Ballet

Looks like the ballet teacher thinks twinkle toes is too young! He is however very fascinated by cars. Our latest routine is to walk to the playground after his nap, there he plays at the junkle gym and meets other kids. He often takes a toy car so that he can exchange with another kid for a bike to ride or this bluedozer (bulldozer).

On the walk there we hit the main artery road of Dainfern, he would name cars and he can recognize the difference between a Toyota, a BMW and a Mercedes.... boys heads must be wired differently.

Nate goes to an art class to and the other day came back with a candle holder for dehdeh.

Today I got a tonne of giggles out of Ike. We swayed next to the big mirror and everything he was closer to his own reflection, he giggled out in a series of giggles.

I also found our camera and the cables, it is being charged as we speak so soon there will be more images.

Found a place that sells bookshelves, the next area I plan to tackle. I also fired our childminder today and will be on the interviewing route again.

Patron Deity of Sleep

I think if I were still in Taipei I would have a clay bust or porcelain statue made of Dr. Weisbluth and then a little altar and place a little inscense there make it the space for the Deity of Sleep. I finally found his book among our things, the library is the last to be unpacked as we have no shelves there, I knew I should have packed it in my suitcase.

Ike had such a nice sleep pattern developing according to his age in Taipei, it all went pear shaped here and the log I kept was just terrible, small naps, no consolidation in sleep, lots of wakings at night. After rereading the chapter on am sleep, it was so easy to rectify and he now has regained his am nap nicely! a lovely 2-3 hour chunk where we are free! now his pm naps are starting to get into place as well. ahhhhhhh. bow bow bow, oh patron deity of sleep!

Yesterday after Ike had his big am nap, Olivia had the jackpot, a big poo. He was fussy in the pm and I left him to soothe himself while taking nate to the playground. He was still fussing an hour later so olivia picked him up and hit another jackpot! if this were a casino, she'd be rich! The good news is he poo-ed in time so no need for glycerine today.

Today I went to the garden center, we have a really nice garderner called Peter. It is a bit further than my normal radius and so its was nice to go explore with someone else. I didn't find my herb pot but I did see that they sell large metal masks, which i think I will pick up next week with Peter and hang in our outdoor area. Loren has a big wall of masks and has proclaimed that his mask collection will increase by 500%, so I have left him several bare walls. He is eyeing a coffee table that has lions or elephants underneath (urgh!) but I think I have managed to steer him to a african door that we can make into a coffee table. We also saw in a restaurant a bech that has a crocodile head on both ends, that can be our stool to put and take off shoes.

The floor tiles here are strange, no matter how we mop, the floor still feels dirty. Olivia tried scrubbing it and voila, it was so nice and clean and nice to walk on, now she and nomsa will probably over time scrub all the tiles, hopefully we can maintain it, I still can't get used to wearing slippers at home.

Congrats to Terry and Phoebe with a new cousin for nate and ike, little Tom (wei wei). Apparently he is a splitting image of his older brother, brad (han han).

Schools

Today I went to check out the nursery school at Dainfern College, the way the schools work here are that there is a nursery school, then an aftercare center that takes young children all the way up, some of these colleges have kids gong from nursery to end of primary school sometimes secondary. Nate goes to the montesorri at Summit college which is about 15-20 mins away with traffic which is about 1 hour in the car to and fro, to and fro. Dainfern College is 5-10 mins to and fro.

In the mornings there is a big jam going on the major artery, William Nichol highway, luckily its in the opposite direction to Nate's school and the traffic is moving as opposed to Asian traffic, it does however add on 10 mins sometimes. The school is quite isolated and its not like I can go pick up groceries or other items, I have to basically travel another 15 minutes or more so alot of time is spent in the car. I now listen to classical music but I should maybe get the teaching co series on Chinese History, tho to nate's school its FEEEE FEEE AI OOOOOOOO and cookie monster.

Anyway, I think I still like Nate's school, as isolated as it is, the are a mix of natinoalities and also black kids, one of his good friends is a 5 year old name Joey. Dainfern looked too pristine, everything was too clean, too neat and also too anglo saxon. Something about it was not quite right though where we live and once we leave the gate is also a big contrast, from big homes and every other car being a luxury one to black men and women walking for miles on very dusty roads as the transport here is that bad.

Ike had his shots today, I am about 20 days late, though the clinics were not open for 10 days in early Jan and then our container came. I also spoke to the dr as his nose isn't getting better and I have everything, humidifier, steam, vaporisor, eucalyptus drops, sterimar nose spray, nose drops and also "Maddie" the blowfish. So I have to bite the bullet on sleep and do this for about a month more then maybe we can consider antihistamines or something. By then his nostrils should also be bigger and he can deal with this dry air better.

I have also unpacked my baby sleep bible by dr weisbluth and will read it tonight. Since we moved here, he has gone off the bottle, refuses it! and is fussy when we put him down, as we didn't have furniture for some time, he was spoilt! I also have been keeping a log of his naps and sleep hours, its not good, not consolidating and comparing to nate at the same age, its dismal. The longest stretch we ever get is 2 hours, mainly 1.5 hours or less.

Apart from that, his hairline is growing nicely, parted at the side he looks very smart! also nate has been watching disney's "a bugs life", ike resembles that chubby caterpillar. He doesn't have cradle cap like nate did but instead has....... cradle cap on his face!!!! luckily its more like aheat rash and comes and goes. There is no airconditioning in this place and maybe that is contributing to his lack of sleep? in taipei he could sleep in length only when it was cold enough. Must be the canadian genes or Uncle Terry is like that too.

Black big bird

This is a picture of me and nate at dinner, loren's phone seems to be able to send images to email but mine can't yet! so this is a rare picture till I figure out my phone. The haircut btw was done by loren and his clippers, what you don't see is a big chunk missing at the back of his head.

A few weeks ago, loren was sick of hearing sesame street over and over again and he convinced nate that the rap radio channel was a big bird but a "black" one and he should listen to the music. Nate did for a while then said, "no black big bird". Yesterday while he was in the car, there was another rap on and he said oh Black big bird here....

I hope I can get to the bike shop soon to get his bike fixed up, that should keep him occupied for a while!

Things are slowly shaping up here but slowly is the key word. Loren has put up his 50 inch TV and nate seems to like watching his DVDs there. He hasn't learnt the concept of continuation and insists on watching the DVD from the beginning everytime.

I really don't know what to do with Ike's nose! the humidifiers don't work, the water spritzing work a bit and it sure seems harder to pull/suck boogers out of his nose with the device we have, than it was with nate. Even the eucalyptus patches don't seem to work.

Ikey's revenge

A day later after the suppository insertion and around 830pm, I head to bed, exhausted from the move, I open the room door and something smells!!! I have not set up the bedside lamp so I have to scamper downstairs to get the torchlight, it has two modes a dim and a bright, with the dim light I approach ike, I smell his bum, oh oh can it be? he made another poo? with the strong light I shine into the diaper, wah! big one, the first night clean up job I have had to do in a long time, it was everywhere, somehow I manage cleaning without smearing any on the blanket or bedsheet!

Another day later as I lay down to sleep also around the 8pm mark (after reading to nate), I am falling asleep and TOOOOT he went, it was not a small toot, it was a TOOOT, in the dark I swear I could see him smile. I awake fearing another clean up job, with my torch light I go looking again, luckily for me there is none but then I still can't believe the sound, I think he will make it into the orchestra quite easily as the tuba or trombonist if his mouth is as talented as his other end.

He hasn't been sleeping well because of his nose, the dr also gave him an allergy test which he scored 40, low allergies are 1-4, some kids score over 100. Now I have to note what I eat so we can cut out stuff that will give him a reaction. Apparently the tests say he is not allergic to six items including wheat, eggs, nuts, fish and two others. The dr also suggested buyint somthing called Maddy the blowfish, it is a toy fish that distracts the kid while we squirt moisture up his nose and that apparently clears the gunk as he sucks.... hmmm!

Today finally the house is coming into some shape, the handy man was here to hang up pictures but he is the s-l-o-w-e-s-t one I have ever met! he seems really measuring and doing everything well, when he drills no plaster flies off. This is in contrast to (try and envision this), the singaporean guy with drill in one hand and vacuum cleaner in the other. He can drill and vacuum the dust away at the same time, this no need to clean up. He hangs a picture in 3 minutes, the guy today took an average of an hour a painting.

Jake has to be in a cast for about a month, he must be sad, no ball chasing and tied to a leash when pee pee and walk and eat and drink, otherwise he would run and not heal.

Agh Shame

is an expression used here alot, I think it means "what a shame"... agh shame, I can't remember why I put that as a heading! I wanted to also answer some of the many questions posed by the readers of this blog, but agh shame, now that I am typing, I can't remember a single question, of course tomorrow as I am driving nate to school, it will all come back to me.

Today is third day of unpacking. everything is still messy but I can't believe how much stuff we have, how do we reduce and de-accumulate? the mover in taiwan told me that with kids there will be even more stuff at the next move as they have stuff too.... scary.

Ike went in yesterday and had a big suppository placed in him, an hour later nothing! Dr said, to put a glycerine in everyday if nothing happens then on saturday we will have to admit him into the hospital and then he swallows some colored liquid and they xray that to see the passage through the large intestine... luckily an hour later ike did it! a BIG BIG BIG poo!

Nate still asks to go to school but today he did not want to join in the swim class, I guess he is a bit too young. oh and the ballet teacher, I mean stretch class teacher was sick, so he didn't get to try that one out.

Its only 8ish but I am heading to bed!

The dogs

Loren walked Jake and Bullet on saturday morning, pistol usually doesn't get to go as he wants to be carried after a while. It was probably a good idea since a BIG dog darted out and suddenly caught Jake and shook him like a rag doll. Poor Jake has a fractured leg and has now spent 2 days at the doggy clinic.

The doggy clinic looks really nice and clean, he has a big cage and clean towel, looks like I can bring him home today. Loren pounded on the door of the owner who turns out to be a sleazy chinese looking man who first claimed its his neighbours dog. Later I went with him and the owner agreed to pay for the hospital fees but at no time did he even apologize. He claimed his home was robbed and his dog abused. His dog wasn't very well kept in any case but wagged his tail and went into that home... so much for "not my dog".

I spoke to the chinese grocery owner and he said that guy was robbed last month, apparently he had something like US$100k in cash. Also apparently the chinese residents are rather flashy with their cars, jewelry and cash and hit the casinos often. So much so that also apparently the robbers have rented a house in dainfern to track these big whales and then rob them.

Today it rained, its quite cool, down to 17 degrees, everyone is back and the road back from nate's school, there was a traffic jam. Its quiet now but our shipment will be arriving anytime soon and then it will be all chaotic again. A moment of calm before the storm.

Will take Ike to the dr to rule out Hirshbaum's disease or "lazy gut", he hasn't pooed in over a week, he is trying but sure has smelly farts. Bullet too which must be his dog food (sometimes I can't tell if its Bullet, Nate or Ike smelling bad!). Olivia was just commenting on the days when Ike was a newborn and pooing several big ones a day, always seeming to be aiming at Wendy's shirt...

I need to try and post some pictures, so far have failed twice. Am glad the internet connection on my mac is up but also need to adjust the mail settings, then I will be fully up and running!

Tiger Kaikai

Nate had his first taste of golf on Friday at a demonstration in school, he really likes the tiny clubs and his concentration is intense. It will be about a term before he can get all coordinated in holding and swinging the club.

The last 3 days he has been intensely studying the wheelbarrow, turning it upside down, playing with the wheel and wheeling it everywhere, wobbling around at first and now he's racing over bumps.

I spoke to the ballet teacher who said the class is more like a stretch and balance class, so that is what we refer to at home, "the stretch class".

I also made some Yimai Fuzhuk (barley, gingko nuts and soya skin) dessert here, the barley cools down one's body heat and nate really likes it.

Today I took him to the garden center and at the back they have a really nice area for food and a large play area for kids, they have little plastic scooters for toddlers to zoom around in. Again it took a long time to leave.

Ike is sitting up and is much more responsive these days but he is a very white and fair baby.

nate's new school

is called the Happy Days Montessori. It is about a 10 minute drive from our place and a nice pleasant drive, everything is quite flat here so one has a view of alot of sky.

Nate absolutely loves this school, he didn't want to leave after being there for 2 hours, we had to go home as I had to feed ike. They accept kids from 7 am to 12:30 pm which would have worked great in Taipei as Nate was such an early riser (I think now it must be the piping in the house). Here he sleeps till 7:30 or even 8.

The school sits on like at least 50,000 square feet of land and with 50 students that is 1,000 sqft per child! Today he ran straight to the basketball hoop (under two great big pine trees) and started throwing balls with the other kids. Then we went to see Mr. goose and Mr. duck and the guinea pigs. Then he discovered the wheelbarrow and was learning how to lift and balance pushing on one wheel. Then he discovered another area, a sandbox with all sorts of small trucks and spinning wheels when you pour sand down the area. Then he took a break had a snack and back to some slides, then someone had a birthday cake and he sang happy birthday.

When it was time to go, he discovered the inside part of the school, there was a paint area and a playdoh making area, he has his eye on making paydoh tomorrow. On the way out he saw the goldfish and stared for a long time.

The kids range from 2 to 6 years old and they all mix in the different areas. There are about 8 staff, each overseeing a certain area. Kids come and go as they please. Several kids came up to him to play. Another boy, Ethan who is 4 months older than him and never went to school before had a rather more traumatic time, when his mom dissappeared, he was crying and screaming. When I wanted to leave, nate said, see you bye!

Maybe tomorrow I can leave him there the whole time? Before his nap he said, I want to go to school, after dinner he wanted to continue watching his DVD till we told him that if he slept earlier, school time will come sooner, I have never seen him zip upstairs for his bath so fast. This school transition is definitely looking easier than I thought.

1811 Spyglass Village

I feel like our house has too much space and loren chose a smallish house. I just had two women over who can help out with a few things I wanted to do (bookshelves etc.) and they had good suggestions on how to rearrange my initial thoughts on furniture layout etc. I had really wanted to start reducing and deaccumulating but I think it may be hard here!

The shopping is great, esp. after 2+ years of being pent up in Taipei with not much to buy, there are just malls after malls of very interesting things. The house has space of an informal living room, a formal one then also an outdoor one. A formal dining and an informal dining and then even a place for a bigger TV room and then a smaller TV room. But somehow no main rooms that would make a great library or study, those rooms are tiny.

The garden is lovely, Aunt Edna, only yours is a nicer garden! the weather is very conducive for growing and I hope to try my hand at more of these plants. The neighbours have these big bushes of lavender that I am tempted to crop for lavender cookies and cakes or drying them, just a breeze and whiff of air smells so nice.

The landlord has agreed for us to convert all the fountains to planting areas. We really are not big fountain people. The house is only about 3.5 years old, in a newer area of Dainfern and I am also looking into maybe buying the place.

The pro's - Dainfern has great security, a golf course, limited housing so likely a shortage if the economy keeps growing.

The con's or uncertainties.... mortgage rates here are 12% and the yield on the house is only 8% which points to renting instead of buying. If we bought we'd pay cash and the opportunity cost of this place vs. the markets is evenish. Also we would stay only between 2-4 years so not sure if we can sell when we want to. For it to be a really good investment, the price will have to go up and the rand is another issue.... its down 20% against the US$ last year and seems to be correlated to gold (is gold over or undervalued?)

Anyway... will speak to a few agents and economists and run some numbers, in the meantime anyone with interest in sharing a property investment in SA... send me an email! :)

Life here

I posted two notes and I see that both did not make it on the blog, hopefully this one does!

Nate starts school on weds, I just filled out the form and his extracurriculur activities include golf, swimming, action ball, pottery, kindermusik and ballet! loren thinks I should not send him to ballet... tho I think i may sneak that activity in. I am also going to have him try out Karate at the estate's clubhouse.

There is also a music group for younger kids on weds and I will try and bring Ike for next weeks one.

Things are moving into shape, we have wireless internet but I still need cables to set that up with my laptop for the first run. Our container will arrive tomorrow and clear customs etc for delivery next monday.

The two people we hired (olivia has staff!) will come tomorrow. Our bank services will be set up soon too.

Will try and post this before anything happens!