Monthly Archives: May 2012

Pizza nights

On May 11, 2012 - Uncategorized

For a long while now, Friday has been pizza nights in the Drennan household. We make our own pizza’s and Grace enjoys the process – squishing and squashing the dough while kneading, rolling out the pizza and putting on the sauce and toppings. And she always enjoys the bacon that goes on them…..surprise, surprise.

She was never really into eating the pizza and would reject it once done, but recently (as in the last two or three weeks) she has suddenly started to love pizza. She eats it with much gusto and dedication which is a pleasant change from the teeth pulling exercise commonly known as supper that we go through every night. She gets excited about it during the week, “On Friday, eat pizza, watch Glee,” (because Glee music video’s are a part of the pizza ritual).

Tonight she ate her own small pizza, followed by three pieces of our pizza (which is nearly as much as Donné ate) – she certainly surprised us all. Later while we were getting ready for her bath she says to me, “Need to make a poopy. Got sore tummy, ate too much pizza.”

It’s lots of fun to push mom on the swing



Bath time chats

On May 10, 2012 - Uncategorized

I really enjoy having little chats with Grace. It is always lovely to hear what is going on inside of her head (and her thoughts usually bounce around like a ping-pong ball). For the last few days she has been very chatty during her bath time, so I get to hear and engage in long stories about the day.

A couple of days ago she was telling me all about their trip to Stodels. She told me about the noise (because of drilling) and how she couldn't go there because it was too noisy, and then the noise stopped, and she fed the animals, then the noise started again, and she fed the bunnies and the goats, and she was there with Jack, and she took Jack's juice which was not yummy and then gave it back to him and took her juice, and there was the train but it only runs on Monday's and Tuesday's (well actually it runs on weekends), and so the story goes. I just keep asking questions because I don't actually know the details of the day and she quite happily prattles away, often in a round about.

Tonight she was telling me that she was supposed to go and buy Coco a new collar but they didn't and she was quite upset about that. And then she was digging in the water for keys (which comes from a Dora episode), and just generally being a sweet girl.

I enjoy the process of her learning to express herself, and it is fun to be a part of that process.

Consistent, loving, disciplined

On May 9, 2012 - Uncategorized

Grace is having another moment with her swimming lessons. She has been resisting going, saying "No go swimming, no go swimming," and so on, but only with regards to her lessons. Swimming with me is a-okay, let's do that everyday, as far as she is concerned.

Other than the "No go swimming," there is also the crying and unhappiness when we get to swimming and when we start. Normally Grace will settle in and engage once she is in the water, but today she couldn't quite settle. We've been through this all before, so it is a familiar situation.

There is definitely that sense of, "Ugh, do we really have to go through this all again?" Grace knows the situation, she knows and is comfortable with the instructor, and knows that the routine is fixed – we follow the same process each week, which was part of getting over this last time. But things have gotten progressively worse over the past few weeks.

At this point I really believe that it is something that we just need to ride out, a phase that we need to gently work our way through, without losing our way.

A friend summed it up amazingly well. We have to be consistent, loving and disciplined. Consistent not just in our actions, but in our thinking, infusing everything with love, and being disciplined to work through the process, regardless of how difficult it may be.

The miracle of life

On May 8, 2012 - Uncategorized

I love being pregnant, I find it such a miracle to have this little person growing inside of me.  Being pregnant second time round is very different from the first time.  The first time I was very anxious up until about 20 weeks so I was very aware of every little thing, whereas this time, although I have had my moments, I am much more relaxed.  It also helps to have a nearly 3 year old running around keeping me both physically and emotionally busy.  

We decided after our 16 week scan that our little boy is rather active, kicking and punching me numerous times during the 15 minute scan, so at the moment we have named him wriggles.  Although I wasn't able to feel him moving (on the outside) then, both Duncan and I got to feel his little kicks and punches last week Tuesday (18 weeks).  I looked back to see when we felt Grace kick for the first time and it was 18 and a half weeks.   

I love being able to feel him kick, it reminds me in my busy day of the miracle of life.   

The Great Guava Crusade

On May 7, 2012 - Uncategorized

Grace loves guavas. We got some delicious organic ones from the Ethical Co-op (first of the season) and Grace devoured them with great abandon. And now we can't find any, anywhere. Oh, oh, this is a problem for a two year old. "Want gaabas," has been heard many a time in the last week. So off the adventurers – Grace, Donné, Keren and Granny – went to search for guavas. Woolworths, Pick 'n Pay, Fruit and Veg, online……none.

And so we wait, patiently (well, maybe not so patiently), while the guavas gradually ripen on the trees.

Where do you keep your cellphone?

On May 6, 2012 - Uncategorized

We were swimming this morning and Grace decided to wear her goggles over her shoulder, kind of like a handbag. She stood on the top step and put her hand to her side. It was stretched out and flat, against her ribs under her arm – roughly where her goggle "handbag" was. She pulls it away and pushes her hand flat against her ear, "Hello, okaaay, byyye!" and then after a few more conversations like that, "Hello, put oven on, okaaay, byyye!" Turns out she was phoning someone (me I guess) on her "cellphone." She carried on like this the whole day. Every now and then she would take out her phone to have a little conversation. I thought it was absolutely precious.

Order of activity

On May 5, 2012 - Uncategorized

We’ve embarked on a mission to create a more structured environment for Grace to play in. Partly inspired by our visit to the Montessori school, and also from seeing Grace respond well to some changes in her environment, we decided to organise some of her toys and games to give her better access to them.

Donné recently reorganized Grace’s cupboards to make it easier to get to her winter clothes, and she has been loving it. Every morning she gets out of bed and puts on socks (and sometimes slippers), and when it’s time to dress she picks some pants and tries to put on a top. At least now it is warm clothes, rather than summer dresses.

Today we went on a mission to get Grace a shelf for her activities and a small cupboard that we can turn into a dish washing and food prep station.

We didn’t find something so we decided to build something. First step is the dish washing station, and we’ve made good progress on that (photos to follow).

And in other events today Grace decided that every sentence should end with, “see you soon, goodbye!”

Friday fun

On May 4, 2012 - Uncategorized

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Today Grace and Caleb had a fun morning filled with baking, Dora, riding bikes, swinging and jumping on the trampolene.

A highlight seemed to be riding to the end of the street and watching the school children jumping over a skipping rope.

Uv you daddy

On May 3, 2012 - Uncategorized

This morning Donné was holding Grace and I went to give them a group hug. As I gave them a squeeze Grace turns to me and says, "Uv you daddy too." And then tonight when I was saying good night to her she turns to me and puts her hand on my head, "Uv you so much."

She doesn't often say, "I love you," to me, so it was really special for me.

Roly-poly in the bath

On May 2, 2012 - Uncategorized

Wednesday's is hair washing day and Grace is quite adept at getting her hair wet on her own. One of her techniques is to bend forward to wet the front of her hair. Today she decided that she should stand and bend over to get her head into the water – bum sticking straight up in the air.

This carried on for a while until she lost her balance and did a somersault (roly-poly, bollemakisie) in the bath, fortunately landing well (even if she had a wide eyed look upon her face). Up she got again, head down and started to try it again….at which point it was time to intervene. Somersaults in the bath are definitely a bad idea.

Grace has been pretty picky about food lately, so we were both super happy and impressed when she started gobbling down some of our chickpea curry tonight. Food has been a struggle lately, so having a win gives us hope.