drennan a day

a daily dose of the Cape Town Drennan's

Monthly Archives: July 2012

Who bought this?

On July 21, 2012 - Uncategorized

Grace has hardly ever asked "Why?" questions, but she is asking lots of questions at the moment, the main one being, "Who bought this?" (to which the answer is usually, "Mommy"). She has a list of questions,

"What is this?"

"Who's car is that?"

"Where did it go?"

"Where did it come from?"

And if you ask her a question which she knows the answer to, "I don't know," said in such a sweet way that you've just got to love her.

We built a school for the animals and ran through the school motions – arriving, saying goodbye, activities, playing and so on.

The end of the week

On July 20, 2012 - Uncategorized

After a long week of school….

Today's school day was short. After a week of school, waking up and lying awake from 1h30 to 2h45 and not eating breakfast properly this morning we didn't expect too much today. Donné collected Grace at 10h30 and she just chilled around home for the rest of the day. I think she is looking forward to the weekend, spending some time with us and absorbing the past week. It will be good to just chill together.

I think the week went really well. It is clearly a huge adjustment for Grace. On Tuesday & Wednesday she was super hyped up when she got home and stayed that way for the rest of the day. On Thursday she seemed like she crashed from her high, and today she just seemed tired out (which is partly from lying awake last night). It is a lot to take in for her.

It is good to see that she is bonding with Janine and it will be great when she starts to bond with some of the other children (which will hopefully allow Janine to be able to go to the bathroom on her own…)

For us the change is mainly getting used to a new routine and supporting Grace as much as we can. I know that in a week or two we'll be through all of the adjustment and she is going to be excited to be going everyday.

Missed you mommy!

On July 19, 2012 - Uncategorized

Chocolate frio's on a warm winters day to celebrate a good day at school

When Donné arrived to collect Grace from school today she was sitting on a chair with the teachers while the other children were playing. When she noticed Donné had arrived she burst into tears. Donné picked her up and said, "Why are you crying?" (because she hadn't been). Grace replied, "Mommy, I missed you so much."

The day went well. Lots of tears when we arrived this morning, but she settled down okay. She fed the fish, watered the plants, threaded beads, sung along and picked a current bun in group today, helped tidy by sweeping and pushing in the chairs, played with play dough and warmed up (a little bit) to one of the other teachers. Slowly, slowly, we're moving forward.

The photographer

On July 18, 2012 - Uncategorized

Donné got a new compact camera for her birthday and we decided to make her old camera (which we haven't used for a while) available to Grace to take photos. The idea is that she can take photos, explore and just play with a camera a bit (kudos for the idea actually goes to Retief Krige, a friend and colleague who is an amazing industrial designer).

So Grace has been playing…..and playing….and playing, absolutely loving taking photos of anything and anyone. She points the camera in your general direction and says, "Smile for photo daddy!" The other thing she likes to do is point the camera at herself and take photos…..which I am sure is going to give her arc eyes with the flash going off 10cm from her face…repeatedly.

This morning while we were getting ready she goes, "Smile for photo mommy!" Click. "Smile for photo daddy!" Click. Turns the camera towards her face, "Smile for photo me!"

A self portrait

Second day of school today. We have decided that our routine will be for me to drop her off and Donné to collect her. She was happy to go off to school and the first complaint was as we arrived and stopped the car, "Not want to go to school," but she was happy to get out and go in. The tears started as we came around the corner to the door, which is pretty much as I would have expected, so we went through the routine of going to put her bag in her locker and saying goodbye. I have been through this kind of thing with her before with swimming, and we trust the people there to look after her, so although it would be great to leave a happy smiling child waving goodbye I am also comfortable that it is sometimes best to establish a routine and stick to it.

And she seemed to have a really good day at school. She was there longer than yesterday, lasting all the way until about 11h30 (starting at 08h00), which is nearly a full day. She swept, watered plants, fed the fish, made a sandwich and cut herbs. The sandwich was for Nelson Mandela day and we had to go and find someone in need and give them the sandwich, in Grace's words, "Give to someone who not have any food," (which we guess are the teacher's words). She appears to have bonded with Janine (the principle) and is fine as long as she can see her. She is definitely making good progress.

She was definitely hyped up when she got home, and remained hyped right up until bed time. We think there is just so much that is new and to process that her brain is zinging around. Things are going well and we're very proud of our little girl.

It was a great day

On July 17, 2012 - Uncategorized

A special day today: Grace's first day at school and Donné's birthday.

The birthday girl strikes a pose

It all started out with the drop off for the first official day of school.

School went really well. There were some tears when we dropped Grace off, but off she went for a swing and it seemed like she settled quickly.

Fitting into the class

We fetched her at about 10h30, so roughly 2 hrs of school and everyone was pleased with that for the first day. Some tears over spilled yogurt, but nothing serious. "Grace how was school?" "It was a great day!" We'll take that as a sign that things went well. Drawing, pouring (rice and water), playing with play dough and swinging.

What's a birthday without sushi? Probably not a Drennan birthday. After that we went on to spend some time in the sun on a beautiful winter's day. 5 years of beautiful sunny winter days of birthdays for Donné.

Feeding the ducks at the dam

Grace taking photos

The clan

Some reflections on the last 3 years

On July 16, 2012 - Uncategorized

Grace officially starts school tomorrow. She did go to the holiday school one day last week (which went really well), but the school officially starts tomorrow and it will be Grace's first taste of a full-on school environment. She is going to Montessori @ Home which we think is a great environment for her and we believe that she will thrive there.

The day that she spent some time at school we spent some time together and reflected a bit on the the last three years.

One of the things that stands out is that in the last three years there has hardly been a time when we have not been directly responsible for Grace. Our families have been in PE and we have been slack and never organised a baby-sitter or au-pair. We can probably count on one hand the number of times that someone else has been in charge of looking after her. We know that it has not been ideal, but it is what it is.

The flip side of that is that this time has been a season, and it has been a really short one. A time to enjoy Grace to the fullest, to be with her, to play with her and to nurture her. It has been a great privilege for us both to be able to be as involved as we have been.

Now a new season comes and it is strange to think that for at least the next 15 years she is going to be attending a school of some sort.

So as we end one season and begin a new one I am sure some tears will be shed, but there are so many exciting things that lie on the road ahead that we look forward to the new season.

Laps

On July 15, 2012 - Uncategorized

Grace has been loving doing laps around the house on her pink scooter, bike and kick scooter….and also loving using them as a delay tactic before bath time. Last night we ended up with all of the vehicles packed away, and the scooter packet away for a whole day after numerous attempts to get her to stop of her own free will.

I'm not sure if it is the rainy weather and being trapped inside, or just a phase, but her parents requests and instructions seem to be falling on deaf ears at the moment. Not really sure what to do about it other than persevere and try to remain patient.

It’s going to be okay

On July 14, 2012 - Uncategorized

Donné was coughing and expressed some frustration, so Grace comes up to her, gives her a big hug and says, "It's okay dear mommy, don't cy." And of course this comes with the obligatory back rub. The cuteness is enough to make you feel better.