Happy Birthday Ike

Ike is 1 today!!! I managed to get Ike an activity table, you can see him in PJ's playing or wondering what it is and then later on just loving it. He just wants to climb up on it though. I gave a "mater" lego for ike to give to nate and a "lighting" lego for nate to give to ike, they exchanged gifts. As nate really wants to play with Ike present, he suddenly know how to share! He is sharing all his toys now. Incredible!

Hopefully this is a more educational lightning and mater can be taken apart in lego block form. He has been reading how they are friends so when he had to go to school he even left his toy at home so they could be together.

Here is Ike in the grocery cart at Vege City, surrounded by vegetables for shabbat. He was much happier with an apple chip in his mouth. Its really getting warm again now. I can switch off all the floor heating and reduce the electricity bill.

Ike now tries to imitate sounds and words, this week's word is nanananaaa. He likes blowing air as well. I should bring him swimming again when he wakes up from his nap.

Nate's egg shaped bump has reduced and is almost not visible, two days after the egg head bump, he then fell against a sharp stair and cut his head, some blood but no need for stitches.

Spring and the last cold front???

Well its cooler this week, hopefully the last cold front and I can put away the jackets. Some images of the flowers that are sprouting out all over dainfern, the weeping willows are slowly getting their leaves back, many of our trees are greener now, even the brown golf course is greener.

Nate bumped his head on saturday on a stair and it bled, luckily no stitches needed, just a big scab there now. Wonder if there will be anymore accidents this week? There is a spring hat day at school on friday, I am supposed to decorate a hat full of vege's for him and they have a bit of a parade. We took nate to the Kyalami castle on sunday, it is really someone's fantasy. It was someones home and now a hotel.

I went to yoga today, it was great, we did alot of stretches while listening to a CD of a speaker on the topic of inspiration. I think both mom and marcia would enjoy the class though you have to be not a beginner yoga person as there is no verbal instructions we had to visually follow Tracey and also listen to the CD as well. I got to speak to her about the teacher training course. For years many of my friends have taken it but I have not really been motivated but I really like Tracey as a teacher and I hope she will run one that is in the mornings on weekdays.

I got home and my new worm farm is here!! its a bigger container than the first. I had to soak its bedding of coconut shreds in water, make their bed and then let them out! This container is alot more stylish. I also ordered 2 garden containers for my vege's and hope they come soon, I plan to section every child in the playgroup a part and have them grow vege's and see the worm farm. I also managed to get some fear factor worm candy and pretend to eat a worm! I think I may be know as either the cool mom on the block or the freaky one.

Egg shaped bumps and splinters

Nate came home with a big egg bump on his head, apparently he fell off his bike in school, I have a shot of it but have not figured out how to transfer pics fm my new phone. The bump is big and purple and it hurts even to take off his shirt.

Yesterday he woke up he had a small splinter in his thumb. I spent 20 mins trying to pry it out. My eyesight isn't as good as it used to be, in the end I decided to just stick the needle in and push the splinter hard and tweezed it out. He said it was painful but no tears, maybe the distraction of the buttons and the sewing box was good.

Before picking nate up from school I had some time with Ike so i took him to a toy store and he quite enjoyed it. I was trying to find an activity table for him but they didn't have one. Instead I found a simple story for cars and Nate is now an avid reader, going thru every page slowly. I also found guido and luigi that loren can give him when he is back from mozambique tomorrow.

Speaking of mozambique, on nov 1-4 there is a yoga retreat that also includes swimming with dolphins. The resort looks great and children are welcome too! I really hope we get to go, the yoga teacher would love to have kids on the trip and nate can even swim with the dolphins! Ike would go free, nate is half price and its only like US$500 per person, before airfare. Here's the link, anyone else want to join?

http://www.yogawarrior.co.za/Retreats/DolphinsinSouthernMozambiqueNov07/tabid/2176/Default.aspx

Sigh new phone

and I can't figure out how to download the pics I took. I have a cute one of Ike at Clamber club playing. He woke up at 5 am yesterday and I put him down at 745am, he slept till 9am and then I took him to clamber class in his pajama's. We got back at 1030am and he went back to sleep from 11 to 1230. Then Nomsa was back and they looked like they missed each other so much, she took him to the park and kept him awake till 630pm. Its 7am now and he is still asleep!

Nate went on a field trip to the Lory Park Zoo and had a great time as the teacher asked me to pack a box drink (undilted juice) and chips (I got the sweet potato and beetroot ones) and some tasteless homemade popcorn, which considering he rarely gets to eat popcorn he was very happy!

We all went to Nde Bushe in the pm and at the end it was just me and Nate so we jumped on the trampoline together for a long time. He is starting to recognise alphabets and sometimes knows W but sometimes the M is a W too.

I bought 2 120 x 120cm garden boxes and will put that infront of the guest room, will start growing veges soon! Anything should be able to grow in this SA weather, as long as its watered and has some fertilizer. Its starting to get greener everyday and although its nice and warm now, 4 to 26 degrees is the range, apparently the weekend there is a cold front sneaking up on us again.

Am back...

I think I will start taking more pics of other parts of this city than just the boys. I feel alot better now with the drugs taking hold of the sore throat and cough. Nomsa however is down and so we are still operating on a single engine (thembi).

Thembi after coming back from 12 days of bereavement leave is surprised to find that Ike does not want to be fed, he wants to feed himself and his aim is getting really good. He doesn't eat handfuls of sand from the sand box either which is good.

Loren took Nate to the transport museum, he said it was really quiet and a bit dusty but nate got to drive all sorts of vehicles. nate is really excited to go on the day trip tomorrow as they get to sit on a wawaqe (school bus) to the Lory Park Zoo and see all sorts of animals with his friends.

Today I went to yoga and I have found an inspiring yoga teacher. I am pleased because I think my practice will now go further. She is a bit like a sargeant major but she is good. The gym has great children facilities, unfortunately ike who now has separation anxiety hated it and yoga is only in the mornings and nate is in school. Loren and I will probably go to a saturday class and nate can join ethan and lucas at their own mini gym.

There is a pic of nate with "red" the fire engine from cars. For those who want to get him a birthday gift, anything from car's is still a hit, so far he has a list, he wants luigi, guido, the purple ramone, lightning in dinoco colors and the cow-tractors.

Cough Cough Cough

Several people have emailed me about the lack of recent blog postings... I have probably caught the last cold of the season. Every morning I woke up feeling better but went to bed feeling worse this week and finally on Friday I got some antibiotics to kill this bug.

The worse was probably after my horse riding, the bounce of the horse and the subsequent pounding of my head sent me straight to the dr.

I did however managed to order another worm farm, this time from www.fullcycle.co.za. Its called Can-o-worms and its more like a designer one that you can put in your kitchen if you wanted too. Seriously people, you should recycle your organic waste! I now also know why this site calls the worm pee, worm tea. It has the color of tea. I did not however get a chance to go by the store to see if I could get containers to grow my own vege patch. I must next week as spring is upon us.

There is tiny green leaves or buds just waiting to burst out. My SA friends promise me that the first of Sept will be quite a day to behold. Also my phone is kaput so I have not been able to take any pics to upload.

Ike did a good nap today, he is napping similar times to nate in the pm and so we all get some rest. He did tease us with one day waking at 7am but then otherwise its 5am. I hear him now so will stop here.

End of winter?

I hope so! I also hope this is the last cold we get. Both boys are sniffly with green gunk in their noses. I have developed a cough and congested feeling head as well.

Here are some pics of Ike the musician, he really crawls fast towards the doggie food bowls and like clinking them together like a tambourine. Ike had a short nap on saturday so he went to sleep at 6:30pm, I was really hoping that he would sleep till 5:45am but he woke up at his old 5:00am internal alarm on sunday. Which threw his first nap out of whack. So we took him along to the Sci-Bono museum, or the science museum here which is located in the heart of Joburg. Not really a safe part of town but it has secured parking and we were the only people visiting it and the entrance is free which makes it quite sad that not too many people use the facility.

Here is Nate and Ike checking out the BMW exhibit. They can see the engine and a see through car door etc. Nate and dada watching cartoons before bedtime.

On Monday, Ike woke up at 7am!!! though we had to wake him up and he even had a diaper full of poo, not sure why he didn't wake up. Today he did his 5am thing again but had a good pm nap and played really well at art class.

It was really quite warm today, there are tiny buds on all the trees and apparently first week of sept., everything just pops open. I now have found the route to the castle and will also endeavor to take more pictures of places I shop, like Vege City and the fish market.

Funny Noises

nate makes this animal noise like "KKKhhhhh", he's not sure he is a crocodile or snake. He said he learnt that noise from Riley and uses it like an animal would use it when in a corner. Today I let him sleep a longer nap as he has had a bit of a runny nose and dada took him to ginger bread man, the bird park, balloon ride and the lion park.

I meanwhile took pistol and ike on a long walk, towards the end I was thinking what an easy dog pistol is and then he shoots off to chase a dog that looks like bullet. That dog was scared of pistol or rather didn't know what to make of him that it started running circles around his owner, almost tying his feet with the leash. When I Ike napped, I got to garden a bit, I am sure that the worms must be doing something, we put in quite a bit of stuff and the pile is shrinking, so that is a good sign? The last stuff I threw in were dried red dates and the smell from the bin is quite nice, an earthy soil smell with a tinge of red date sweetness.

Here is a pic of the jeep we are trying to get nate for his birthday. The slow one does about 8kmh and the fast one about 12kmh, guess who has to run after nate? and which one we will get. I think he is getting the hang of looking left and right at road junctions and staying at the side.

Here is another pic of him at school on the swing, he wanted to go higher and higher and I put the baby cot in his room as it is quite dark, in case I want to put ike there to regulate his sleep. Nate seems to like the coziness of it, so sometimes I let him sleep there for nap times.

Ike's sleep has improved alot. he now takes 2 good solid chunky naps, totally 3 hours and sleeps around 7ish, we're still trying for 8pm. And his new am alarm clock is at 5:45am, instead of 5am.

Today is a public holiday and tomorrow nate has no school.

Cold front is here again

Porpor left just in time, we had some really nice spring like weather where I was already swapping long sleeved clothes for short sleeved ones then it started getting chilly again. Not numbing cold but, cold is cold.

here are some answers to some questions, Nate's hand is all well again, of course he was already getting better at the emergency ward. No problems now. The water was on and off for the whole sat and sunday, luckily on late evenings for bath times. As for Ike, everyone stops to watch him eat. He holds an audience, I better charge up my camera batteries for some footage.

Loren filled up his gas tank today and it seems the gas stations will be out of gas tomorrow morning. The Prado stores up so much gas at one time (US$200 to fill its tanks), it will take me about 2 weeks or more before I need to refill.

I have almost finished all Nate and Ike's birthday invite cards. It will be a jungle theme. We have hired an animal "show", the guy will bring snakes, a crocodile, a warthog, a meercat and a few other animals. Nate is very into the Lion King and knows the meercat and warthog as "hakuna matata". He says, Hakuna matata is coming to my party. We are having it at "tumbleweeds" a party venue near from our house. Otherwise, pistol will end up chasing the meercat, jake will be gored by the warthog and bullet eaten by the crocodile. I wanted to try this caterer who did healthy and allergen free foods but it looks like she was sick for some time and may want to take it easy. She also teaches children yoga so i have asked her to contact me when she restarts.

This thursday is a public holiday, nate's school has also declared friday a holiday. I am wondering whether I should take him (a) to gold reef city, an amusement park, (b) the transport museum or (c) the children's section at the gym. If (c) I can also bring Ike, if (a) or (b), Ike stays home. There is also maybe (d) snowscape which is nearby, we can just zip down a fake slope on a plastic disc.

nate is really into his rubber boots, which is good for his other passion, riding that bike of his. His other new takkies (S. African for sneakers) already have holes in them from his breaking methodolgy, ie wearing down the toe bit. There is not a scratch on these rubber boots. Thanks again Anette for them, it did take him about 2.5 years before they fit and as it doesn't rain much here... they do seem a bit out of place.

Its amazing how when he first got here, he could not go very fast on those bikes, nor aerodynamically balance to get speed. Now its just zoom zoom zoom, guess who carries the bike uphill though. nate with some early yellow spring flowers and his chalk art. step 1, crush chalk by stepping on them, step 2. spread chalk by squishing and sliding shoe. Next time I will do a dragon instead of a snake. Can't wait till halloween, apparently everyone does the front up big time, ours will have to be a big chalk painting...

No water for 30 hours

Finally the water was restored, not after mom and I went to Checkers to buy out all the 5 litre bottles (a total of 13 bottles). We will now use the emtpy bottles to store water in each bathroom. We had also devised a system of using swimming pool water for flushing the toilets and luckily the humidifiers were full so we had that to filter into drinking water and 3 tubs of 5 litre water bottles too. The two supermarkets near us had empty shelves of these larger bottles.

After mom left for the airport, I went to fill whatever big tubs of water we had at this "filling station" (see pic), they brought in a tanker full of water. As I stood there, there were 3 black people with pails and a white woman who finished filling her pails and was filling her small drinking bottles with this big hose (and spilling alot of water), as the water spilt on her expensive shoes she was prancing around and wasting more water! unbelievable while these women with pails just continued standing there! So I asked a woman for her pail placed it under the small bottle that the white woman was trying to fill and would you believe it, as she filled one small bottle, there was enough leakage to fill half the pail? incredible.

Then I headed to fill loren's car with gas. I had filled mine earlier in the day and it was strange that 2 of the 3 types of petrol was sold out and as I drove off the news came on saying that the gas station worker strike was still on and many gas stations had run out of petrol!!! since mom has been here, there has been the garbage man strike, the eletricity workers strike, the taxi men strike..... it seems to never end. Every other news item is abou tthe negotiation on wage increases, I can't even keep track of who is striking anymore, unless it affects my life...

In the afternoon, I took the boys to mugg and bean to play, Nate requested noodles so I ordered speghetti and meatballs and Ike ate it up with his hands really enjoying the mess he was making and even complained we were too slow in feeding him. A few waiters stopped to admire his appetite and skill. Incredibly big mess of course. Even Kelly and Helen's nanny had to point out to them how such a small guy fed himself as they were still fed the girls. The noodles in the pic look alot like my worm farm. I've decided if anyone wants to buy me a present I have 3 things on my list, the first two are 2 different models of worm farms (making my total 3 farms, when i get them) and the DVD or CD from the teaching company on "from yao to mao - 5,000 years of chinese history".

Just to finish off the wormery story, since everyone else I speak to seems to cringe and it is quite an effective conversation killer... and I have a somewhat captive audience here... they wormys are producing a good amount of worm pee fertiliser for my plants. Yay, just in time for spring.

Got home and after Ike's bath he had a bad nappy rash with whitish specks, I called michelle as the day before she said Axel had a bad nappy rash with fungus. She came right over to look and confirmed it and gave me some of the medication Axel had, it should clear by tomorrow.

Well at least we have water again.

What a day.

Yesterday I get a call from Thembi's niece asking me to inform her that her mom has passed away. I wait till Thembi wakes up and break the news to her. I don't think I have seen someone wail so hard. She has gone home for a few days.

I also get a call from nate's teacher at 10 am saying he hurt his left arm and its limpish and he seems like he is in alot of pain. His left wrist seems to have this reoccuring pain or is it that he knows we have brought him to the dr for an Xray twice that it is something he can act up? I ask her to watch him for another 30 mins and if it doesn't improve I will come get him. When I pick him up from school he is fine. He doesn't even tell me about his hurting wrist when we "talk about school". In the evening, just after his bath he uses the left arm for support and seems to hurt it again.

Poor boy definitely seemed in pain and only wanted to go to sleep as when he wakes up it is "better". There was no swelling, just alot of tears. At 10 pm I hear a scream and he woke up from his wrist hurting. I call the hospital and they say to give him some asprin and see if it turns worse to bring him in. So he got to sleep in my bed (Loren is in Kenya). Several times he woke up needing help to turn over to get comfy or was dreaming out aloud about his cars (lightning is going to win), his friends (thomas leave me alone), the dogs (bullet don't sit on my mat). Meanwhile I see the time go from 11pm to 3am. He wakes up at 530am from pain again and so we head out to the emergency room (nate wrapped in blanket as it was painful for him to get into clothes)

We get xrays done, no broken bones. The dr thinks he may be a leftie as he uses that as his dominant hand when blocking a fall. She says he will outgrow this as his muscles grow stronger and prescribes no medicines and oks him to school. He is very grumpy at nap time.

Nomsa heads out to run some errands so she can work this weekend (it is actually her weekend off) and ike decides to not take a nap. By the time nate goes to horse riding, ike finally takes a small nap. In the meantime we have no water. impromtu-ly we decide to try out the new chinese restaurant and they were only serving hot pot that night. Ike had a blast tapping chopsticks, making a mess, grabbing food. We come home there is still no water so a wipe down for nate but ike is still small enough to fit in the sink and we have to recycle our humidifier water his bath, thats not a bad 5 litres of water. Luckily Nomsa makes it back to help clean up a very messy nate.

Pic of Ike with his chinese parsley face mask before the face hot pot steam.

Clamber Club...

Ike at Clamber Club. Its quite different from Gymboree in Taiwan in that we do one part indoors, running around with the baby or throwing it up and down (what I don't like is that everyone wears shoes on the mats and then the babies crawl on the same mat). Then there is an outdoor session where you can get the baby to play with all the equipment.

In gymboree tho, it was easier to have make up classes and they also have afternoons when you can come and have a place to take your child to play. There are just too many things to play with in too short a time. He likes it very much and works up an appetite but the class is right smack when his nap should be.