Another Year, Another Blog Post

So much has changed and so much has stayed the same.

I love reading through the blog posts and anecdotes of my past. The meandering of thoughts and experiences. Sitting here on my patio on a summery Friday night with the sound of thunder and dogs barking, the mood is decidedly pensive.

The year 2018 has been a year full of discovery and re-alignment for me. Or perhaps that has been true for most of my post 40th birthday life? Refining and re-aligning who I am and the goals I want to pursue in my life and career.

I love how easy it has become to access your forgotten blog years later. I remember how it use to take me hours to find my way back in if I did not write for a while and today it was a few simple clicks and here I am - back online.



My son has grown into a dashing young man, full of the emotional intensities and contradictions the teenage years bring. Excitable and unpredictable but oh so gorgeous! I am 100% in love with this guy. His sense of fairness and oh the natural ability to debate the hind leg of a donkey. Every day is an emotional adventure and I am so eternally great full for the years of love an support and input I have received from my coaches and mentors, otherwise I would never have been able to be the objective, supportive, loving observer of his chaos. I would have been head first in the middle of it, escalating it to the point where dramatic rescue operations would have been required to ensure survival.

This blog post was published a year after it was initially written

Black Board Art

My kid, noting his displeasure at me for going to work for one quick meeting and only getting out of the office four hours later. I must say his patience were good and he did amuse the team.

Love is

Kira-Marie, E's little sweetheart. It started to bloom round about valentines this year, when her mom stopped me one morning to tell me that her daughter has a crush on my son. About a week later E told me he has a serious secret, just to spill all the beans about five seconds later. That he really likes Kira......so fast forward a couple of months and this is the conversation on the way back from school.

Mom, guess what? no, what my boy.....I have a secret. Really? can you tell me your secret....a little guessing game is played and out he comes with 'I love Kira-Marie, I dont just like her, I love her'. So I had to ask how he knows he loves her. Because she is so beautifull. Oh, I said, and what about the other beautiful girls in your class? No, he says, when you love somebody, they are beautiful from inside your eyes........so simple, but now I understand love too.

Autumn is here

The season has changed and winter is on our doorstep. I feel it in my bum that just does not want to warm up at all - John is convinced that it is my cold feet that steals the heat from the derrier. I have to be honest, winter is not my strong season. All I want to do is cuddle up in bed and drink hot chocolate. Suppose the best thing about winter is the scarves and big jackets. I love dressing up in winter with bold scarves and funky jackets.

And this year - winter means soccer, and what a family of fierce players we are! In E's first soccer game the other day he got an injury (cut lip), scored a goal and got send of the field to cool down. I cannot tell a lie, my kid lives with a passion and determination that frequently lands him either in trouble or the hospital. Like last week, when he had five lacerations to the cornea and walk around for two days with an eye patch. Everyone at school is asking whether we have 'frequent user' cards at the local hospital. I am starting to think that it will be a very good idea.

I know it is late in the day

But life here has been in the supersonic lane for a while now and I just wanted to say

Watching the Soccer World Cup was exhausting work

Through the eyes of E

I am very camera shy and there are hardly any photos of me to be found. The night before the big move E took my camera and shot some fun pics of mom. These are his unedited work - heavens, I wish I had this kid's eye for a picture.

Curious kid

My kid's questions drive me around the bend. Much as I enjoy the conversations with him and am fascinated with the kind of things he asks about, I just don't have any answers for him. Half the time I feel like telling him, baby mommy really dont know, and I dont even know if anyone can tell us more. Some of the latest questions

Mom, how did the first person get born, before there where anybody to birth them? (Now I know there are a whole lot of thoughts out there on how this happened, but do we really know?)

What is space? I know it is where the stars and the planets are, but what is it?

If the wind had to blow you where there is no gravity, will you blow away? (And I am wondering if there can even be wind where there is no gravity?)

His latest favourite thing in the house is the Oxford dictionary - oh how he loves the sound of words and what they mean, we can read the dictionary and tell stories about the words we find until we roll on the floor laughing. Invariably his stories will be full of potty humour and fantastic super feats but it is hillarious what he can do to serious words like - necessary and deportee

Big school

We are nearly to the first mid term break and now only do I post the pictures I took of Elrich's books we had to cover for Grade R. Marking his entry into slightly more formalised schooling.

He is a die hard Bakugan fan


Can I say that I cried to think my little baby is so grown up, that time flies so quickly? Nope, I am afraid, those were not the sentimental thoughts that occupied my mind as I struggled with the paper and the cellotape. Not at all. I was thinking about the long hard slog ahead of my kid, the many many more books we are going to have to cover in the years to come. I remembered the conversations I had with my mom as she covered my books - in a very demure, brown paperbag kind of way.

My kid got bored with the task at hand long before I was done and I had to fight my way through with sticky cellotape fingers, book covers pulling in opposite directions and that tricky bits where you tried to flatten the paper with one finger, whilst holding the back of the book up with your chin and sticking the proper bits down with your pinky. In the end, the job got done and E could be send of to school with halfway cool books to help him on his way in this quest for knowledge

When I am big

I am going to find dinosaur fossils and build their skeletons back together so we can figure out what they looked like and what happened so they all disappeared.

Was the conclusion my kid came to after he interogated me for more than half an hour about what happened to the dinosaurs and why he cannot go to see them.

We definitely have some research work to do

Active active active

I love sport and movement and the feel of sweat and sore muscles. I am determined that E will be active too, he does not ever have to compete or win anything but move..... he will. And even though the bakkie and outdoor travel experience has been put on hold for a year or two, outdoor fun is still to be had

First it was the children’s cycle race and this year there was just no stopping E. After all the excitement of getting his race number pinned and awaiting our turn (with 500 other would be enthusiasts) E bolted away and went down that 800m track with great gusto.

He was very proud of his medal and the buzz took a long time to pass, I am sure that bottle of energade he got at the finish line helped us a bit as well ;-p
A family photo with Oupads, Ouma, mom and a very proud little boy


Then mom eventually made it to her first little show with Shiloh. It was so much fun and I was really pleasantly surprised by the guts and enthusiasm my normally rather docile little horse showed all those cross country fences. John was my back up groom and the city slicker walked my horse, carried teff-nets and water buckets without complaint. He even commented at the end that it was so much fun that he would not mind a horse of his own. Now that really impressed this horse girl no end!!

Boys will be boys

Having fun on the small holding

E said to me this weekend
I wish, I wish upon a star
that all the baddies goes away
and we have our bakkie back
and everything is back to normal

we are all taking a bit of strain with this car thing at the moment

Running a Race

So on Saturday we were all gathered together to support Elrich in his athletics day. It was fun and relaxing for my family to share the blanket with Phil's family, having Elrich between us and even running together in the parent's races.

We have to admit though that our son is like a puppy whose feet are too big for his body. Not lacking in enthusiasm and sporting spirit but barely able to stay on his feet for long enough to finish the race. But he loved it, and we loved it and that is all that mattered.

Adin spend the entire morning doing push ups, that kid is ready to crawl

Playing Hopscotch

In the beginning of this year E's teacher recommended that we take him to a neuro-cognitive specialist. The reason for the recommendation was that his development was very advanced in certain areas but he was also seriously struggling in others. This significant gap in his abilities was a concern and could lead to learning difficulties in later years as it might be indicative of other developmental problems.

So we did and she assessed him and said that he needed to work on certain areas, the most important of those being the development of laterality. Now, I have to admit, I do not really understand what that means, just that we had to play lots of fun games every day for the last seven or so months.

Hopping and jumping, waving our arms and skipping all over the place. With the latest favourite being hopscotch. Drawing the game on the sand in our garden brought back a plethora of childhood memories. As a kid I absolutely loved hopscotch and played it for hours. I have to admit, our game every afternoon is the highlight of my day as I hop along with my kid, my hair bouncing in ponytails at the back of head. Transporting me back more than 30 years.

What is really interesting to me is that the exercises we have done had an almost immediate effect on E’s abilities. He had a language explosion and started to read almost effortlessly, from the first level reader to level 8 in one sitting. Not that he was expected to be able to do this at school as he really only need to read next year. He just walked into the reading corner and started to read and he has not stopped. It is as if the exercises plugged in a little cord and switched language and comprehension on for him. I am so glad we took him and that we stuck to the programme as I am sure this year has made a huge difference to him and I can see it in the self confidence it has given him on so many other levels.

I'm just a scaterboy

E got his first scateboard for his third christmas and it has been an uneasy love affair ever since.

The rockstar pout

This is my kid's best 'I am cool imitation', which I caught in a moment of unguarded facial expressions

His awareness of death continues and yesterday he decided it would have been better if he was space. I thought I misunderstood the kid and asked him if he means he wants to be in space. No mom, he says in that rolling of the eye tone of voice.

I wish I was space, because if I was space, I would not get old and die.

Yes, It is digital

Finally, I have splurged on that digital camera. Now if I can only figure out how to take really shit hot photos with it, all will be well. But for starters, look how my kid has grown!

E and John watching superbikes racing with E telling John exactly how the guy must turn to make sure he can get around those corners real fast without falling over
Yip, my kid has chores in the house and here he is helping us set the table for a family dinner at my parents. He had to do all the cutlery and then helped with folding and placing the serviettes in the wine glasses
A couple of visits to the bicycle park and E has become really confident in his own riding abilities. Now he keeps telling me that I need to buy a bike so we can bike together and that is definately something to be done soon!

Another month or two and we will have to adjust the seat on that bike - the speed with which this kid is growing is just mind boggeling. We measured him at my parents house in March and again in June and the kid grew just more than two centimenters in just more than two months

My kid is a practical joker and whenever he sees the camera coming out, all these poses start immediately, with whatever props he can find handy for the moment

Already not ready

My kid is five and I cannot answer half his questions.....the easiest one this week was 'mom, does the mommy or daddy of the seahorse have a pouch?'

What? I did not even know seahorses had pouches, so my kid told me that it is the daddy seahorse that has a pouch and raises the babies. One or two at a time. I really should check the accuracy of that.

Then the killer question: Mom where does money come from? So I start my explanation of me working for money and that is how I get it and use it pay for all the stuff we enjoy. This really frustrated him no end. No Mom, where does it come from? Why do you have to work for it? Why do some people not have money?

Ok that is it, I resign. This is the single most confusing question of my adult life, one with which I have been struggling for at least ten years. And now my kid wants the answer as well. Which really is a philosophical question about a believe system, an abstract concept that determine the life and death of not only the human race but planet earth as we know it. Yes, I am being dramatic, but really. If we took money out of the world, the sun would shine and the grass and food groups would still grow. The wheels would still turn without even taking any notice. The value of money is just in our heads, but it has the power to save lives and kill countless others.

I have to admit, the size of the question was too intimidating and overwhelming for me to negotiate in a way that he would understand but still feel truth full to me. Instead, we will go to the open day at the SA Mint next Sunday and see if we can figure something out about money that will satisfy the curiosity of my kid.

A prank a day

My kid loves practical jokes and is always up to something mischievous but his latest favourite is really getting to me.

It all started with me giving him the car keys to get himself in the car and strapped in whilst I pack the groceries. As I closed the passenger door I heard my car beep and lock itself. Could not believe my ears so I put my nose against the driverseat window and looked at E. He was grinning like a maniac.

So I asked him to 'PLEASE OPEN THE CAR', but guess what, he can’t hear me so after the third attempt at asking politely (the rule in our house, I hate it when they turn on you like that), I realise he wants me to repeat silly words after him, in the right order. Silly words like, Lion, Hyena, Pooh, Willy - So here I am standing in a parking lot at a shopping centre, desperately shouting silly words at the darkened windows of a big bakkie, whilst trying the door handle. Looking for all the world like I actually expect the door to open any second now.

Cultivating Culture

After E and me got seated at a rather snazzy restaurant the maitre'd came up to our table and asked us what we would like to drink. As she looked at me to place the order, I looked at E to give him an opportunity to answer.

His response came in a very responsible adult voice
'Can I have a glass of red wine please' he said with a slight smile, straightening his napkin and looking the rather shocked lady straight in the eye.
I ditto't that and then explained that his red wine is grapetizer, a non alchololic beverage made from red grapes.

Because you see, at our house, we always share a glass of red wine at the dinner table. The ritual dictates that we sit down together, clink our glasses and wish each other bon appetite. Signalling the start of family dinner at my house and one of the most important moments in my day.

The trap

Mommy, can I sit on your lap pleeeease....said my kiddo with his best 'I LOVE you sooo much mom' expression

With a melting heart I pick the little guy up and snuggle him close to me. Too late I realise it was just a clever ploy.

An enormous fart explodes on my legs

ahahahahaa...hysterical laughter as he jumps off and hops around on one leg, pointing at my disgusted face.