Nov

Help Nunu

Hi all,

I am sure that you’ve all realised that the tone of my past blogs has been somewhat down. Let me just say that this is not so much about me, but my folks are old and tired. So to cut them some slack, I’m going to get the bad news out of the way quickly.

Opa is still on a ventilator, and struggling. We are hoping that he is healing his brain and will suddenly just come back to us. It’s now 4 ½ weeks that he’s been in ICU. The good news is that his house has been sold so he has some money for his care for the next few years will be sorted. Mom and Dad will have to start packing the house soon and getting ours ready for his stay with us, we have looked into some external type care facilities but we think he will come out of this to come live with us. My temperatures are still fluctuating and Mom is hypothesising that they have something to do with headaches, which have something to do with the white spots on my frontal lobes that no one can decide about. We’re still waiting for some definitive answers but we are looking further afield – Cape Town to be precise. Dr. Aduc seems very sorted as she has requested a report from Prof Fourie and is apparently poring over the scans.

The exciting news is that Mom has decided that I can have the bigger room next to the folks as I refuse point blank to do anything but read and play in my own room. Owing to this I decided to reciprocate and start calling Mom Mommy now! The big room used to be her BabyGym room so I’m not sure where she is planning to move that to but time will tell. Time is quite a feature of this blog and I suppose this has something to do with getting older.

I have definitely set out spending a lot more time playing. This has been a goal of Mom’s and Lauren’s for some time now. My parents are ridiculous, they watch me push my Thomas train over to the quarry and tip the boulders into the caboose and drive or rather push Thomas down the tracks, they get so excited (they need a life). They think its delightful when I chat to the cats or read to my teddy or sing and clap to the music on my iPod.

However with the discussions around my development, here are the things my folks are working on… I won’t say YES, I say things like, “I do Mom”, “I will Mom”, “I can Mom”, & “I did Mom”. Mom keeps saying that YES is the only right answer, doesn’t she get it? “I will Mom”, “I can Mom”, “I won’t Mom”. My sense of humour has taken a great leap forward. There has always been a suspicion by those around me that there is a naughty side. For example, I tell Mom that I’ll get a smack if I throw my glass of water on the floor, she says YES and I throw my glass of water on the floor, then run from the room laughing… my running is becoming good as Mom is usually close on my heels.

Mom might have to write a book on my exploits. All the Dr’s I go to ask me questions and I grunt in response. My Mother on the other hand has become wise to this, as we talk all day. Mom just laughs, when asked why? Mom openly tells the Drs that I am playing them in order to get a sucker or the like. I don’t believe my Mom should be giving away my secrets like that. Do you?

My cute act for the day on Monday was while I was in my Photostat paper box racing around the house and I called to Daddy. “HELP!”, “Daddy Help Nunu”, Daddy in return replied, “Help the Nunu with what?” My response was “Daddy Help Nunu out kitty box!”

The week took on a new turn as it was raining and we had to find indoor venues to exercise in. Yeesh unfortunately was closed, but we went to Toyzone instead. Very cool. We stopped by the BabyGym offices to collect packs and Mom went home to get her BabyGym shirt for Carol to use. After my snooze we popped out to get some cake for my friend Moné who came to visit for the afternoon. I felt very bad for her as she had painful swimmer’s ear when she arrived and didn’t feel like playing, but eventually decided that Thomas the Train was not her thing, but drawing and colouring was. Mom gave us fruit, yoghurt and Kinderjoys. No surprise (excuse the pun) which we chose.

Tuesday we rushed off to TopTots, with our umbrellas in tow and had a great lesson. After 3 lessons, I don’t need too much prompting as to what comes next. I shake hands with Tommy the Clown and shake hands with my friends and hug my friends, then get onto activities. The only activity I won’t participate in is sitting on the parachute. The rest I’ll participate and then I tell the teacher to bring out the next activity. Mom was slightly shocked by this assertiveness on my part, but she’ll settle down.

I am still having a long afternoon nap, as I ask for it, and most of the research out in the ether says that it is healing and also allows for the process of myelination to cement. The afternoon was devoted to exhausting Tammy and Granny while Mommy had her last BabyGym class.

Wed started with B-Sharp Beetles and as always I had lots of fun, and afterward, played with a few of my friends in the garden. I spent a good deal of time of Wednesday afternoon getting in touch with my sensory side, with Acorn Kids Shaving cream, and water and mirrors. All I have to say is WOW.

We had family breakfast on Thursday and Mom had a few errands to do, including taking Tamsin to her dance exhibition’s dress rehearsal (now called a technical rehearsal). There were lots and lots of little people running around. We weren’t allowed to watch but headed off to the Rosebank mall where I had never been before. It was a long, late day.

Friday Tammy and Granny arrived as a surprise visit, how great was that? We headed off to the HaaHoo Park (Delta Park) and then to Cresta. Unfortunately just before leaving I was giving Roxy a great big bear hug. Despite her enjoying the hug she decided to run off and knocked me over in the process. I ended up hitting my head really hard on the paving, and I cried and I cried. As a result shopping and walking around wasn’t my thing so I fell asleep through lunch at Tammy’s favourite restaurant, Piatto. Soon it was time to go home and spend some time playing and then Daddy arrived home to blow bubbles for me and do my bidding.

We headed off to Barney after breakfast on Saturday at the Baby Expo at the Coca Cola Dome; I think my folks would have spent more time there except for after the show, I was so upset that I cried till my folks thought the pressure would explode my aneurysm. We all had to recover following the trauma, but for me it was all too much and I eventually went to sleep at 2 in the afternoon.

The rest of the weekend was spent pretty low-key. It rained after breakfast today and continued on and off for most of the day. The rain was accompanied by a huge thunderstorm, and poor Roxy nearly died a thousand deaths each time a thunder crack followed the nearby lightning. Needless to say she spent most of the day indoors with us as a result, and as much of that time as possible on one of our laps.

Well, that’s it for this week. It’s less than a month to Christmas, and everything around us is getting Christmassy – I’m so excited.

Lots of love,

Jarrod