Cheese :-)

As you know Monday was a public holiday here in South Africa so I got to spend the whole day with Mommy and Daddy. We headed off to the Chiropractor for the old folks and they promised me that we could go play after that. We first tried iPlay but they were closed. Next we went to Lifestyle Centre where we played for about two hours. We went on the rides and on the train. I rode on a pony and thanked him by giving him a BIG hug. Then we went off to the play area called Hoots and Toots and I carried on playing until I collapsed in Mom’s arms.

I was really lucky on Tuesday in that I got to spend the afternoon with Granny and Tammy as Mommy needed to attend to something. We played so hard that Mommy could see I was going to fall asleep if I got into the car in the late afternoon, so I had a bath and dinner at Granny’s place with the cousins, and then we headed home. Mommy was right, I didn’t even get to the top of the road before I was fast asleep. What a good day of play.

Wednesday, I went to a new music class as we couldn’t make the usual Thursday class, which I’ll chat about that later. There were lots of little people and I appeared to be the oldest and I felt very important as the teacher knew my name and was expecting me. Teacher Erica was really nice and we had great fun.

To top off the good experience we had two surprises. First Mommy saw Helen from a distance and we got the opportunity to see little Isla for the first time. I was so excited, I hugged and kissed her and Helen was very nice about it, as according to Mom I had dirty hands and a dirty face. I think because hugs are so universal it was allowed. Little Isla is a beauty and has perfect Irish/Scottish looks. Good gene pool Mommy says with a laugh.

My next surprise was seeing teacher Liesel; she was in her office behind her desk trying to concentrate, but I broke into a trot at seeing her and gave her the biggest hug. Teacher Liesel walked out with us to the car and it gave Mom the opportunity to discuss my progress at music. Mommy has been of the opinion for a while that I am bored in class and I go to look for other things to do. Teacher Liesel was of the same opinion and she said my musical intelligence should be encouraged. So next term I’m off to an older, more difficult class – my first promotion! I am a little nervous about being bumped up a class, but secretly a little excited. At the end of that term Teacher Liesel and Mom will discuss private lessons, as a possible next step. You’re probably all wondering where my musical talent hails from, as I’m sure most of you know that Dad is completely tone deaf, and although Mom tries, she’s not going to be the next Idol! Well it turns out my Grandfather Robert, whom I’ve never met, was extremely musical. He played the guitar like it was second nature and had a great love for music. Not to mention that my Great Opa was a troubadour who played the trombone. I’m thinking it was from them that I acquired this talent.

The afternoon also was exciting. Delta Park was open again after a few weeks’ maintenance. We headed off after the heat of the day subsided and an even bigger surprise was that because it was after work Daddy met us there. It was good to jump and play and swing again. I did manage to fall off the jungle gym, but fortunately Mom acted quickly enough and caught me by my foot so I didn’t hit the ground with my head. Mom and Dad were convinced I would not want to play further, but I ran up the nearest slide proving nothing will get a good kid down. While we were there, the nice folk from the Arms Wideopen group, who are sponsored by Simba, arrived to replace the swings. I watched with interested and even ‘high-fived’ the guys. Needless to say, before they’d even left, I was already in the new swing giving it a test run!

Back home, I still had the desire to swing more, so Dad popped me in my swing on the back patio and swung me really high. One of my favourite pastimes while doing ‘high-sky’ (aka swinging) is astronaut training, whereby Dad winds up the swing and lets it spin while it unwinds. I absolutely love this feeling! See the video of me doing astronaut training on YouTube. I slept really well on Wednesday evening as a result of a really lovely day.

On Thursday morning Mommy and I had to take Granny to a special doctor. She’s developed a skin cancer and we decided to give her the support at the doctor. We went to the doctor for the first time to have the offending spots cut-out or burned out and sent off to the lab. After her appointment it looked like she’d had a bad date with a cheese grater. We were so proud of her as she was really brave, and afterward we even all went to Yeesh together.

Dad’s company was moving offices, and since he’d finished all his packing by Thursday afternoon he stayed home on Friday. In fact, since everyone had to be at the new office on the Sunday to complete the move they were given some time off. It was great having my Daddy home with me for the full day again. Mom slept late while Dad and I watched some TV and had breakfast. During the morning we headed to gym to get Mom a membership; I also got my own membership for the ‘kids only’ play area. I checked out the facilities once I had my card and was thoroughly optimistic about spending some time here while Mom exercised.

After gym, and yes this is a bit of an oxymoron, we popped into the Wimpy across the road for some lunch. A team snooze ensued, and once we were all up again Dad quickly popped out to replace the shredded tyre on the Merc. He arrived back just in time as the heavens opened up in a cloud-burst. The entire back-garden was under a few centimetres of water, and lightning struck all around us. Roxy was terrified. The new kittens took the storm in their stride and chilled on the sofa. Later Robin reported via SMS that it had rained 48mm in less than an hour!

Saturday morning was hectic! Mom had an appointment with a friend, Bronwyn. At the same time Dad and I had a haircut appointment at Chop It at the Lifestyle Centre. It was my 4^th haircut to date. The barber shop was the usual disorganised chaos, and despite our making an appointment, and arriving well in advance of our appointment, we were served well after our designated time. Dad and I decided to try them during the week next time, as every Saturday that we’d been there it was the same. Despite the frustration of the wait and run-around, my hair cut looks stunning, and I really feel spick-and-span again.

We raced home in time to meet with Bev and Claire who were already waiting for us. We’ve been trying to arrange a picnic with them for a while now, but the weather interferes every time. We therefore decided to picnic in our lounge instead. I loved seeing them both again, and I dished out generous amounts of hugs. Once they had all settled, I headed off to the study to watch some TV. I decided Cbeebies needed some spicing up so I lathered wet sand from my little sandpit on the study patio all over the TV. After completing this artistic feat I decided to do same on the Persian rug. Mom and Dad discovered me in mid act, sighed and walked away. I couldn’t understand why.

The afternoon saw another hectic thunderstorm – fortunately we’d hired some DVDs so we watched Toy Story 3, for the umpteenth time, which in my humble opinion is not enough. Mom and Dad, for some reason, don’t seem to agree. I stayed up extra-long to experience Earth Hour 2011 with Mom and Dad at 20:30 in the evening. Dad had set a count down, and at 20:30 he flicked off a number of switches, one after the other, on the DB board. First the rooms went dark, then the garden, then the fountains, and last the lights in front of the garage that shine onto the street. Mom lit up some candles and we chilled in the dancing light of the flickering flames.

Dad had to go to the office on Sunday morning to finalise his move to his new office. He arrived home in time for a team snooze. It was a real pea-soup weather during the day so we all slept really deep during the afternoon.

In the late afternoon I played with some flour, oats and sugar in the shower, and even proceeded to eat some. A little later I grabbed a promotional disposable camera, looked through it at Mom and Dad and said ‘cheese’! They broke down in guffaws of laughter, which wasn’t fully my intention, as I understood ‘cheese’ to simply mean ‘smile broadly’.

Well that’s it for this week. The week ahead will be filled with some apprehension again, as we were promised this would be the week in which the dates of my next surgery would be set; so here’s keeping fingers crossed that all is on track for positive desirable feedback from Unitas.

Love,

Jay-Bee

Video 1 Astronaut Training (click here)

Photo 1 Bike time at Lifestyle Centre

Photo 2 I love the bunny car

Photo 3 Time for a quick grin

Photo 4 Some practice on the mechanical horse

Photo 5 Some 4×4 time

Photo 6 All aboard on the Lifestyle Express

Photo 7 Loving the train ride with Mom

Photo 8 On the real horse now

Photo 9 At Hoots and Toots

Photo 10 Ooooh, I want to go up there

Photo 11 Crawling . . .

Photo 12 Negotiating . . .

Photo 13 Giggling . . .

Photo 14 Upside-down

Photo 15 Trying to get away from the tickle-monster

Photo 16 Some more biking

Photo 17 Watching TV with cousin Tammy

Photo 18 Chocolate with cousin Shanny

Photo 19 What next?

Photo 20 Big-boy swing

Photo 21 Bubbles at the Haahoo (Delta) Park

Photo 22 I LOVE bubbles

Photo 23 Yes! More please.

Photo 24 Surrounded

Photo 25 Trying to catch them

Photo 26 Swinging with bubbles

Photo 27 Bubbles and swinging – my two favourite things

Photo 28 Slide time

Photo 29 Going down; on the non-conventional side

Photo 30 Did I mention my Be Sharp Beetles stamp on my tummy?

Photo 31 Monkey rings

Photo 32 High-up giggles

Photo 33 Peek-a-boo

Photo 34 Hi!

Photo 35 Checking out the facilities at the gym

Photo 36 Trying my hand at basket ball

Photo 37 Holding on to Mickey!

Photo 38 Mickey gives up the struggle and succumbs to me

Photo 39 Hair cut time

Photo 40 Sporting my new spiky look

Photo 41 Supporting Earth Hour 2011