One more day to Cape Town holiday!!!

Nate has been enjoying his break from school, I think going back may be tough, especially going into a new class and not his favourite teacher Avellyn. Nate said he misses porpor and Aunty SF yesterday, today he wanted to go back to the "proper" toy store... ie his favourite Thomas one in KL. He calls bubbi, "bubs". Here is Bubs and Nate building their version of big-block buddha.

Bub's ears are better but the bugs seem to like her alot, she has been bitten all over!

We left a rainy and wet KL to a rainy and wet (and cold) Joburg. Its really harder to dress here, with the high altitude, even with sunny skies today, it was too cool to be in summer linen.

Am almost all packed to go to Cape Town tho apparently it gets quite chilly at night. We have rented a house at the beach but apparently its quite a windy beach and the water is cold. Loren and I will get to escape for 2 days to the wine region while we abandon the kids with Nomsa and Bubs. Loren has planned a big itinerary, from visiting the two ocean's aquarium, to visiting penguins, well kiddie activity in the am, beach in the pm, restaurant dining everynight, but he did say as he was planning the clubbing part... when do we sleep...

Quite a number of our good friends will be there, Mark and Belinda from the UK, Peter is coming from Tokio, Oded and Anat (and kids) from Nigeria and apparently Ariel is supposed to show up...

Today, I also spoke to our travel agent to start booking Mauritius for April...

We will be gone till the 4th of Jan... so Happy holidays everyone! Let's see if I get any internet access in Cape Town.

The blob has blossomed...

Ike has really blossomed, he has quite a personality, today I had a beer at Michelle's and I took a sip and said, "AHHH...", he wanted a sip so I gave him the big foam part, he sipped and said, "ahhh...". Then at bath time he was really upset so I let him loose and he headed for his milk bottle and wanted to drink his milky. He also can say "tattoo" (thank you) and when he wants you to leave he does a limp, gay-ish hand wave.

I have caved in and bought a Maclaren umbrella stroller for our trip to cape town, I thought Ike would be walking by now and the Aprica can be retired but the Aprica is really showing signs of strain. So I will pass it on to Peter (the gardener) who is having a baby in May, though Nate would rather I keep it so he doesn't need to walk.

Here is Ike with the clean up crew, who likes hanging out near him as he hands out food or leaves a mess. I also bought a popsicle maker and today they boys had their first popsicle for summer, they really enjoyed it!

Ike is also not into brooms that much anymore but he insists on wearing nate's back pack, this one will be a paratrooper! At the safety gate he prepares his jump... must be his dad's bungee genes.

Bullet

Just thought I'd post a pic of Bullet resting among the weim pillows by william wegman and the bullet limited edition print, a gift from Marc Tetro the artist that was inspired by bullet.... this is now the toy room. Bullet naps and hangs out while the boys play.

Back home!

Ah... it is nice to be home, hopefully SF can get W2 on a full night sleep thru schedule, now that W2 has his own room back. Ike now sleeps past 6am, waking either at 615 or 630. This means nomsa only comes in at 6 instead of 5am.

Its been raining alot in Joburg, we left rain in KL to more rain here. No complaints tho as once it stops it will be the hot hot sun and dry dry weather again. The teeny tiny frogs are out in mass again, must be the rains. My pool is green from algae and now that I have tossed in a tonne of chemicals it is white and the silt is settling again, the rain brings these organisms and silt! I really wish to not have a pool.

Ike has really grown and progressed in his walking... (see pic - his perpetual bump on his forehead) he is so tired tho that he still takes 2 naps. Bubbi is still alive though she has caught the african cough, phlegm thing (which I hope in my case is gone now!). After lugging a box of cheerios back from KL for Ike, the supermarkets here have just started stocking them. The chinese new year cookies that I lugged back also survived the trip, chinaman Ike loves them.

The last shot is from Loren's camera, he and Ike were close buddies while we were gone.

Gaston's birthday party

My girlfriend, L's son, G is 5 today and he had his birthday party at a place called the toy zone. Her kids are cuties. Nate could easily pass as a 5 year old but he did not seem to have the understanding of a 5 year old to sit thru the comedian/magician/joker, instead he had more fun exploring the ball pit by himself.

He experimented with the different balls in different airvents taking the time to see where the air pressure takes them, then to take a break he would climb up and down the structures or jump in the jumping castle, everyone says he is so independent and articulate.

When dada calls they have a pretty decent conversation, the hello and good-bye are properly enunciated but the in between takes a bit of deciphering.

Today Uncle T brought them to feed the ducks and geese at lake gardens (pics coming soon) and tomorrow he will take them to go ride the Light rail transit. It is the 49th day since my grandma passed away and we will go to her gravesite in Nilai and then also meet up with other family members for lunch.

Rambutan is in season and I have been pigging out... ok not only on rambutan's but nasi lemak, wanton mee and all the Chinese New Year cookies that are on sale.

Nate has swollen eardrums

We got home from a playdate with Judi and the twins, friends we know from Taipei... and nate says he doesn't feel good, although he wants to nap he kept saying his ears hurt, so in the heavy rain we head out to a dr. Luckily there is a dr that has few patients and nate got to go in immediately.

Well he said Nate's throat and glads were very raw and his eardrums which I got to see were red and he showed me pics to compare. So Nate is on antibiotics again, immidiately after his dose of medicine, he eats 4 bowls of rice crispies and seems like a new boy playing the whole pm.

We are in KL

Before nate even got on the plane he passed out... at the check in counter he says, this is where we came to send deh-deh (Olivia) off. On the flight he was up for half of it and then put his head down and slept the remaining 5 hours. He then slept in the car on the way to porpor's house.

Well we checked in his really cute bright blue samsonite like hard case bag that he can ride on and it is lost! We'll see what today brings. We get to porpor's house and he watches TV and plays the rest of the day. He likes the local food. Porpor has already had to sit through the recording his school concert.

H and W have the wildest haircut, their hair just defies gravity, my phone doesn't work here but the camera does and will try and take some shots. Saw my dad yesterday and he got some durians, this am I woke up to the smell of durians permeating through the house. Strong that fruit!

Early Hanukkah

We had a very busy last few days, running around getting ready for the KL trip, I am taking Nate back to KL and we had zipped to see the dentist, apparently he may have bumped his tooth weeks ago and now his tooth has died, it is a grey shade. His next tooth will not be affected and we have to just notice for pain or gum problems. Otherwise it is apparently very common in SA and among boys.

Then we had the carpets cleaned at home and Ewan the large giant handy man, helped moved the toy room. The formal living room is now the toy room and bubbi did a great job of making it a nice spot for all the toys and the bright Marc Tetro paintings. Will attempt to upload pics again.

With Ewan the giant bodyguard around, I fired Thembi. No incident.

Loren came back from his Nigeria and Senegal trip.

On saturday, we have the early hanukkah, with the decorations that bubbi brought and the ordered goodies, we all had a great time! I managed to convince 3 people to sign up with the recycling bin service and to buy a worm farm.

The pics I wanted to post include the candle lighting and the kids getting zonked out!

Bubbi arrived safely

Bubbi got here on Tueday night and it has been quite a whilrwind of activity esp. on the gift front, Nate loves his new train track set and Ike likes taking it apart. Today while I was on the computer I could hear loud giggles and laughter from both nate and ike.

You guys wont' believe bubbi's new look, she has popeye arms from the heavy bag of gifts! Thank you all for the presents! Here is a shot of bullet with his spiffy new blue collar. It really enhances his grey coat. Jake and pistol also got new collars and I will get shots of them later. Pistol does not look tough and mean anymore with little yellow ducks on his collar.

Well Nate is sick with a cough and a bit of fever, he did not go to his last day at school and is on antibiotics. Something strange is happening wtih one of his front teeth, just today its turned s darker shade of brown or grey and only one tooth, the dr took a look and said there is no gum problmes so if it persists for 2 weeks to see a dentist. He just had his teeth cleaned on Tueday and it looked normal... the images on websites I have googled call it a dying tooth! but there is pain associated tho... very mysterious, if anyone has clues, please let me know!

Ike had his mumps, measles and ruebella shots today.

Its bubbi's birthday today and last night she got to see the Lion king. We also watched nate's school play and I will try and upload his portion, for those fearing of missing out... bubbi will bring back the full length play to torture your eardrums.

I got a nap today, what a luxury I didn't want to get up.

Welcome Bubbi

Here is a shot of bullet already dreaming of his snuggles with bubbi.

Since her last visit and her fascination and love for the pea hens, I have been able to find the bedsheets, some pea hen ornaments for the bathroom and top of bookshelf. I missed out on the towels at this one shop that just sold out when I discovered the shop, shucks!

Anyway in Chinese this bird is called the pearl chicken, for the pearl like spots. Its apparently a very edible bird.

Ike has a few more words in his vocabulary, digle digle digle (tickle tickle tickle), he still likes clicking his tongue, if he were a !kung, he would be babbling away by now. He sees a dog, he goes woo woo, car, rmmm. When you carry him, he kicks for giddy up, pats your back when you go the right way, he is a natural horse rider, too bad he can only start at age 2. I have already booked his spot at rinky dink.

Nate's other report card also says that he has strong imaginative powers, that must explain why when he doesn't want to do something he says, "my mommy says I don't need to wash my hands" (yeah right!).

The other night, I hear him and Loren reverse role play...
Nate: I play dada and you play kaikai, (Nate with hands behind his back), Kai kai, what do I have for you?
Loren: presents? dada? I love you dada, I love you soooo much dada, let me kiss you.
Nate: ok shall we read you a book? one book ok then bed time.
Loren: ok dada....

Nate' report card

Here's nate with my new goggle sunglasses, the glare is just to great here and I decided to finally get these big goggle glasses. He got his teeth polished today as well.

So this is what his report card says:-

Social, emotional development and independence-
Nate is a confident and independent in the classroom. He is a popular member of the group and socializes freely. He is kind and caring amongst his peers. He has a happy disposition and he is developing quite a sense of humour. Nate is more outgoing and he is beginning to run small errands for me.

Gross motor development and physical-
Nate is a healthy little boy. He has good muscle tone and he is well co-ordinated. He climbs to the top of the jungle gyms with ease. Nate is able to hop on one leg. He can balance and walk backwards. He enjoys playball and he can throw and catch a large ball.

Fine motor development-
Nate still needs to practise his pencil grip, he is now able to snip paper with a pair of scissors. Nate is beginning to color within the lines and draw a body image. He can manipulate pegs in a peg board.

Language development-
Nate's speecu is mature, his pronounciation is good and he expresses himself well. He has a large vocabulary. Nate is always eager to impart his news and he is beginning to join in during discussion time. Nate enjoys a story being read to the group and he is able to listen more attentively with fewer distractions.

Intellectual-
Nate's powers of concentration have improved, however his attention span does still fluctuate. He completes his creative work more focused now but he still requires a little prompting. He has a good memory and recall topics that have been discussed. He follows a series of instructions and completes a set task.

Perceptual-
Nate can match and sort objects by color, shape and size. He knows the difference between sizes, biggest, smallest and same. He can now rote count from 1 - 10. Nate is building a nine piece puzzle now.

Play Interests-
Nate usually plays in a group. He joins in with organized games and he loves to ride the bikes. Indoors, Nate enjoys all the educational games and toys.

Music and movement-
Nate is far more confident during music and movement. His performance was excellent in our class concert. Well done Nate!

General comments-
Nate has made such a pleasing progress in all areas of the school curriculum. He is a delightful child with a sensitive nature. I shall certainly miss this sweet boy and I wish him all the best next year.

Well... nate is a senior next year and is in the hedgeghog class. Last report card his scissor skills were poor, I guess all that snipping in the garden has helped him but not my plants! he snipped off all the leaves and flowers from a plant, when I wasn't looking! now if he can wash the car as well, William may not have a job!

What a difference a year makes

Here is Nate with chocolate ice cream, notice how he does not have the beard effect he did a year ago (well ok this was the start of the ice cream). He can now carefully avoid getting his face all chocolatey, though he has not seemed to figure out that if he wants to eat the bottom of the cone, the ice cream ball can fall out and roll away, which happened in this case. Luckily he didn't seem too disappointed and didn't cry, nor want another ice cream.

We went to the bird park today, one part was so nice that we laid down and watched the clouds go by. Ike is topless because he poured water all over himself. I got up when he started poking my belly button for fun. We went to a new Thai restaurant for dinner. The steamed fish was really good and both kids must have been hungry for they devoured the grilled kinglip.

Bubbi has a big week next week, on weds she will be off to watch the lion king, saturday we will have people over for hanukkah, I managed to buy in the last store I went to today, on sale... 10 plastic dark blue bowls for the kids. I didn't manage to get a jewish caterer but it looks like the one I got (health food store) can make me latkes and I need to ask about the mini doughnuts.

Replanted the fountain

Last year when we got here, I converted the fountain (read mosquito breeding ground) into my herb garden, after the winter, I planted a variety of herbs but it just didn't take. As of yesterday, only my lemon grass in the corner and the ginger I put in were doing well. So I decided to pull out the remaining basil and after looking at other people's gardens, decided to create a summer type garden for bubbi's viewing pleasure when she gets here (takes a guest to kick start my home improvements).

So after Ike woke up today, I took him to the nursery and picked out yellow, red and orange flowers of differing heights, here he is trying to monopolise all three shovels! If I had started a bit earlier, ie 2 months ago, it would be alot more grown in. Some of the flowers are perennials others I would have to change in autumn which could be quite nice, I can now read up on those plants and get a head start, maybe even do a different color scheme every season!

Bubbi lands on Tuesday, i thought she is here tomorrow. Will post pictures of how we have decorated the room for her arrival once she is on a plane!

A shot of the gigantic pom pom flowers, ike now will blow at any type of flower you give him. The white butterflies were out in full force today, fluttering in a westerly direction, thousands of them.

The sand pit after a big rain has good consistency sand for castle making or in this case, I was trying to do the great wall of china. Ike and pistol share the stroller seat. Ike today was practising his new look, he put his lower jaw in front and pulled his upper jaw back, he really actually looked like my Uncle Roland!

Plasters

Plasters seem to cure pain, as soon as one is put on, the crying stops. What I didn't describe yesterday was that the plaster was stuck to nate's thigh and the other end to his left ball. Today in the shower, the water did not reduce the potency of the stickiness so when I tore the the part off the thigh, it was quite painful that he decided to slowly remove the other part himself.

After we dry up, I see that the patch on his thigh has a few raised water blisters, like ike's mite spots. Oh oh! I did apply lotion before the plaster or did I? anyway, he got lotioned again on that spot. Still crying, he says his pee pee still hurts and wants another plaster (IQ wise not a child genius), I try to convince him that the potency of the plaster is the same if I put it on his diaper (didn't buy it), so I try to make the plaster less sticky by pasting it over my skin several times (hope it works) and manage to convince him to put it on a less sensitive part (pubis mound, is that what its called?). Lets see what tomorrow brings.

Its really pleasant dropping him off at school, he waves and says goodbye mommy!

Ike is better, he is down to one nap a day, rash has subsided. Here he is trying to blow a dandelion (pom pom flower) and usually ends up eating it instead. We went to a different park (checking out different neighbourhoods and parks) and there were these blonde, 1 year old twins that were running and climbing up the slide! Ike is bigger than them and I think babies lose their cheeks when they start walking? or will Ike have perpetual big cheeks?

Moms and sons

There are just some things that mom's cannot explain to sons or maybe it is just boys at age 3... After the shower, Nate said his balls hurt, I think he must have bumped them (it was not red or swollen... a pain I can't relate to though), he cried so painfully that it must have been painful but he is convinced that only a plaster on them will feel better.

No amount of telling him that ripping the plaster off will leave him in a worse state and with the tears flowing and the wailing... and me trying to tell him there are no more plasters, he finds a box that loren must have bought over the weekend. So we put a plaster on... he stops crying, its quite s sticky plaster so good luck to him when it has to come off! Maybe I'll plan for a bath and it will just peel off? Maybe it was so painful he didn't even try to ask for his usual 3 plasters and then thru a bargaining process it gets down to 1 plaster (these jewish or chinese genes are exhibiting themselves too early).

The chemist seemed to think that only the person with mites need to be treated, the dr advised all family members and so did all the sites that I read on scabies, this cream smells bad, I have a headache developing, even the CK I put on is not masking it! am not sure I can last 12 hours with this stuff on.

Ike in happier days pre-scabies, pointing and putting things into buckets. He is much better today but all that spoiling over the weekend has turned him into a mini tyrant. If he doesn't get his way, he throws a tantrum by pounding his head on the floor once. Thus the perpetual bump on his head. His appetite is back so he is definitely on the road the recovery.

What is worse than chicken pox?

well ike does not have chicken pox, today he was seen by 3 doctors in the emergency ward and his normal ped who was called in, they concurred that he has scabies. Its extremely itchy and it takes 2-6 weeks for the itch to go away! Now we are recleaning the house, the dogs get their mite dip at the vet on weds and some websites say all other humans in the home should get treated too, others say only the infested one.

Hmmmm... and I thought head lice was the only lice-mite I should watch for.

The dr thinks it is likely he got it from the sandpit, which ike likes to play in and is there almost everyday. Yesterday when we thought its chicken pox, he was there to spread the mites.

Bubbi, welcome to mite-land in advance!

Now that Nate does not want to nap, he sleeps really early, its 5pm and he's asleep, it feels like when he was under a year old. He just wakes up with the sun and sunrise now is 4:50am. y-a-w-n!

Dark Continent

For those who have read The Dark Continent by Paul Theroux and feel totally depressed about it, there is a funny book which i picked up recently called, Dark Continent My Black Arse, written by a black south african writer who also travels from Cape Town to Cairo. It is really quite funny and a good read if you have been to or want to travel africa.

I managed to pick up a few books for the holiday read, another one is the geology of the african continent which as you all may know is the oldest and most stable continent (read no earthquakes and no tsunami's).

I took Ike to the bird park on Friday to catch the 11am bird show, he wasn't too impressed. He did like the walk and we did see some new things like flamingoes building their nests on padded mud piles (see pic). Then a cockatoo decided he liked the button on the already beat up stroller and tries to pluck it off.

We also collected the tickets to the Lion King for Nate's teacher. Christine and I are sharing in on 2 tickets for her for X'mas, she is so excited to go. Its nice to be able to match up a good gift.

Later that evening Ike gets his rash, fast forward to sunday, he was really a grump today, took 4 naps, each nap under an hour. His last awake period he seemed a bit happier but did not last being awake for 3 hours. His rash or suspected chicken pox has not spread. Let's see what the Dr says tomorrow. Am tempted to get a second opinion.

Loren was sick as well over the weekend, relapse into the Rwandan flu. I think we must be getting all the viruses that we have never caught before in Africa.

I just saw the pics to my grandma's funeral. It looked really good, I mean, I had somewhat expected a really ching chong ming mong, cheena looking funeral but it was all white drapes and white flowers and really could have been a backdrop for a western wedding.

Ike has suspected....

before I tell you his next ailment, Ike has been nicknamed, "woo woo" by us as that seems to be his favourite word.

So Woo Woo has suspected chicken pox. He had his vaccination in early september, ie on schedule and the nurse said although kids are vaccinated, they still have a 20% chance of getting it. I guess we have struck the chicken pox lottery. Last night he had this bad and angry rash on his bum and woke up several times, this morning its on his legs and a few spots on his hands, of the many spots only 2 have water in them, so the dr suspects its chicken pox, we will see him again on monday.

In the meantime, he is itching and is on antihistamine and is not the happiest of babies. I have not had chicken pox before but am vaccinated, lets hope we need not strike lottery twice. As i write this, he has woken up, so will have to update other news later...