Eli loves his sister, so let’s give Gracie some kisses

Francois invited us to join him and some friends at Cool Runnings to celebrate his birthday. This worked out very well, because Grace has been wanting to take Donné since we last went, and she definitely wanted to go before we moved.

When we were there we were waiting for someone to arrive and Grace asked who we were waiting for. I said, “We’re waiting for Pieter, he’s a friend from university.” She says, “Do you remember his name?” and I thought she had just missed me saying it. “His name is Pieter, Grace.” She thinks about this for a moment and says, “That’s a strange name for a man – it’s the same as a food.” Oh Gracie you sweet and funny girl, his name is Pieter, not Pita.

We all had a good time, and Grace got to have her ride with Donné. Eli even had a turn to go and quite enjoyed his ride too. I knew he was going to say it, but he said it sooner than I expected, shortly before we stopped….”More!”

Eli loves fetching things for people. Every morning when I get out of bed, I first take him to the potty, and then go back to fetch my clothes which lie next to my side of the bed. After Eli is done, and while I’m busy sorting out the potty he rushes back to the room and starts carrying my clothes, slippers or phone through to me.

This morning he was very sweet with Grace. She asked him to get her a pink crayon, and off he zoots at high speed, down the passage and to her room and then comes zooting back with a tin full of kokis. She says, “No Eli, I want a pink crayon,” so off he goes at top speed and then comes back with a pencil. “No Eli, that’s not a pink crayon,” so off he goes again catching a speed wobble along the way and comes back with a single koki (I didn’t see what colour). “No Eli, a pink crayon.” Off he goes again, but by this time I had taken the crayon tin off the shelf to help him out, so at least he finally made it back with a pink crayon. He had a big smile on his face the whole time, excited to be helping his sis’.

Grace was at home sick today, and Donné wasn’t feeling particularly well either, so the three of them didn’t go out at all today. I had to go and get some milk from the corner store and I took Eli with me (he is always up for an outing). When we got back I unstrapped him and took one of his arms out from his car seat straps. I was about to pick him up when he sits back in the seat, slides his arm back into the strap, then picks up the buckle and pulls it towards himself, and sweetly says, “More.”

“Do you want to go for a drive somewhere else my boy?” He nods and says more.

It was just such a cute little request for some more time out….I guess that is the definition of cabin fever.

My birthday today is the start of a new year for me, but also marks the end of an era. The electricians came to make the changes required for the COC, and that is the last thing that needed to be done for the sale of our house. In exactly three weeks time we’ll be packing our things onto a truck and moving to Somerset West.

It was a fairly normal day, but calm and relaxed. My family made me feel special and Donné made these yummy egg, bacon and sesame seed bun LCHF burgers…..as well as a delicious not-at-all-LCHF carrot cake….and then I made Italian meringue tonight.

Eli has learnt to kiss, and is now enjoying giving everyone kisses. Grace is super happy because she loves giving kisses. He gave her a kiss goodbye when she was getting out of the car at school today and she was so excited she went back for another one, “Eli gave me a kiss daddy!”

Eli likes to sit on my equipment box and get a little ride when I come in from work at the end of the day. Today, Grace decided that she wanted to join him. Grace weighs about 20.5kg, and Eli weighs 13.5kg, and the box probably weighs about 5kg – at 39kg suddenly my box was weighing a lot more than usual.

Eli insisted on a hat and sunglasses when we were getting ready to go out yesterday. Grace was determined to take her colouring book. Together, they made a interesting pair…

“Cheese!”

We had a girls and friends get together today, Grace, Emma, Cate, Hannah and all the families. Lots of good time and amazing food, but I think the highlight for Grace and Eli was riding around on the Gibbons’ quad bikes. We were riding around their garden, with Grace pretty much always next in queue, and Eli just kept saying, “More, more!” He does seem to have a love for motorbikes, so he was in his element, and Grace loves anything with a little bit of speed.

Cate is really sweet with Eli and gave him lots of cuddles today

Grace and Eli are getting to a stage where they are happy to go off and potter together, playing in the sand pit, finding some water to pour, jumping on the trampoline, “building” Lego, or whatever it happens to be – little pockets of peaceful time and happy playing.