Yesterday was Donné’s monthly get together with her friends from digs and they were at Mel’s family’s egg farm. When they came home Grace told me all about the machine which packs the eggs into the egg trays – she had even made up her own sign for the machine. She also told me all about the chickens that lay the eggs and about the dogs and their tails. I was fascinated by how much the egg machine had made an impression on her, and that she had developed a sign which shows how the egg machine works – and the sign demonstrates the action quite well. We were all on the farm again today, so a visit to the egg machine was a must (but unfortunately it is not in action on a Saturday afternoon).

It was also encouraging to hear Grace saying some new words today – sock and chair – along with putting some sounds together in different ways and more complete pronunciation of some words (actually saying dog rather than gog).

Taking the tractor for a drive

A friend of mine told me about a conversation she had with her 10 year old son, she told him: "there will be things that you'll see me do, things you will experience in our home that you think are wonderful and there will be things that you don't agree with. When you have your own family one day hold onto those things you cherish and leave the rest." I think it is such an incredible gift to be able to give your child that freedom to decide what he / she wants for their lives, to let them know its okay if they don't agree with everything that happens in their home, and at the same time to acknowledge that we as parents sometimes get it wrong (and right). I hope to be able to give that gift to Grace.   

Grace learnt to blow a whistle today. Whistles aren't really the type of thing that I would think to buy for a child, but there is method in this madness….

Municipal election voting day…

I have been quite excited in the build up to today's voting. I don't think that there is going to be a big shift in the voting numbers, but I do think there are going to be some small shifts which signal a turn in the tide. I'm not sure that I am not ideologically aligned with a particular party (I don't know enough about each of them to be able to say with certainty), but there are a few things which I am for. I am for the balance of power – it makes everyone work harder to secure their positions, and in the end the people and areas they govern over benefit. I am for good governance, and I feel that the DA has proved themselves in this regard in Cape Town.

So I am hoping for more municipalities where power hangs in the balance and everyone has to work hard to keep the voters happy. I am also hoping that at least one more metro is governed by a DA led coalition which will give them the opportunity to prove that their policies can work anywhere. I am quite keen to see the results….

Grace's hair is slowly making progress. I think the pony tail is quite cute.

I just wanted to share two short stories from today:

I went on my own to Pick n Pay today and as usual I got asked “where’s Gracie?” – because as I have mentioned before, cashiers that work at Willowbridge tend to know us. She started chatting about Grace, how she loves to ride the train (one of those coin operated trains – except we never put money in it), and then she said something that really stood out, she said that she sees lots of children and she thinks that Grace is such a well behaved child in comparison.  I took it as a great compliment because before I became a parent I was really put off by kids that had no respect for other people / things / space and we definitely are trying to teach Grace, among other things, respect for people and things.  Having said that we definitely don’t take all the credit because I think she just has that type of personality.  As I said to the cashier I certainly hope it lasts since we are about to hit the two’s and then (so I’m told) the 3’s and the 4’s then well there are the teenage years 🙂

So while Grace was supposed to be sleeping while I was shopping she chose to make use of her nap time to roll around, unzip herself from her sleep sack and who knows what else, resulting in no nap.  After lunch I needed to start preparing for supper so she watched a DVD.  About 10 minutes into the DVD I saw her yawn and when I looked back two minutes later she was out, snoring on the couch.  I have often seen other people post photos of their children falling asleep on the landing, in the bathroom on the floor etc but in Graces nearly 2 years she has only ever fallen asleep in that way twice. Once when she was very sick and today.

It was all too much

Grace asks on a regular basis if she can paint and she often hears “not today, maybe tomorrow”  Look don’t get me wrong, for Grace painting is loads of fun, it’s squishy and messy, you can make fingerprints and footprints, wear a funky apron and you get to wash your hands and feet post painting which is always fun.  For me on the other hand painting is messy and squishy and tends to go everywhere it shouldn’t, and well is just a bit too much like hard work, but because I love Grace and she loves painting we paint on regular basis.

Duncan promised Grace that they would paint yesterday, but since he forgot they painted this afternoon. Here is a photo from their painting session.

I’m tired. Right now I am a bit worn out. I have been pushing hard to be better, do better and get more things done. And I have succeeded in some ways. Fortunately we’ll be taking a break soon and spending some time recharging.

Maybe I push myself too hard and put too high an expectation on myself, but right now I struggle to see alternatives. I would rather push myself to be better, push myself to my limits rather than settle for a lesser win. I want to give more of myself away, touch more peoples lives, create a better life for my family. I have to keep pushing, pushing to break through my own barriers and to give my own art to the world.

On the other hand I might just be pig-headed, and thick skulled – bumping my head needlessly instead of finding smarter ways forward. Right now I don’t have any alternatives, so I’m just going to keep pushing and taking breaks when I really need to.

I don’t remember much from my childhood. I am not sure why it is, but there are very few vivid memories that spring to mind, but one of the things that I do remember is Ship Mate. Today Grace had her first bubble bath…her first Ship Mate bubble bath.

Enjoying the bubbles

See the full gallery on Posterous

See the full gallery on Posterous

We devised Grace's first bike stunt….

In March 2006 I started "Donné Drennan Occupational Therapist,"  and now 5 years later I have decided to sell my business.  It wasn't an easy decision, but one of those decisions that once I had decided and spoken to the relevant people, I felt light and free and it just felt so right. For months now I have felt that my heart wasn't really in the business anymore, and the work I have had to put in I was doing begrudgingly. Time I had to put into my business felt like time away from this new chapter in my life, being a mom (which I am currently really enjoying exploring). At the moment I have no desire to attend CPD (Continuing Professional Development) courses, or see clients or write reports and it felt kind of wrong to continue running a business with this mind set, so as of end of June I will know longer be a business owner.