c is for cape town: January 2013

Monday, 28 January 2013

marble painting

I've noticed that, especially with my older girl, there can be some resistance if it's felt I'm being too 'instructive'.
I suppose it makes sense that if I'm the person always instructing them about eating properly, dressing properly (knickers are NOT optional wear!), wearing sunblock etc they don't want to feel too dictated to when it comes to fun things, like art projects.

So this past weekend, knowing they've both done this at school, I asked them to 'show me' how to do marble painting.
I feigned complete ignorance and took instruction as to what we'd need, how to go about it etc.

A plastic muffin tray was pulled from the recycling box, 3 paint colours were chosen and a hunt around the house produced 3 different size marbles and some old medicine spoons for transferring paint-covered spheres to awaiting virgin paper. Their respective teachers taught them well!

With lots of: 'See Mum? This is how you do it', the lesson began.

These 'kitty litter' trays from the plastic shop have proved their worth (R20!) time and time again!

And then we came to the part about home art which I've always struggled with, and I think they especially love precisely because it's so unlikely to happen in a classroom environment: getting down and dirty!

For why stick to marbles if your fingers are right there at the end of your inquisitive hands?

And so endth the lesson, and the last dregs of paint!

Saturday, 26 January 2013

paper flowers

As much as I love doing crafts with the kids, sometimes I need to do some of my own. I think it's good for them to see me busy with my own projects too. Most of my creativity goes into writing, not something they're able to appreciate, or access, yet.

Seeing me in front of my computer is certainly more frustrating than inspiring for them!

Found on Pinterest naturally, designed by the utterly inspiring Made by Joel. Visit the link for the how-to - so easy! - and stick around to check out all the other remarkable things he makes.

Lots of printables and downloads available there too.

The spare loo in our new house has this silly (and very, very ugly) permanent tooth glass/brush holder thingie attached to the wall. It's been calling out for some prettification for months now.

Much better.

Sunday, 20 January 2013

loving them fiercely

Phone pic, Main Rd Diepriver

Friday started Grade R last week. She's been so excited about it for so long and, as is her way, glided straight into a new environment with nary a backward glance.
I'm in such awe at how well she embraces change.
This 'big school' thing has awakened stuff in me though. Of course. Concerned thoughts about a future in which, invariably, we'll face a time when she doesn't think I'm such a fun person to hang out with. A time when she'll have secrets, have fears that she'll not share, a time when she'll not laugh at my silly jokes but roll her eyes and groan.
I've found myself, somewhat pathetically I admit, feeling triumphant when I have made her laugh this week. Feeling grateful for the big hugs I've gotten, my heart singing when she jumped into my arms after that first day of school and whispered 'I love you Mum'.
Each moment from the womb that imaginary umbilical cord stretches just a little further, but last week I felt its tug so sharply.

With Sunday I had almost the opposite experience.

The pre-school we'd signed her up for last year turned out to be a total dud. Disengaged staff, dirty and broken toys, cat poo in the sand pit (loads of cat poo at that). At first I felt like a fool, why had I not seen the obvious flaws when I'd visited last year? Then I felt like a snob, we were so spoiled by her previous, magnificent, play school that maybe my standards were too high? Then I felt angry - I've visited pre-schools in townships with almost no equipment, where the smell of cleaning detergent is so strong it'll make your eyes water - clean, happy schools run by underpaid people determined to give every child the best experience they can - there is NO excuse for bad hygiene in schools for little people.
So we left, Sunday and I, and went out for breakfast to regroup.
And as we chatted at the table, that umbilical cord shrunk a little. I had been about to reel my youngest out a bit, to send her off a little further into the world without me. Now she'll be home for a while as we come up with another plan, home alone with me.

That 2013 To Do list will have to simmer on the back burner for a little longer. I'll get there, I'll get there.

Friday, 11 January 2013

2012 baby names

I once worked a Baby Expo with a friend of mine and drove her mental counting the number of twins I saw. There were an extraordinary amount of them there but she didn't really seem to care as much as I did.

I think I'm a frustrated statistician.

And on that, allow me to drive you nuts with my ongoing fascination with baby names. These are the names of all the baba's I know born in 2012.

Trips! Jack, Olivia, Alexander
Twins! Zack & Lily-Mae
Henry
Zia (boy)
Ines
Luca

And within a week:
Faolan
Jasper
Winter (girl)

Jackson
Charlotte
Ayla
Charlie (boy)
Bennett (cousin to Charlie)
Isabella

Lila
Alexander (cousin to Charlie & Bennett!)
Arya

21 babies! Just under 50% girls this year though, better than last year's figures.

And so here's the Baby Center's (USA) list of 100 Most Popular Baby Names for the year, and here are the Baby Centre's (UK) lists - boys and girls.
And here's my deeply scientific analysis ...

6 of the names above appear on the American lists, 9 on the UK lists, showing once again, but not as conclusively as before, that South Africans seem to tend to follow English trends more closely.
That said, there's far more overlap on the US and UK lists then there was last year.
Fascinating stuff. No?

Oh, no.

Tuesday, 8 January 2013

fun with bicarb of soda

We happen to have a 20kg sack of bicarbonate of soda in the house (doesn't everyone?). Known as baking soda by Americans, it seems to have a myriad uses.
We used some for our clay Xmas ornaments, husband uses it for soda-blasting, and today we found another fun thing to do with it.

A tray of baking soda, a couple of containers of vinegar with a few drops of food colouring (we only had two blue and green at hand this time) and a couple of medicine droppers.

The droppers were soon discarded in favour of small syringes, which made for much more satisfying application.

It's very cool how the bicarb fizzes and bubbles when the vinegar makes contact.

And an unexpected result was the fun to be had afterwards. With a silky, sticky, powdery texture the coloured bicarb proved to be almost more entertaining than the fizzing, and the game lasted for ages.

You'll want to do this one outside though, or in an easily cleanable space - and although it's not great for photography, I'm once more very grateful for our 'art room'.