Gog
Adam is starting to say more words, and his current favourite is “gog!” (for dog). He also says “book” sometimes, and in his vocab a cat is “coco”. Donné says, “He seems so much more intelligent because he can speak earlier than the other two.” 🙂
Halloween the First
Last year, just after Adam was born Grace wanted to do Halloween and Donné promised her that next year (i.e. this year) we would do Halloween, so we were committed.
Grace wrote a note and we went to all our neighbours to ask them if they would like to join in with the fun, and many of them did.
Eli wanted to go as a pumpkin, so we made a paper mache pumpkin head.
The MacRoberts and the van der Zee’s joined in with our street’s fun – Oliver & Finn as ghosts with alien heads (Ollie didn’t want to accept my proposal that he was going as a dead alien), Gemma the witch, Bat-Ian, and Grace the Ghost.
We asked those who wanted to participate to put up a ribbon or balloon, so we added some to our gate
The neighbours were amazing, with lots of the other children joining us, and some going to the effort of dressing up and doing up their houses.
Some of the neighbourhood ghouls
Time to partake in the gathered goods
Things learned making costumes:
- The ability to see seems to be quite important – both Grace and Eli had issues with the restrictions in vision
- Think about how it is going to stay on his head – that well crafted pumpkin shape isn’t really well moulded to the shape of a head.
The kids and neighbourhood all had lots of fun, and I can see this becoming a bigger thing in our street as time goes on.
The reason you can’t sleep next to a baby…
…is because they take up all of the space.
Tow trucking in the RSA
I was driving into Cape Town city centre along the N2 when my oil light suddenly came on. Okay, that’s quite concerning, better stop at the next service station. Five minutes later and I did stop, unfortunately not because I found a service station but due to the engine losing all power. Not the best part of the road to be stranded on, but fortunately there is the N2 Safe Freeway project. Just a call and Whatsapp away and they dispatched someone to come and wait with me until the tow truck arrived.
Watching traffic while waiting for the tow truck, with a metro police car parked behind me
After a long wait the tow truck arrived and Elton gave us a lift to a Toyota service centre.
And that’s when the bad news came. It turns out the engine had seized, which goes along with a bunch of other unpleasant damage that will take some time and money to repair. According to the mechanic these cars are particularly sensitive to service intervals, so the 1000km or so that I was overdue was the underlying cause of the oil being gunked up and ineffective. We’ll have to wait and see what the exact cause is though.
Things I learnt (and hope I’ll be able to impart to my children one day)
- If the oil light comes on, stop, immediately, as in straight away and now.
- Make sure you service your car on schedule and don’t let the busyness and craziness of life get on top of you.
- Remember to check your oil regularly (don’t be dof like your dad)
Of course, they’ll be driving electric cars, so this won’t matter to them anyway.
The washing machine dance
When you discover that the buttons actually do something….
Lego, Lego
Whether it is just sitting in it and throwing it around, building a big house with your brother or Hurrican Adam sweeping through to destroy a carefully constructed house, Lego is just always fun.
Ombre!
We celebrated Adam’s birthday today with a small group of friends and lots of delicious food, and an especially delicious ombre cake which Donné made.
Waiting for the singing and cake
This little cute face has won many hearts
Happy birthday Adam! Is it cake time yet?
Royal icing shortcake biscuits
The layers
Adam, the one year old
A year ago, at 22h21 Adam entered our lives. This little guy, all full of smiles and happiness is a beautiful addition to our family. He is loved, he loves, and he always has a smile to brighten up someone’s day. Adam, you are a blessing my boy.
The first thing he did when he got his present was bash it a bit – everything is a drum and needs a bit of bashing. Boom-boom really is a good nickname for him.
Grace made sure he knew all the details of his new toy plane
Daddy’s little guy
Addy is one today!
Babyccinos at Vredenhof…..Adam likes to put his hand into other people’s drinks, but Eli and Grace have become deft at avoiding him
Play time in the awesome play area at Vredenhof
