Nov

Data Cruncher

I was still ill with tonsillitis on Monday, so I stayed home from school. It was Granny’s turn to look after me. I very quickly forgot I was ill as Granny and I played up a storm. During the course of the morning Granny and I collected things around the house with which to complete an experimentation set that Mommy and Daddy had got me. It felt like a mini treasure hunt. In the afternoon, Mommy took over looking after me from Granny. Just as Mommy and I were thinking about what to do for the afternoon the doorbell rang; it was Claudi’s driver with a ‘get well soon’ gift from Ryan. I was beside myself with joy. It was a set of ceramic pots to paint. I then got down to some serious art work for the rest of the day. Thank you Ryan, for the wonderful gift!

On Tuesday I was still too ill to go to school. This time it was Dad’s turn to stay home to look after me. While Daddy worked at his desk I sat in the study with him playing with my trains. I love how Daddy and I can often be in each other’s company and not have to talk – it makes working from home for Daddy easier.

A big topic of discussion for the past few days is my Christmas list. I’m obsessed with getting Blue Mountain Mystery Take-n-Play for Christmas, and every day I ask Mom and Dad if I can have it. Daddy eventually told me that he had bought it from Amazon (I couldn’t understand how trains can come from a river, but that’s adults for you). I immediately started with a ‘Where is it? Where is it?’ jumping up and down. Daddy said it was on a ship. That put a massive damper on my excitement, and Daddy proceeded to show me pictures of container ships and an atlas of how the ship will get to us.

Without missing a beat, I informed Daddy that the ship was too big to come to our house and would squash our house. Daddy said I was 100% correct, however he showed me a Google Earth view of Durban harbour where my Blue Mountain Mystery would be offloaded onto a truck which would then drive up the N3 to our house. I said ‘What happens next?’ Daddy then said that the driver would ring our doorbell, ask for Jarrod and deliver my train to me. Each time the doorbell rings now I scream in delight that it’s my train set arriving. Sadly each time I’m disappointed and eventually Mommy told me it would only arrive on Christmas Eve.

In the afternoon Daddy had his year end function so Mommy was back on duty to look after me for the rest of the day. I explained to her, at least 11 times, how Blue Mountain Mystery was on a ship and then a truck and then ‘ding dong’ it would arrive at our house. Mommy was just as enthusiastic about it as me, but for only the first two times I explained it to her. After that her enthusiasm seemed to wane. Especially as I was about to start telling her the scenario for the twelfth time.

On Wednesday morning Daddy was at a convention for the morning, so he left early. I went back to school, as I was now starting to feel much better. After school I had music and in the afternoon I went with Mommy back to her office, as she had a tonne of work to do. To keep me occupied, she bought me a wooden Thomas and Friends set with a Spencer to leave at the office. That didn’t happen, as I insisted it come home with us.

During the afternoon we received the exciting news that Silvia and Richard had had a baby. Little Gracie Anne was born during the afternoon in Cape Town and I couldn’t wait to see my new little cousin. Welcome to the world little cuzzie!

Showering with Daddy in the evening I finally plucked up the courage to ask him about the scars on his back. I’ve been curious about them for a while now. So Daddy explained that before I was born Daddy only had one lung, and the surgeons had to cut him open to repair his lung and put all his organs back where they belong. Apparently it was complicated! I asked Daddy if they cut him open with scissors, and the scar is so big I asked if they cut Daddy in half. Daddy said no, it was with a scalpel, and no, they didn’t cut him in half. I felt bad for Daddy.

In the evening I was ‘honoured’ with my new nickname – data cruncher! I had managed to burn through 12gb of cellular data on my iPad watching YouTube and Skyping. I use YouTube to look at potential Christmas presents and to see what other trains are available in other parts of the world. I love doing that, Mom and Dad not so much, especially as they refused to top-up my data bundle!

Thursday I went to school and afterwards I had SEMAS maths. In the afternoon Daddy joined us to get my passport at Home Affairs, as both parents need to be present. Daddy also renewed his local passport in the process. Believe it or not, the whole process took under ten minutes! After waiting for less than a minute we were served, and Daddy handed in all our forms. Next they took Mom and Dad’s biometrics to log against my passport – this impressed me somewhat.

The people were super friendly and even pretended to do my biometrics by letting them scan mine. I felt like an item being scanned at the checkout counter under the red light, but didn’t mind! After paying at another counter it was time for photographs; the guy was super friendly and fun, which made it hard not to smile. On screen we all looked at a couple of shots and then we chose the best one. On the way out we bought ice-creams outside. It felt like a carnival, as the folk around Home Affairs with their little businesses were all joking and laughing and high-fiving me. It was a very different experience.

Mommy had to work in the evening to supervise her exhibitors’ setup. As I was settling in to bed I sat bolt upright and said to Dad ‘We need to Skype Mommy!’ Sadly I couldn’t, as my iPad had no more data on it, so I had to settle for an old-school type voice only call. It was OK though, as I still got to hear Mommy’s voice.

Friday morning I demonstrated my independence. I got up somewhere before 5am – no-one really knows exactly when, and once I’d got Daddy to switch off the alarm (and he went back to bed), I opened all the doors in the house, went to the loo by myself, and then played and played on my own until the old folk woke up. They were truly impressed at my independence.

Despite my getting up really early, we were still in a huge rush to get to school on time, and we left very late. It was bike-Friday so Daddy hurriedly put my bike in the car. I was only at school until the first break where after Mommy collected me to go OT. I had a stunning session with Lauren, and it was awesome to see her again, as last week I was too sick to go. After OT Mommy dropped me off at Granny’s place as Mommy needed to go back to the office for a short while.

In the afternoon, once we were all home, Ryan, Paul and Claudi arrived for cheese platters. It was so stunning seeing my little friend at my home. We played up a storm inside and outside the house. Sadly Ryan got some splinters in his foot and he howled and howled; I imagined it must have really hurt. But once they were out we just carried on playing. I also brought out all my musical instruments and we made lots of music (read noise). We bathed together and then later in the evening it was time for Ryan and his folks to go home again.

Just after they left the clouds opened up and it rained for the rest of the night well into the next morning. It was such a relief as we’ve been suffering from a heat wave.

Saturday morning Mommy left for a facial so Daddy and I headed to Sandton City. It was chaos. Just getting in to the parking took for ever. Fortunately the parent-and-child bays weren’t taken yet so we found parking quickly. Our first stop was the stationery store – Dad and I had decided to colour in the detail on my Take-n-Play. In the plastic are moulded spades, ladders, tools, wheels, etc, and Daddy and I have been wanting to highlight their detail for ages. We had an awesome time at Stationery and Print selecting the appropriate colours. Next we popped into the Nespresso shop to top-up on coffee pods, as Barista Jay-Bee has been very busy.

Our plan was to meet Mommy at Sandton City for lunch, but it was such chaos we called Mommy and told her not to even try come to Sandton City. Alternative arrangements were made and we agreed to meet at Café Duarte. Trying to drive out of Sandton City parking took us close on fifteen minutes!

We met up with Mommy at Café Duarte and we had a stunning lunch. On the menu was a kiddies’ portion of calamari – something I’d never had before. Mom and Dad obliged and I loved it! Will definitely order those again. We had some stunning desserts and as we were leaving, Mom got a bee in her bonnet and decided she needed her hair cut. At the hair stylists, opposite the café, Mom immediately got served, and since we were there, I decided I needed a haircut too. It was such fun sitting alongside Mommy with both of us having our haircut at the same time.

Back home in the afternoon we had a team snooze and then we got busy building and playing with my TrackMaster on the dinning room table. The rest of the evening was spent playing trains, and a big project was undertaken – Project Battery Change. Just about every one of my toot-toots needed fresh batteries to buzz around the track.

As I woke up in the morning I asked Mom and Dad ‘Am I going to school?’, they said no, as it was Sunday. I protested! I said I needed to go to school to learn! Mom and Dad were thrilled with my attitude. The rest of the day was a very quiet day and we stayed home the whole day. We played trains and watched TV. Daddy wasn’t feeling too nice, having some muscle aches and pains, so Mommy and I massaged his back, neck and shoulders. A long snooze followed!

Well, that’s it for this week. Today it’s exactly one month until Christmas – I can hardly wait anymore!

Love,

Jay-Bee