Glimpses of the future

ok, so the guinea hen's do not really fit the title of this entyr, we came upon a big flock of them today on our walk, there must have been 50, I think I know where they nest at night and I think I know where to collect their feathers the next day. They have really nice polka dotted feathers, I will try and post a pic the next time but I know how bubbi misses these birds so I thought I'd post a pic of them.

Nate and I surrounded them then chased them down a fairway. I think if there were more chinese residents, there may be less of these fowls?

Going back to glimpses of the future, while visiting dainfern college for nate, I saw a class of 5 year olds and thought wow nate would soon be that tall and a BIG BIG boy! and then today I saw a 5 year old scoot down hill really fast and wobbly on his scooter scateboard thing! hmmmm...

Loren has just told me about facebook and of course the newere generation has myspace, two websites I have not had time to check out.

As for Ike... presently I think he has more hair everyday!! he likes sucking in his big cheeks and making a smack sound, like kissing. After swimming the other day, he has also learnt to huff and puff, he will definitely play the big bad wolf in the school play.

I had a massage today with the girls and we got to soak around the oxigination pool then sauna then massage but the lunch was a bit rushed but that is my first taste of a nice relaxing morning of taitaihood activity. My future looks good!

As for loren, thank you and keep working hard!

Nate's Tuesday activity

Here is Nate's art class, though I should have taken a pic of when all the kids were doing their art project. To date they have made a plant tag, the thing you stick into a potted plant with the plants name, a charlie brown hook, which I have to hang up in his room tomorrow and this pencil case holder. Nates is the one with one pom pom on the left and 4 pom poms on the right with n abstract like fish in the middle.

After class the teacher plays a relaxation CD, while they all lay down and closed their eyes. Nate wanted to hold my hand so we did and he has learnt to interlace fingers and do a squeeze when holding hands, one day his gf will thank me for the finer points of holding hands!

Then the kids have dinner, the mom's rotate in cooking it, we have had hamburgers, chinese fried rice (guess who?), and pasta in the pic. This time they got to watch a bit of Noddy then we headed home.

Very nice activity! now I need to set up the art teacher with a class for younger ones like Ike to have the chance to dirty their clothes and squish paint on their hands...

schools

Today porpor and I went to look at schools for Nate, I think based on where we live, there are only 2 choices, the american international school or dainfern college. The american school I can only check out in August when they get back from their summer break but today we went to dainfern college, which is a SA private school.

The school is very nice, compared to the wooden shack that was my primary school, this place had large rolling lawns, a swimming pool, large computer rooms, heated, nor sure about aircon but we only had fans that we could switch on at the hottest part of the day. The kids do stand up and greet visitors and teachers at the beginning and end of class, and they do wear uniforms (a big plus!). Its also only 5 minutes from where we live and if nate went to highschool here he could also drive himself by golf cart. They start at grade 0 or when he is 5 or 2010. As with schools everywhere, we need to book a spot and 2010 is likely our transition year so am not quite sure yet where we are going and how to manage that.

Today I also changed nate's routine before napping, instead of playing then struggling to get him to change and brush teeth, today I made him change and clean up first then he can play for 15 to 20 mins, well it was very pleasant but he is not asleep yet as he did not have to fight or struggle or cry, so maybe I'll let him play longer next time or pick him up later from school. I get him at 1pm but kids can be picked up latest by 2pm.

This is what we did later in the day, after nate's nap, we headed to pootoom river, threw some rocks, then plucked a long tickle tickle and had a tickle fight, spreading lots of seeds enduring next years crop of ticklers. Ike enjoying the scene... a view of the super tall ticklers in the area and a sign to beware of snakes!

bubbles

Nate felt alot better today and we went to Fabz estate for brunch, its an old farm estate in fourways and they have bunnies and lambs running around and a pony as well. He did wake up from his nap with a nightmare screaming, "lucas don't take my cars!!!"

After his nap he noticed a picture from school of mom's day with him playing lego with bubbi, porpor and mommy and he stuck that picture by his bedside. There is extra one for bubbi and I am awaiting his official school photos before sending them to you.

Ike was fascinated by bubbles, not sure if the picture is too clear here but he was busy catching and popping them. Here he is trying to make his escape! Later we went to the playground and he sat on my lap while nate pushed me down the slide since it is so narrow and I get stuck.

Conversation of nate and dada:
dada: nate did you fart?
nate: yes dada i farrrted
dada: wow you stink...
nate: I stinky
dada: how are you going to have any friends?
nate: dada I farted again...

I think his stomach may not have totally eradicated the virus yet? or its those gingerbread men that his dada feeds him.

Vomiting

Nate chose not to eat much dinner last night but this morning had a good breakfast then gingerbread man with dada and a big yogurt drink, by lunch time he did not want to eat either so he went to bed without food. When he woke from his nap, his runny nose was worse, he seemed alot less active and wanted to watch bambi 2, the new dvd that dada got him.

For dinner we took him and ike to Fish and Wine Co, where he wanted sushi but when he got there he just wanted to lie down and wanted ike's blanket. Then all of a sudden he threw up and scared himself. Porpor used Ike's blanket to clean up the mess and we accidently left it there. Dada took him home and cleaned him up and he felt good enough to eat some bread and half a banana. The restaurant couch was not pretty! In fact I don't think I will ever sit in that seat again.

Ike on the other hand woke up from his nap, whisked off to dinner and had a great time eating and bouncing in his baby chair. Took him swimming when Nate was napping and he is really into this one movement where he is pulling his legs to his chest then kicking. Here is a pic of ike stuffing himself with the pizza that nate made yesterday at celestino's. It was an olive, cheese, onion pizza, I must remember to have brocolli put in.

On a different note, por por is finding out she is not as easy going as she thinks she is, our steam vege meals every day are driving her to the unthinkable.... she is actually teaching nomsa and thembi how to cook at least vege's with garlic and/or ginger. Cooking is not something she gravitates to naturally.

Nate still loves his thomas the train set and says Uncle Brahmeeeeeeeeee bought me this. Uncle Brahm, thank you and also I am not responsitble for the Brahmeeeee bit, speak to bubbi marcia on that.

Its warmed up a bit here, the days are back to a nice 15/17 degrees, but I will stock up on outdoor warmer clothing! also many of my plants have frostbite or have turned black from the cold, I need to figure out how to get them some covering. This week for my horse riding class, I got to go out instead of round and round in the pen, I think a riding safari is starting to look quite appealing.

Thursday is....

rinky dink horse riding day! Both nate and ike have now gone for 3 weeks in a row, we pack ike's dinner, he gets to bounce on the side of the jumping castle (hopefully a pic next time) and enjoys it very much. Nate gets there, jumps around and then heads for his riding with sweet pea. You should see him racing to the stables with his buddies and then getting on a horse, today they had a little trot as well and then to more jumping castles. But still would not eat his dinner, I will have to cut out snacks and reduce his chocolate milk and lets see how many dinners he skips. The lure of a magic bean at the end of dinner did not work and he is into throwing his spoons. Hopefully next week this time I can report him eating his dinner by himself or he may starve himself like he did in taipei? but his teacher reports him eating all his lunch.

Here they are in the bath again together. Its been quite chilly that nate has a scarf, a free one I got from Burt's Bee's in Taipei, if I had known he would be using it, I would have chosen the bumble bee striped one. In any case he really likes the pink one.

Do people use mittens for babies like ike? his hands get quite cold but if we put them on he sucks them and it gets wet and colder? I now put a blanket on him and he tucks his hands in. Porpor said she looked at him in bed and she could not find his hands, they were nicely tucked away somewhere.

Porpor went to yoga today with me. I wonder if she will be back next week. she thought i had developed asthma or breathing problems when actually I was using my yoga throat breathing method.

cold cold front

We have a really cold front the last two days, at night it goes to about -2 and in the day it doesn't heat up to more than 8 degrees. I am regretting that I gave away my ski jacket, I will try and look for warmer clothing. We also had a blackout yesterday which was not great but apparently that is quite common in winter so we have to stock up with candles.

The cold front should be gone by thursday and today should be about the worse.

Por por and I are now reading all sorts of child psychology books. Kai Kai is really good at testing the limits and we need to constantly stay a step ahead of him. So the books are titles like "the stubborn child" to "the challenge of children". Today we ignored all his whineyness, when I went up to shower he apparently asked por por what happened and por por said mama is crying upstairs because you are misbehaving, apparently that brought out his empathy. Now how do I make crocodile tears in this dry dry weather (handy eyedrop dispenser?) and how much should I milk it or rather I wonder how I can keep a straight face?

Now that por por has packed the library we can access the books! I just wished they had ikea here, there are just no nice and cheap bookshelves, a single 5 bracket one which is not even as nice as ikea will cost US$200, I wonder if its because there is a low demand for bookshelves? many of the houses I have seen have no library but 3 to 5 entertainment areas. Books are expensive here too. I wonder how we will spend our amazon coupons as the shipping here is not reliable either.

Pistol enjoying the wonders of floor heating.

My access to the mac is strange today so I can't reply to many of your emails, I see the first line written but nothing after that.

Yummy in my tummy

This is kaikai's favourite phrase today. He's also been asking where bubbi went and how come bubbi is not in her room. On the other hand, bubbi has arrived home safely, though her bag with the goodies arrived a few days later... bubbi has also booked her next trip out here, nov 26 to feb 4. That gives me a few months to redecorate her room into a lovely guinea fowl theme. He said bubbi in montreal, deh deh and wendy in Philippines

We took nate and ike to a place with carousels, a train and a ship that swings back and forth, he wanted dada to go with him but was so scared he put his head in loren's lap the whole time. If you like cakes, this is the land of giganourmous cakes, that are bigger than nate's head.

On Sunday, we did the usual dinner with the kids and ike ate alot, alot, alot, some soup, carrots, rice, spinach, fish... sometimes I wonder where all the food goes? I bet he could eat one of those big big cakes?

Here are two pics of their cousin's in KL, Brad and Tom.

ike's first real swim

Here are some paintings and art stuff by nate.

Took Ike to the virgin active pool today, it was really nice and heated, we went about 1030am and there was no one! I think I will bring nate in the afternoons. The water was salted instead of chlorinated. I put ike in one of these swimming neck tubes when he was about 10 weeks but he didn't like it, he also didn't like our swimming pool in summer, he was then about 5 months but now at 8 months he enjoys his long baths at night. He also has more energy and awake time. So after a good am nap, we whisk him off to the gym/club, which is only 7 minutes away, he swam for 20 mins, unlike nate who was giggling gleefully in that neck tube, he was more cautious but enjoyed the floating and kicking and the sensation of being upright and dangling...

We zipped home, he was hungry so he ate and then popped back to sleep at 1215. We will have to go to the pool more often!

bubbi has gone :(

Bubbi left last night, nate woke up asking where bubbi was at an ungodly hour of 530am. Am not sure why he is waking up so early or why when its still dark. Did bullet wake him up with his feet dragging noises or was it loren on his way out at 5am or does he need less sleep? tonight we will put him to bed slightly later, altough he wakes up earlier, he seems to also take a much longer nap as he is exhausted.

Here is bubbi snuggling with pistol, bullet taking in the sun, guess who's eyes those belong to at the last picture? Nate is driving bubbi and me, his school had a mom's day. On sunday, loren took us to a restaurant called the cradle, www.thecradle.co.za and although the view was nice of the reserve, it did not have jumping castles or slides for the kids to burn their energy.

Today Ike started to crawl somewhat. he managed to move 2 feet and is picking up food from the tray in front of him. I signed up for the gym today and will take him swimming tomorrow! lets see if nomsa is able to take any decent pics of him!

Bakerman Nate

Nate is bakerman at his class tomorrow, that means he has to have helped make 21 items of something to hand out to his classmates. So here is nate putting his "kebab" together. The second photo is closer to reality, our small grandma assembly line and voila, the marshmallow, tomato, grape, dried apricot, marshmallow kebab. They threw my idea of substituting the marshmallow for a BBQ mushroom on it, I presume because it would look too healthy? but seriously it tastes like a marshmallow without sugar.

Bubbi and porpor have a break tomorrow and thurs, they will go on a tour of soweto, the apartheid museum and mandela's house on weds and then on thurs, they go into a time machine back to maropeng or the cradle of humankind, where 90% of all human fossils have been found. Bubbi has been busily spending money on gifts and in the process the rand has strengthened quite a bit.

the first pic is of nate with the bakerman hat that he got from school. he happily wore it for a few days.

Murals

I've noticed that there are alot of mural paintings in the most unlikely places, here are three that I managed to take with my N73. They are usually of life in the area, which can be quite interesting. The first one I took at a gas station and the other two at Zoo Lake where every first sunday they have artists gather to sell their paintings.

Our weekend

Look how nice our shabbat table setting is after marcia has set it up, I had the girls memorise what to do for the next shabbats to come. Here is Nate with Bubbi, Nate is wearing his thomas the train kippa.

We took Marcia to Moyo on saturday, this is us with our face painted. And on Sunday, porpor arrived safely. Nate showed her how to make pizza and is sharing a piece of his precious mushroom olive pizza with her. Ike munching on pizza crust, this guy likes his food!

Later I gave him a small bag of skittles... the following took place:
Loren: Nate share one with dada
Nate: Dada you can have my pizza
Loren: No, you should share your "treat ball" with me
Nate: Here is a BIG piece of pizza
Loren walks over and Nate stuffs the remaining 6 skittles as fast as he can into his mouth!

Another african titbit... me at the post office...
Me: How much is postage to Asia
Postmaster: 4 rand 65 cents
Me: I'd like 10 please, here is 46 rand 50 cents
Postmaster: wow you chinese don't need calculators? Every chinese person always gives me money before I tell them the amount.
Me: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Loren at dentist, dentist asks first question, so do you brush once or twice a day... Loren says... twice but maybe more like after every meal, do you mean S. African's only brush once a day? Yep says the dentist... and its only when they wake up!

Heebie Jeebies!

Madikwe Part 4

Some shots of the animals we saw. We saw lots of giraffe, a lion and its kill of buffalo then a jackal and hyena fighting over the remains. A pack of wild dogs after an impala kill.....

madikwe part 3

Here are some pics of what bubbi was probably doing at home with the boys... these pics were actually taken just before we left. An aerial view of the play area, bubbi and nate splish splash splooshing. Ike looking like a big boy in his turtleneck... now he is on chunks of food, slows down his eating but he sure uses alot of energy chewing.

The last two pics are of Jaci's tree lodge, walkway and the moon high up there on the evening safari drive. What you don't see is us wrapped up in blankets as the cold wind blows into our faces while the bunnies are hopping around as we head back to camp. Once we saw a large herd of water buffalo or rather in the dark and cold we heard and smelt the buffalo. Next entry, pics of the wildlife...