Nov

Wet Wet Wet

Hi everyone!

My Dad and I followed with interest the news leading up to the FIFA 2010 World Cup to be held in South Africa next year. The 32 qualifying teams for the World Cup were finalised this past week, veiled in controversy! Firstly, in the qualifying match between Ireland and France, Henry Thierry handled the ball which resulted in Ireland’s dreams of coming to South Africa in 2010 being obliterated. Ireland demanded a rematch, to no avail. Secondly, the Algeria Egypt match turned violent and chaotic to the point that Egypt withdrew its ambassador to Algeria! South Africa, ranked 86^th, has automatically qualified for the World Cup as the host nation. Needless to say Dad and I are rooting for Germany who safely qualified. Staying in Europe, this past week also saw the EU chose its first president, namely Herman von Rompuy, who is also the prime minister of Belgium.

Back in South Africa the 2010 World Cup preparations continued amidst a weeks’ worth of rain! Finally, today, the rain lifted and we spotted the sun again. I immediately took advantage of the dry weather and spent my breakfast hour on the study patio, almost missing In The Night Garden on Cbeebies.

My week was just as exciting and hectic, starting off with some OT on Monday morning with Lauren. Directly afterward we met Granny in Sandton city for some shopping and visiting. Back home in the evening Opa visited, and we all had dinner outside, this time on the back patio. After our main meal Mommy presented us with a stunning dessert of crème with raspberry and vanilla. Opa took great pleasure in feeding me dessert; I’m not sure who had more fun – me or Opa!

On Tuesday morning Mommy dropped me off at Granny’s place where I was left in her care for the morning as Mommy had a business appointment to attend to in Edenvale. This time she was there to observe a Clamber Club class in action. Back home the afternoon wasn’t too great for me as I spent a good deal of the time throwing up – I just wasn’t feeling like myself. As a result Mommy bathed me early. By the time Dad arrived home I was relaxing in a nice warm bubble bath. Mom had made a stunning risotto for dinner, and we all opted to eat dinner in the bathroom, me still in the bath. It was such fun, Mom, Dad and me in the bathroom, me in the bath, and all of us eating dinner.

In the car en route to music on Wednesday morning I feel sound asleep and ended up sleeping through most of the lesson. I woke up just in time for the last exercise, into which I put a great effort trying to make up for the former part of the lesson that I had missed out on. In the afternoon the Mommy’s club was at our place, and as the rain and cold had persisted (yes, cold in summer!). During Mommy’s club Dad arrived home, and since he hadn’t listened to Mom in the morning to take the car, he got sopping wet on his bike. Mom felt he deserved to get wet for not listening! I felt sad for Dad, and at the same time proud for once again not having fallen off his bike while riding in the downpour.

In the evening I was put into Dad’s care as Mom headed off to bookclub. Dad bathed me for an extra long time and by the time I was out, warm and dressed I fell asleep in Dad’s arms in front of the TV. Mom got home quite late and I decided to wake up for an instant to welcome her home. It was still raining. Just after midnight I was tired of sleeping (is that an oxymoron if you’ve ever heard one) so I decided to party. Mom and Dad weren’t as keen (I can’t imagine why), but I did spend the next hour or so in bed with them bouncing from Mom to Dad and back again. Eventually, much to Mom’s relief, I decided to go back to sleep. It rained the entire night.

The big news from Wednesday was that I stood, unassisted, for the first time during the evening. Although it was only a couple of seconds, it still qualified nicely as a self sustained stand!

I opted not to eat breakfast on Thursday morning – not the first time this week I’ll have you know. Mom and Dad are pretty stressed about my not wanting to eat, so they even tried giving me butternut for breakfast. I successfully avoided this gooey vegetable as a breakfast substitute. In avoiding being fed butternut I did however manage to hit my thumb with my plastic hammer which caused me to experience a really acute finger pain. Apparently this will not be the last time this will happen to me – any DIY’er will be able to tell you this!

From about midday Bev arrived for a visit, and her, Mom and I chatted and chatted late into the afternoon. I retired for a mid-afternoon snooze, and when I returned to the study (where the heater was on), I just joined back in with the chatter. Bev had left by the time Dad arrived home, bearing pizzas and a focaccia for me. Dad knows just what I need and when! After we all munched on our pizzas it was bath time for me, and again I was left in Dad’s care for the evening as Mom headed off to Tina Otte’s place for a talk. I felt so proud of her wearing her BabyGym name tag as she left for the evening. Dad and I chilled-out nicely for the evening, and before I could blink my eyelids started getting heavy and falling shut.

My big Thursday news is that I turned 17 months old!

Dad had taken ‘storage leave’ on Friday, so I managed to spend more time with him in the morning than usual. I wondered what ‘storage leave’ was, but my curiosity was satisfied, however, when I spotted Dad carry massive plastic drums and boxes down the driveway, in the rain. I felt sorry for him having to use his valuable leave for such activities, but the delivery truck from the storage company only operated on weekdays. Mom and I left while Dad was dashing back and forth carrying boxes in the rain to go to physio for me. It was going to be a busy morning, first physio, and then chiro. During physio however, Dr Sonja phoned to say she’d hurt her back and couldn’t treat us this morning. This led to thousands of questions running through my mind like ‘Who does a chiro go to for chiro?’, ‘How can a chiro hurt her back, surely her back is in peak condition?’ or ‘Did she work my Daddy so hard at his appointment that she injured herself?’!

Anyway, we arrived home mid-morning and after my morning snooze had was already back from unpacking the truck at the storage unit. He’d bought McDonalds apple pies and chips as a treat, as the miserable weather demanded comfort food. During the afternoon Mom had an appointment, so Dad and I played and bonded until she was back.

Saturday morning Dad took charge of all my cares, and we played, bonded and watched TV for most of the morning. Mommy slept late to try and catch-up some sleep from the week. Later in the morning Mommy started getting ready and was looking stunning. It was her bookclub’s year-end-function, and the club decided to slum-it at The Westcliff for high tea. Consequently Dad and I went swimming on our own. The lesson was great, but with a small class. The persistent rain and cold kept everyone at home, I think. Back home I had a brief snooze, where after Dad and I decided to go for a nice long walk. Unfortunately the wheels on my jogger were flat, and the hand pump didn’t work to successfully inflate the tyres. In a flash, Dad had the wheels off and we drove to the filling station to have them inflated with the compressor. Success! Back home Dad popped the wheels back on my jogger and we were on the road. It was a nice long walk, and as we reached to top of our road we spotted Granny waiting in front of our house. I was thrilled!

Granny asked to spend the night, as Aunty Kim was hosting a wild party at her place that evening and she didn’t feel safe staying there. Bonus for me! Granny and I played and played for the rest of the afternoon. Mom arrived home early evening – after slumming it at The Westcliff the girls headed to Jo’s place for an after party! After a yummy dinner Granny was tasked with bathing me. It involved lots of giggles and to boot, Granny wasn’t comfortable brushing my teeth so that part was skipped.

Sunday was very laid back. The day started with Dad and Granny taking charge of my cares. Mom made us all a yummy breakfast, and Granny and I played hard until it was time for her to leave. At about midday we headed to the Brightwater Commons to ride on the carousel. It was awesome, and each time we passed Mom I gave her a huge smile. A quick lunch at the Spur was in order afterward, where I munched on fish fingers and chips while I sipped on a strawberry milkshake. Back home I snoozed while Dad did some DIY. During this time Dad received a frantic call from Granny to rescue her at Sandton City. She’d been participating in her favourite pastime – shopping, when she snapped the key of her car off in the ignition. Dad rushed there with the spare and all was in order. The rest of the day was spent in Mom and Dad’s company just being laid back and taking advantage of the improved weather. Dad had his hands full taking back control of the pool after so many days of rain. I trust it won’t take him long to remove the luminous green hue from the water! During the late afternoon, while playing outside I stood up against the study doors and on two separate occasions I released my handhold and stood on my own, again. I’ve also decided this past week that my favourite fruit is now blueberries!

That’s it for this week.

Love to all!

Jay-Bee