish. I showed Grace and she has now become a little bit obsessive about getting to the fish to touch them….not that she is particularly sneaky or good at getting to them.

Waiting to touch the fishies

We decided to check out Vergelegen at the end of the day yesterday, and wow, what a view. You have to pay to get into the farm, but there are stunning gardens and a great play area for the kids. The bistro has the most amazing view of the mountains, and there are couches outside that face straight towards the mountains. Grace and Eli were both excited about the playground and the water. Lots of water, with fountains. Eli would probably have been quite happy to be stripped down and splashing in the water. The coffee was decent, but the flavour could have been fuller. I’m pretty sure we’ll be back for some more (longer) visits in the future.

The view from our seats

Eli loves fountains, so he was happy….maybe we should have a swimming costume next time.

Stunning playground for the kids, a bit like a mini Green Point Park

Eli just wanted to get to the water, broom, sponges or whatever it was that they were cleaning around the pool with. Eventually we just let him join in and Andrew and Pa were very kind and accommodating.

Eli decided to increase the likelihood of falling off the trampoline by making sure he can hardly see anything