walking with kids: Groote Schuur Estate

This is a nice easy one for late on a weekday afternoon, or a quickie on the weekend when you just. have. to. get. OUT.
You know those ones?

Head up Princess Anne Avenue towards Rhodes Memorial, but park in the car park to the right of the main gate. Take the footpath next to the road for a little bit ...

... then swing left into the field (the path is very clear).

From here on you can go whichever way suits your fancy, dependent on the average length of leg walking and the spirit of adventure. There's a number of smaller paths, cutting up the slope through the trees, around the reservoir (pause for a nostalgic moment if you were a UCT student and remember illicit summer afternoon swims here), or even through the turnstile and into Newlands Forest. Take care here if you've a doggie walking with you that it doesn't go demented at the smell of braai wafting from the public picnic area and take off at a run.

It's a magical bit of forest regardless of the season, and a firm family favourite.

Out the Box Festival

We so enjoyed the annual Out the Box Festival last week. Amazing puppets, lovely shows, heaps of variety for young and old (and many shows which were perfect for both).

The Festival kicked off with a Puppet Parade through Observatory ...

and a free show on the Village Green ...

What's she watching with such fascination?

French clowns Ubla Dubla Trubla! Such fun.

We managed two other shows during the week. I would've loved to have seen more but there's only so much excitement two small girls can handle.

Friday LOVED The Mermaid of Zanzibar. Pedro the Musicman is a fantastic entertainer and artist, if your kids are even vaguely into music then try and catch his shows. I've got a link to his blog on the right.

The other show we saw was Just a Bit of Paper. Another win. I kid you not when I say Sunday, 18 months old, was enthralled, from beginning to end - 45 minutes!

Well done Out the Box, already looking forward to next year's programme.

we're talking about ... funerals

There's been some opportunities to talk about death in our house recently. Its not a completely foreign concept to Friday, she watches enough David Attenborough to know all about animals dying, and we had a memorable occasion when she told us (while dragging a door sock - those things to keep the breezes out - around the house) that she had 'a body' she needed to get rid of.

'He was a bad man Mum, hurting my sister. I killed him and now I need to throw his body away.'
Resounding shocked silence from her Mother.
More silence.
Shocked.
And then ... 'Take it to Dad sweetie, tell him you're looking for a lake to put it in.'
She heads off down the passage, dragging the heavy cadaver behind her.
'Daaaaad, I've got a body here. I need a lake.'
Resounding shocked silence from her Father.
Hee hee.

We still have no idea where she got that from.

Anyhoo, I digress.

On Saturday I went to a memorial service with my Dad. I explained to Friday before I left that Grandad and I were going to a funeral, to say goodbye to one of his old friends who'd died.
Completely matter-of-factually, 'Did Grandad die Mum?'
'Er ... no, a friend of Grandad's.'
'Oh good. I like Grandad.'

Off we went and on our return she had some questions.

'Did you go and say goodbye Mum?'
'Yes we did.'
'How?'
'Sorry?
Exasperated now, 'How did you say goodbye when he wasn't there anymore Mum?'
She'd been thinking about things while I was away.

So I explained that she was right, the man who died wasn't there anymore, but as we'd not gotten a chance to say goodbye, the funeral was an opportunity to remember him, to think about the things we would've said to him, to remember all the good times we had with him and to show his family, who were sad, that we were there to support them.
I braced myself for the next question, surely she'd want to know where the man who died was?

'Was there cake Mum?'

Clearly my answer was sufficiently informative (or boring) for her. She was moving on to bigger questions.

happy half birthday to you!

I think its fair to have cake and a celebration for one's 18 month half-birthday right? Not like you've had that many other chances yet.

 

Besides, any excuse for cake will do in this family. 

Caaaaake.

the a-z of us

A is for ... apple. Duh, everyone knows that.

B is for ... baking. We love it too much.

C is for ... Cape Town of course! Our home.

D is for ... David Attenborough. Friday's biggest hero.

E is for ... energy. They have so much, I have so much less.

F is for ... Friday. Our eldest, our first love, our favourite day of the week.

G is for ... grandparents. We never take them for granted.

H is for ... hugs. All the time.

I is for ... in love. Husband and I have been for a ridiculously long time.

J is for ... juice. They drink litres of it.

K is for ... Kirstenbosch. One of our favourite places.

L is for ... Lego. Our beloved bull terrier.

M is for ... Mum. Why wouldn't it be?

N is for ... nonsense. We're big fans.

O is for ... outside. That's what Cape Town's all about.

P is for ... pseudonyms. The girls have them here.

Q is for ... quickly. How time flies when you're having fun parenting.

R is for ... rest. Remember that?

S is for ... Sunday. Our baby, our last born, our sweetest little Mister Sister.

T is for ... talking and talking and talking. Will they ever stop? I hope not.

U is for ... unbelievable. This experience of raising kids. Would you ever have believed it before?

V is for ... vagina's. We have quite a few of them around here.

X is for ... x-rated. My language sometimes.

W is for ... walking with kids.

Z is for ... zerbets!

with apologies to Nick Cave

This is one of the girl's favourite You Tube videos at the mo. The Sydney Opera House reinterprets Nick Cave's The Ship Song. Very beautiful.

However when I had a juice-bottle toting toddler crawling all over me in bed yesterday while I tried to lie perfectly still to stave off cramps and nausea (a 24h bug NOT what I'm sure you're all thinking right now), I rewrote the song to give it more relevance to my life right now.

"Come spill your juice around me,

And let your crumbs rain down.

You are a little sticky to me,

Every time you come around."

not-so-free tree

Some well meaning hippie gave Friday a tree this last weekend. We were at the Puppet Parade for the Out the Box Festival, a strange and beautiful event, when a woman dressed as a tree made out of recycled plastic bags started gathering all the (wide-eyed) kids around while her minions handed out Cape Ash saplings.
A free tree accompanied by instant environmental guilt and all-consuming 4 yr old anxiety.

'Mum, I must water my tree.'
'Mum, if I don't water the tree it'll DIE Mum.'
'I didn't water the tree today Mum, I PROMISED that lady I'd water the tree.'

Really? This is how we teach small children about greening the planet? Small children who, I might add, live in a really built up urban area, few with gardens large enough to accommodate a 15 metre tall tree.

It's a lovely sentiment, seemingly good activism, handing out trees at public events. But not so much for small kids.
My Mum was a primary school teacher in the 90's and she used to get really cross when people lectured Grade 1's about the hole in the ozone layer. Just one pfffft of an aerosol and ka-zam! hole in sky, searing heat, all your mummies and doggies burnt to a crisp die die die ...!

Sure we should teach out kids social responsibility in all forms from as early as possible, but I don't agree with burdening them with guilt about things they can't actively influence yet.
Get them to recycle - yes. Teach them not to litter - goes without saying. Explain about trees and oxygen and green spaces - of course.
But only give them what they can manage. A tree in a can is not such a thing.

And so, as a nice conscious middle-class mummy, I find myself watering the tree, worrying about the tree, appealing to friends and family to adopt the tree.
It doesn't even seem to be a Western Cape native or I'd plant it in the forest.

Cape Ash tree anyone? Free to a good home.

like sand through the hourglass

This happened last summer. But the memory lingers on ...

Friday afternoon.
Cabin fever.

I haul the girls across town following a lead on Husband's Christmas present.

I pack light, it's a short trip. A couple of nappies and some wipes.

There's a sign on the shop door. Back in 5 minutes. No problem, we'll pop across the road to the shopping centre, buy some milk for home, come back in 5 minutes.

I get Sunday out her car seat. Big smile. Big stink. Evidently a big frikkin' problem that I didn't pack a change of clothes.
I'm doing what I can to clean her up, wedged on the front seat with limited wipes when ....
Mum, I need a wee.
Right.

With Sunday in a clean nappy, stained vest, wrapped in my sling pouch, we negotiate our way across a busy road and into the mall.
Dash to the loo. Crisis averted.

There's a Pick 'n Pay in the centre, with a small clothing department. We go shopping for Sunday, change her in the fitting room, pick up some milk on our way to the till.
The queue's 5 people deep when ...
Mum, I need a poo. Badly.
I look down into the eyes of desperation.
Right.

We can't abandon the queue 'cos Sunday's wearing the produce. You got to hang in there baby, can you hang in there?
The eyes are watering but she keeps it together.
Dash to the loo. Crisis averted.

Where's the milk?!
Back to the store where luckily they kept it for us.

Aaaaaand back to the first shop.
We get the gift. I've got the giggles and can see Friday doesn't quite get the joke.
Unlock the car.
Arghhhhhhhhh. Hot car. Stinky nappy.

These are the days of our lives.

we made this: snowflake matching cards

We've made the difficult decision to move Friday from her Montessori pre-school next year. It was a tough one, she's been there two years and is undoubtedly a 'Montessori child' (this from her teacher).
She's a practical little girl (must get it from her Dad) and likes the 'work' ethic of the Montessori environment. We can clearly see how she's benefited from it too, which made the decision that much more difficult.

But for various reasons the move has to be made, to a more play-orientated little school, and as it's her last year before 'big school' and all the associated lifestyle changes we'll all have to undergo for that, we're happy with our decision, and hoping that she'll enjoy the new environment and get different benefits from more imaginative play, gross motor orientated activities and different kinds of socialising.

I would however like to keep stimulating the practical side of her nature with activities at home. And to this end have discovered a world of resources online (naturally).

The other day I made these Snowflake Matching Cards. A simple printable from the very useful PreKinders site. The site is designed as a resource for pre-primary teachers, but is full of great things to use at home too.

Husband gave me a Laminator a few Christmas's back and, can I just say - best.present.ever.

Note: Karen Cox at PreKinders has worked really hard to put her materials together and justifiably, has quite strict terms of use. If you'd like to link to any of her work mentioned here, please try and link to her directly. Thanks.


Have a good weekend!

baby products - how not to use them

True stories all.

When Friday was just over a year old I managed to lose a small tube of Teejel in her nappy. The child whinged for hours while I got increasingly impatient with her, finally finding the hard metal tube wedged between her soft 'n downy buttocks at the next change.
Bad mother.

A friend stopped up the leaks in her aged VW Beetle for one whole winter using disposable nappies. Using the cheapest brand on the market was less expensive than the repair work would've been.
A good idea once she figured out (as every mother does) that if you don't change the nappies frequently enough they split, filling (in this case her car), with those revolting little gel balls ....
Resourceful mother.

The other night, in hurried end-of-day meltdown avoidance, I liberally squeezed Fissan Paste onto Friday's toothbrush and started brushing. Have you ever had zinc coat the roof of your mouth? Judging by her facial expression it's not very nice.
Distracted mother.

Baby products - really only to be used as per insert instructions.

C'mon, 'fess up - have you ever done anything this stupid funny?