The first thing Eli said to me when they got home this afternoon was, “‘Tar, ‘tar, daddy’s ‘tar,” – he wanted my guitar so that he could play a bit. It turns out that there is some new equipment in the toddler’s class – a miniature guitar, violin and other instruments – and Eli spent most of the day playing the guitar in class today. It looks like it is shaping up to be guitar playing weekend….

Strum it!

If you’re playing the guitar, you might as well get a mic too

Recently we had load shedding and it worked out that the electricity was off at bath time. Eli’s about to start brushing his teeth when he says, “‘Tricity off, no turn toothbrush on.” I say to him, “Eli, the electricity doesn’t have to be on for your toothbrush to work, it’s battery operated.” He doesn’t seem convinced, so I say to him, “Just push the button and brush your teeth.”

He seems okay with that, pushes the “button” and gets on with brushing his teeth. The only problem is that he has a manual toothbrush, there is no battery and his “button” is a round part moulded into the handle….and I’m talking to him like it’s all real.

When Eli arrived home from school today he was a bit sad and crying out, “Daddy, daddy.” I called down to him that I was upstairs and he stopped calling and came up. As he got to the top of the stairs where he could just see me in my office he says, “Fire….burning sun,” and hold his arms up in a big circle with a happy look of amazement on his face. “Fire, burning sun…big fire.” It was just so sweet how he was excited to share what he had learnt today, and it seemed like such a huge and exciting discovery for him. It warmed my heart.

Eli’s sun picture (which is still in progress)

Grace on drums, Diya on keyboard and Eli on guitar. We all enjoyed a lovely day with the Bradshaw’s which ended with a musical jam

Snacking on some chocolate spread bread during a brief hiatus in the afternoon play. Hannah and Rebecca (our neighbours) spent most of the afternoon here playing inside, playing outside, playing hockey, and just playing…

Gabriella and Serena (who are known collectively as the Missy’s) came to spend the afternoon at our house today, and after the excitement of arriving everyone sat down to paint. This seemed to centre them all for the afternoon and they all had a good time playing together

For some reason I have been craving cake this past week (must be genetic), so I decided to bake one in the evening. Donné said to halve the recipe, so I carefully made sure that all the quantities were right. Good stuff, into the oven that goes. Donné tastes the left over mixture and says there is something wrong with it, and it definitely had a bit of a bitter taste to it.

They came out a bit flatter than expected, and I over cooked them slightly, but that’s okay because it’s going to taste good. I taste the cake….and something is not right. Donné says she thinks I messed up the quantities, and they should have risen more. Hmmm, pretty sure I got the quantities right. Donné tastes the cake again and says, “There is something wrong with the oil in this cake – it tastes like popcorn. What oil did you use?” The only oil in the cupboard….so I go and take a closer look at the oil and what is that floating around at the bottom? Little bits of roasted potato. #cakefail, I used old oil. Wrong cupboard, wrong oil. Neither of us even knew we had old oil in the house.

It looks innocuous

Fortunately Donné kindly made me a cake the next day, which was very delicious.

On Sunday afternoon Grace said to me, “Daddy, come spend some time with me,” and enlisted me to help dress her dolls and soft toys. Each of them had to have an outfit, which meant squashing and squeezing them into various beanies, onesies, and Barbie dresses. I asked Grace what they were getting dressed for and she said, “For school.”

Once they all had some form of attire she decided it was time for a photo. She then spent the rest of the afternoon on her own little mission setting up the photograph, and by rest of the afternoon I mean at least an hour (probably longer). She put them onto tables, moved them around over and over, brought other tables to the playroom, made sure that everyone could be seen by organising some height, and who knows what else. I just know that she disappeared into her own little world to arrange the photograph.

Of course when the photographer did finally arrive he complained about the light and helped her to turn it all around for better exposure.

Grace’s dolls, all ready for school