Merry Christmas everyone! Wow, I got my second Christmas under the belt, and loved it. But before I get into details of the festitivies, let me chat about the days leading up to Christmas. On Monday morning Mommy and I went to Lifestyle Garden Centre to get some final decorations for the Christmas table on Christmas Eve. Once we’d finished off there, and I have to add that Mommy’s domestic goddessness shone through again, as she’d got some awesome décor, we popped into Cresta Shopping Centre. There Mom and I hummed and ahhhed over some camera bags. Mom was determined to get Dad the perfect camera bag for our trip to Cape Town. She settled on an awesome Lowepro Slingshot, which I knew Dad would love. Later in the day we met up with Dad at Sandton City and we had a nice long playful chat at the Wimpy.

On Tuesday Mom popped into Dr Anthony’s place, to drop off a gift for him, en route to Di for my last physio session of the year. She is an avid reader of my blog and picked up that I love chocolate, so she presented me with a great big chocolate on a stick. I was enthralled and give her big smiles of thanks. As it was silly season, Mom allowed me to have the chocolate before my more wholesome proper snack. It was gone within a flash, and, according to Mom, with very little mess. I have my moments! Late in the afternoon Mom had an appointment with the optometrist to have her eyes checked and her prescription glasses corrected slightly. Dad was to have been home before Mom left to look after me, but unfortunately this did not work out according to the plan. Back home in the evening Opa popped in for a quick visit. During this time Mom was getting ready as she was taking Tammy and Granny to Cinderella on Ice as a thank you for baby-sitting me so often throughout the year. I was left in Dad’s care and he spoilt me by letting me watch Barney, In The Night Garden and The Wiggles until my bedtime. Don’t tell Mom, as that’s our secret!

Dad was home with Mom and I on Wednesday, and once Mom was up she presented me with a little gift she had bought me the night before at Montecasino – a set of babushka dolls (also know as matryoshka dolls or Russian nested dolls). Lauren, my OT, has a set, and I love playing with them, splitting the largest doll to reveal the next doll inside, then splitting that doll to reveal the next one, and so on. And then putting them all together again! Now I have my very own set to practice with!

Mom had some errands to run during the morning, including getting a new driver’s licence (which you’ll see later was a superfluous exercise), so I hung out with Dad. He too wanted to get a few things, so Dad and I gallivanted around the suburbs. Dad hooked up my DVD player in the car, so while we were driving around I could watch some Barney. We all arrived back home at about the same time to lunch together. Mom was hosting Mommy’s club in the afternoon, and by mid-afternoon Ryan, Joseph and I were hard at play in the front garden where Mom had set up parasols for us to keep out of the sun. She also setup my splash pool there, as well as a sandpit table and most of my gymnastics blocks. We had a whale of a time, but sadly the afternoon marched into early evening and it was time to bid my friends farewell and a Merry Christmas. As the summer heat continued, Mom and Dad decided a cool dinner was in order, so they settled on sushi. They ordered some yakitori chicken for me (which I guess is Japanese for kebab, which is Persian for shashlik, which is Russian for sosatie, which is Afrikaans for meat on a skewer). No matter what you call it in whatever language, I loved it!!! The avocado maki didn’t tickle my fancy as much, but I guess I’ll start acquiring a taste for that pretty soon.

On Thursday morning, after my breakfast, Dad took me to my Advent Calendar, and there he opened the window for my last chocolate – a great big Santa! Being Christmas Eve, this was the last day to count on my calendar. For those not familiar with an Advent Calendar, it is a German tradition that originated amongst the Lutherans at the start of the 19th century to count down the 24 days leading to Christmas. I was sad to have my last Advent chocolate, but at the same time I was enthused by the fact that Christmas celebrations were now on our doorstep. During the morning Mom went out for a short while, during which time Dad and I played in the garden, and I did a serious amount of walking (with Dad’s help, of course).

In the afternoon we all opted for a snooze, as the evening was going to be a late one. As per the German tradition, we celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve. As Aunty Kim’s late husband was Danish, he too celebrated Christmas on Christmas Eve, so Aunty Kim and my cousins adopted that tradition too. Plans had been made that we’d all meet up at Adega’s at The Wedge for dinner and thereafter head to Aunty Kimmy’s place to open presents. Mom, Dad and I arrived at Adega’s to find Opa, Shannon, Adolf, Garth and Barbara already there. Soon after Aunty Kim and the others arrived and the partying started. I partied hard with the old folk, although I did lose a bit of steam during the evening when Mom and Dad tried putting me down to sleep, but after a few short minutes I decided I’d have nothing of it as I felt I’d miss out so as my second wind kicked in I continued to party with them. During the main course Dad offered me some prawn, but on both occasions I turned him down. This was proving to be an interesting week, as there are now three things that I don’t eat, mash (known it for a long time), maki and prawns. Other than that I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve tried, even red peppers I was to discover the next day!

After dinner we headed off to Aunty Kimmy’s place in convoy, and there I got to the serious business of present opening. The gifts from my cousins, and family are too many to mention. What I can say however is that I thoroughly enjoyed all of them! By now it was well well past my bedtime, and now I was beginning to feel it. I started calling on my third wind to no avail at which point Mom made an executive decision to leave the festivities and get me home to bed. We barely made it to the top of the road and I was already fast asleep. Although I desperately wanted to stay awake to see what gifts Mom and Dad had bought me, the night had gotten the best of me!

Friday morning we all slept a little later than usual. Once we were all up we headed to the lounge where our Christmas tree was surrounded by gifts. Mom and Dad helped me open the gifts that they had specially selected for me, and before long I was loving each and every item I was unwrapping (unwrapping being the operative word for shredding and tearing off wrapping). The last, and biggest gift was revealed as a electronic piano keyboard, complete with built in rhythms, percussion and even a microphone! I was thrilled! Right there under the Christmas tree I got down to the business of making music. I loved it!!!

The rest of the day was quiet, relatively speaking – by quiet I mean that we didn’t venture into public. I played with my new toys, and we also spent some time in the garden enjoying the brilliant weather. I spent some time with my old toys too, as I didn’t want them to feel left out, and I did some of my obligatory sandpit time (currently one of my favourite backyard activities).

Similar to Friday, Saturday was also a quiet day. We didn’t venture into public the entire day but lazed around the house and garden, enjoying each other’s company and the stunning weather. By late afternoon Granny arrived, as she was going to baby-sit me, as Mom had gotten Dad tickets to the pantomime Pinocchio, that evening. We all had a relaxed chicken stir-fry dinner together on the back patio, and after dinner and dessert I was placed in Granny’s care to be bathed and my cares done while Mom and Dad got ready to go out. Pretty soon they emerged from the bedroom looking stylish and glamorous, and Granny and I bid them farewell. Granny and I played for a little while, watched some TV together, and then I retired for the evening. Just before reaching R.E.M. I heard the skies outside open up and thunder all-around. Even with my blinds in my bedroom tightly shut I could see the effects of the lightning flashing on the walls. I was grateful for the thunderstorm, as it was definitely cooling things down a little. Some time later in the evening I heard Mom and Dad arrive home, full of excitement and chatter about how wonderful the pantomime was. I was barely awake, but I did hear snippets about the play, that it was very professional and very fun. And that Matt played Jiminy Cricket and even gave Mom and Dad a special wave during the show (I guess he couldn’t have missed them, as Mom got Dad the best seats in the house – front row, which is apparently the only place from where to watch the pantomime). I was thrilled for them that they enjoyed the show so much.

On Sunday morning Mom let Dad sleep in so she took charge of my morning cares, with the help of Granny. Shortly after breakfast Granny had to leave for church. Mom then started some house work, as our charlady is on leave at the moment, and we didn’t want to leave the house a mess for our house sitter before going on holiday. Dad and I spent some time outside where tragedy struck – I was stung by a bee. Fortunately for me the bee was already very weak and close to dying, so it didn’t get too much venom into me. I was very grateful for this, but I did feel very sorry for the bee. After the sting was removed (fortunately Mom and Dad had been on baby first aid a few weeks earlier where bee stings were covered) and treated, Dad took me outside again and showed me that there were many dead or dying bees lying under our privet tree. I felt very sad for the bees as Dad began explaining to me that since 2006 CCD (colony collapse disorder) was a phenomenon affecting bees all over the world. The exact reason is inexplicable as to why bees were disappearing and dying in droves, but a few theories suggest the bees might be suffering from a disease, or environmental stress, malnutrition or even pesticides. Whatever the reason, it is proving to be enormously concerning for global agricultural crops, as bees are their primary pollinators. Needless to say this will have an economic impact as fewer crops are pollinated and subsequently become scarcer. Anyhow, the good news is that it turns out I’m not allergic to bees.

Mid morning I opted for a nice long snooze, and when I woke up again the house was sparkling clean. We then had a light lunch where after we headed off to Sandton City to run some errands, and believe it or not, to collect Mom’s stolen wallet that had been discovered by a nice lady called Violet.

After running our errands, we set our plan into action for the exchange. The reason for this is that Mom and Dad were a little suspicious that the wallet handover was a ruse to extort them, mug them (again) or some other nastiness. In a fashion that would have made Mr and Mrs Smith proud, Mom and Dad spilt up and put their plan into action. Dad and I headed to a nearby location where we set up surveillance over Mom. Mom, on the other hand, went to the predefined location, designated The Switch Point. From our surveillance point Dad (designation Big Daddy) and I (designation A Tiny Bit Naughty), had a full 360° sweep of anyone approaching Mom (designation Yummy Mummy) and we had all the exits covered. One minute ticketed by, two minutes, three minutes; these minutes felt like a lifetime. I was playing along nicely, just being a little kid, on an outing with his Dad, giggling at his antics, sipping on a little juice, but never distracting him long enough to lose sight of Agent Yummy Mummy.

Suddenly I felt Dad’s grip on me tightened – contact had been made. I immediately stopped horsing around to allow Dad to carefully observe Agent Yummy Mummy and her immediate environment. All seemed in order. I sneaked a peak over my shoulder – Agent Yummy Mummy was in deep conversation with her Contact. As I looked back to Dad I heard the faint click near my ear as he took a photo of The Contact with his 3.2 mega-pixel 2x zoom concealed camera (ok, it is his camera phone, but technically it is concealed inside a phone). A couple of seconds passed and the exchange was made. Agent Yummy Mummy was on the move, as was The Contact. Big Daddy and A Tiny Bit Naughty (that’s me) quickly took up pursuit, never letting Agent Yummy Mummy nor The Contact out of sight. We found it a little strange that they were heading off in the same direction. Big Daddy sped up establishing a line of communication with Yummy Mummy to determine if we should engage Plan B (intercept). Plan A was for Big Daddy, Yummy Mummy and A Tiny Bit Naughty to meet back at the car. The communication was dispatched via the Immediate Person-to-person Communications Network (or Instant Messaging to the rest of you). Just then, The Contact veered off to the pet store of all places, and Agent Yummy Mummy continued straight ahead, as per Plan A. This took Agent Big Daddy and myself, Agent A Tiny Bit Naughty, by surprise, as the pet store had not been staked out as a Hot Spot. Agent Big Daddy made an executive decision to take Agent Yummy Mummy’s lead and affirm the continuation of Plan A.

We all met up at The Assembly Point (the car) a few seconds later where Agent Big Daddy instantly called a debriefing session. It turned out all our cloak-and-dagger antics were completely unnecessary, as Violet (aka The Contact) was a perfectly innocent honest citizen who worked at the pet store, and while on duty discovered Mom’s discarded wallet in the public bathrooms. Fortunately she found Mom’s contact number in her wallet and called to setup The Exchange!

After rifling through her wallet, Mom discovered that everything was still there, apart from R60, as well as two of her credit cards. The remaining contents included Mom and my library cards, our zoo passes, nappy discount vouchers (those of you who also have littely’s like me will know that nappies are singularly the biggest monthly expense imaginable, so recovering those discount vouchers was a huge relief to Mom and Dad). In addition, Mom’s driver’s licence and a variety of loyalty cards were also untouched. For this reason Mom’s 1½ hour queuing for a new licence on Wednesday morning was superfluous. And to top it all, Mom got back her favourite wallet!

The afternoon’s excitement had really drained me, and so I fell into a deep sleep in the car on the way home. When I woke up sometime later I was in my cot where after Dad took charge of my cares. In the study I discovered Mom curled up on the sofa – I guess having been Agent Yummy Mummy for all of eight minutes exhausted her too. She briefly woke up and I climbed on her for a cuddle and I immediately fell asleep again!

Once Mom and I were up, late in the afternoon, it was time to head to the Roos’ for some drinks and prego rolls. There we met the new addition to their family – Delko, a 12 week old Labrador puppy! Although we didn’t hit it off together immediately I know we’ll become good friends in due course. Both of us are still really young and not 100% in control of our gross motor skills, making us a little clumsy. As a result we each do things that annoys the other, but that will change over time, since as you all know Labradors and children are a match made in heaven. We spent a nice quiet evening visiting with Barrett and Jackie, and they presented me with an awesome Christmas gift of sandpit apparatus that will definitely be making the trip to Cape Town with me (I heard there is an enormous sandpit there, stretching 10’s of kilometres wide, but pretty narrow and bordered by water on one side). We visited with the Roos’ until quite late, and I was fast asleep by the time we left.

Well, not only is that it for this week, but also for this year, as my next blog will be published in the next decade! And, to

celebrate the new decade, we’ll be in Cape Town, so my next blog will be from there. I can hardly wait, as I’ve not been to the Cape before, and, as an added bonus, we’ll be flying, so it will be my first trip by plane as well.

In closing, and reflecting back on the past 61 blogs of 2009, I would like to thank you all for following my ramblings over all these months, and most of all, to thank you for all the support, wishes, messages and strength that you have all sent me to get through the difficult times I have experienced, albeit a lot less, over the past year. I love your messages, SMS’s, comments and emails, and although I don’t always respond to each one individually, please believe that I am eternally grateful for each and every one. Additionally, thank you for also sharing my triumphs and tribulations over the past year. I’ve done some really cool things, and achieved some amazing things, and I’ve had lots and lots of fun, and I’ve loved sharing every minute with you!

See you in the New Year!

Love, hugs and kisses,

Jarrod!

PS – For those of you with access to YouTube, click on the following links to see some cool video-clips of me!

Jarrod Dancing to Castle Lite Ad feat. Vanilla Ice’s Ice Ice Baby

Jarrod taking a bath and saying ‘Oh Really’

Jarrod roaring like a lion

Jarrod patting Jake in the front garden

Jarrod at eight months old playing on his activity mat

Figure 1 Playing in the front garden

Figure 2 Loving the weather

Figure 3 Partying hard with Mom at Xmas

Figure 4 Daddy, Opa and I getting into the spirit

Figure 5 Shannon’s stunning table décor

Figure 6 Dad couldn’t resist

Figure 7 Xmas chaos at Aunty Kim’s

Figure 8 Mesmerised by Ryan’s special brand of Xmas Carols!

Figure 9 Back home on Xmas morning

Figure 10 Dad opens my paints while I inspect the brushes

Figure 11 Piano man!

Figure 12 And singing

Figure 13 In the spot light!

Figure 14 Agent ‘A Tiny Bit Naughty’

Figure 15 Sunday afternoon snoozes

Figure 16 Getting ready for 2010 – bring it on!!!!

1 Comment on Merry Christmas!

  1. Lisle says:

    This Blog is Hilarious!!!! Merry Christmas Led family

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