Leaps and bounds....

Since Monday afternoon my heart has been so happy , so very happy. Some of my newer readers may not know the history but we have had a hard and long struggle with our Mr L. He has several issues that just make life that little bit harder - harder to learn and to be what seems to come easy for our other two children. For the record, let me spell it out because this is a celebration of regardless of all of this, he is achieving. He has surprised us so many times. Mr L has an eye defect that leaves his right eye partially blind and the 2/3 that have sight at -6,5 while his left eye is +1,5.  Therefore he wears contact lenses - as glasses can not compensate for an 8 point difference. A challenge on it's own. Add to that low muscle tone and Praxis - two issues the OT has worked very very hard on through the years. Then the ADHD and some Autistic traits complete the picture. He has a package that will be a challenge to anyone. A package that our little Lion fights with - bravely. Sometimes we feel like we are going two steps forward and one step back - but we are certainly winning and life is way easier now at 8 than at 3 or 5.

Last year his biggest challenge in the year by far was the debate item they all had to do in class for a mark. Boy the fights we had over this! The learning again and again. The barrier he build not wanting to learn more. The shouting and fighting and total feeling of being unfairly frustrated with your kid.... and then his teacher let him almost read it in class. I think we all felt a bit defeated but it was over and at least he did hit.  He never looked up and spoke really softly. For grade 1 it was apparently enough. They just had to speak (it was their very first chance to do so in grade 1) and it was enough. But I knew come grade 2 it will be another matter.

This year I feared the dreaded grade 1-3 debate item. But we went ahead - pushing last year to the back of our minds. We let him choose his subject - possibly the most controversial of the choices ( I believe that hunting is a good thing) - and wrote his speech. We started learning it over the weekend and the au pair spent a lot of time last week teaching both the boys their speeches. Friday afternoon they both presented completely learned speeches to me. I was so surprised and very excited about this. Over the weekend we helped both to round them off and found out that Mr L does not even need his cue cards - he knows it by heart.

I have warned his wonderful teacher before that this was a huge challenge last year and she said that he could choose when he wanted to do it. It turns out that once again he surprised us all! Totally! He got up in class on the very first opportunity - with huge confidence, speaking out and looking at the class as he presented his item. He did it so well that he was sent with another boy to one of the other grade 2 teachers to present his speech. Which he once again did with such confidence in front of a totally different group of children. This is huge for him - another last frontier broken and tamed. I am so very very proud of how far he has come in a year. My heart is overjoyed.

Adding to the happiness of course is that Mr C in the grade 3 debate went through to represent his class in the grade 3 debate final today. That was also a surprise to me as I have never thought that public speaking was his thing.  We are so extremely proud of him - I hope he got up proud and spoke out loudly in front of all those teachers and kids today and that he feels great about his achievement. (He debated the point that homework is not a good thing. )

I'm a very happy mom.

The 25th of September is not a great day in the history books

Honestly - go and have a look. Nothing really big happened. There are the usual tragedies and disasters. Small inventions - ok, maybe Henry Fords 8 hour day and 40 hour week deserves a mention. But that's it.  A lot of musicals seemed to have made their debuts on the day - among them Les Miserables and Evita. But nothing really big. As to famous births its really only actors that stand out - Michael Douglas, Catherine Zeta Jones and Will Smith. And Hansie Cronje - Cricketer.

When the courtyard garden explode in purple Irisses it's birthday time in our household

But the 25th of September changed our little world forever because our awesome boys were born. Nothing has ever been the same again. Our house has never been quiet again. Two such amazingly different little men. Each so unique in their very own way.

My dear L, my little Lion that has learned so much and grown up so well this year. You are so determined and strong in your own quiet way. To wear contact lenses with such ease and deal with all that comes with it at the age of 7 is admirable. You tackle every obstacle with total determination - be it academic or in any other field. You are well known for your total love and dedication to sport - both as a player and as a supporter. You memory for sport scores and games is surprising and admired by so many people. And boy! Have you grown! 3cm in the last 5 months. That's a lot for a 7 year old boy. I love you to the end of the universe my little boy.  Happy happy 8th birthday!

My dear C, my little bear. This year has been such a good one for you. You have grown so much in terms of friendship and how you see the world. Your constant yearning for knowledge is amazing - as is the fact that you remember every little bit you hear or read in a subject that may interest you. You look at the world through the eyes of an artist and will always be the one to remark on a particularly beautiful building/flower or even a car. I also love how you care about others and are always looking out for others. You are really so tall now - on Sunday I was amazed to see how tall you stand in front of the church with the birthday wishes. I love you to the end of the universe (where you are quite sure you will find some intelligent life!) Happy happy 8th birthday!

Thanks to Tanya for the date in history inspiration .http://www.dearmax.org

Sometimes we forget....

That Mr L has a few more challenges than your average 7 year old boy. Odd that I forget because he has a twin to remind me all the time. But we have come to a routine - pop the one meds as he wakes up, pop in the contact lens after breakfast, pop the last bit of top-up meds as we park at the school. The only real reminders are his sports obsessions - which by the way are driving me totally nuts. But I guess at least it is a healthy obsession.

The fact of the matter is that he is doing well - very well. He is spelling, reading, writing and doing maths like he should. Yes, sometimes it takes more prompting to get what his homework is out of him (short term memory recall) but it is a common grade 1 problem - hence they practice it by not letting them write down their homework.

So when the au pair called on Monday to say to firstly his eye is very red and he is complaining that the contact lens is folded and he can not remove it and that secondly he is refusing to tell her his homework it hit me that in fact things have been going so well that we forget. She also tried to remove the lens to no success. I phoned our wonderful contact lens specialist optometrist who immediately asked us to come in. When we arrived he left his patient for a few minutes and immediately helped us. It turned out the lens folded and moved to the side almost behind the eyeball. He managed to get it out in a few tries and then proceeded to check the retina for damage. Thank goodness all was fine. With a few drops to help with the swelling we were off - recommended two days of wearing glasses and then to try lenses again. I have to add that this wonderful man did not charge us a cent for this.

I am happy to report that this morning he has his lens in again - it took a bit longer than the usual but we got it done. Brave little boy indeed - it was a very sore experience.

I often think how it must be to struggle just a little bit more than the usual with most things in life. I hope that it makes him a stronger, more determined person and I actually believe that he will at the end of the day be able to call on a lot inside himself.

Bright eyes.

It is our wedding anniversary today - 14 years! Wow - I am blessed to have the most wonderful man in the world as my partner on this journey called life. My heart is so full of love today that maybe I need to write about that on another day.

Who knew? Who knew that Mr L had dark blue eyes with a green inner circle? The honest truth is that for the last 6 years in his life he has permanently had glasses on and no one ever noticed his eyes. Just the glasses. Yesterday his life changed - he got contact lenses for his right eye. And its not just about convenience or looks. To him, its like having some way of normal sight and the opportunity to learn how to read successfully next year.

Let me explain - up until now he saw everything in double when he has his glasses on - in two different sizes. Not wearing his glasses would have meant totally losing the vision in his right eye. It was the only way that the doctors could keep the functioning of his right eye to give us the chance to do what we are now doing. To make a long story short - his two eyes' sight differs with 8 points - this means that it can never be compensated with glasses only. He therefore has a 4,5 lens in his glasses for his visually impaired right eye making the difference in size of objects already severe. Anything more would have made it impossible for the brain to add it into sort of one picture. The optometrist yesterday gave me a lens to hold in front of my right eye to see how he has been seeing the world up to now - I was shocked ! I would have never coped but I guess if its all you know ....He also has a third of the same eye that is totally blind towards his nose - about that nothing can ever be done.

So we came to the time in his life where we had to do this in preparation for grade 1 next year - get him to wear a contact lens or failing that a lens transplant operation early next year. I was nervous but tried to play it cool. We were sent by his Ophthalmologist to a wonderful optometrist that specialise in contact lenses and is known to be successful with kids. Apparently if the first try is a disaster you miss the chance - at least for a few years so it was critical to get this done and the right way. This is also why they wait until now especially with kids with sensory issues.

We had a long consultation, fitting of two different types and then he had one in L's eye. He told him to open his eyes and showed him a beautiful picture of a fish eagle. I wish I had caught that look on his face with the phone camera but I really did not know that it would make such a huge difference. His whole face lit up and he had a huge smile. He jumped out of the chair and danced around. Oh my heart! I shed a few tears.

After all this we had an education lesson about the do s and don't s and then I had to take the lens out and put it back in myself. It took me close to 3/4 hour to do this properly and many many tries and frustration. This morning I prepared myself for the worst- and guess what? First time lucky! I am so positive that this is going to work. That this is going to make such a difference for him. Here's wishing the best for it.

BTW I knew nothing about contact lenses until now - what a new world. And apologies if that song is now turning in your head - it has been turning in mine since yesterday when it played in the mall after we left the Optometrist rooms.

Every morning I wait with abaited breath....

to see what Timehop has to offer. Honestly I totally love this app. Maybe just second to Instagram. Truly seeing those pics and status from years ago often tug on my heart strings. Last week it offered my tiny baby boys on their Ybikes. Just a few days before the Princess at 6 with no front teeth. Sweet memories. Yesterday though the memories were not that sweet. My thankfulness that we have moved on though was HUGE!

For those who have not "known"us for this long, Mr L only started sleeping through consistently about 2 years ago - at more than 4 and a half years of age. Up to a stage Mr C was also a rather bad sleeper but with Mr L it was what happens to Neuro A typical kids - the over active mind in the middle of the night. (It is well documented on the blog - just search sleep) He would be awake between 2 to 5 nights a week for periods of 2 to 4 hours a night. Talking, trying his best to sleep, but really not able to. We sometimes now still have single nights - once every 3 months or so, like Friday night where he woke up at 1:30 and only fell asleep again at about 4:30.

We tried everything - brushing, melatonin, routines, baths - we even imported a weighted blanket. Something like this can not be countered with sleep training or anything like that. It is totally outside of the usual range of things. I can not really tell you what worked in the end - I guess a bit of everything. With him going firstly on Ritalin and now on Concerta it was often my first worry - that bad sleeping would return. But luckily after a night or so with every changeover he was back on track.

I often wonder how much developmental damage was done to that little brain - would he have less delays if he slept better? I know that it really challenged my attention span at work as well as my performance. Heavens, I even developed high cholesterol from sleep deprivation. Would we have been looking at non mainstream schooling for him if he slept better? I guess its pretty much the chicken and the egg situation. I guess I have spent more than my usual awake hours the last few weeks about this too.

Honestly I am just grateful that we (and especially him) are sleeping well and hope and pray it continues, medication and all. And that we will find the right school and do the best we can for our little man.

6 years ago today

 two little /big boys came into our lives What a ride! Although I think we may have underestimated the storm that descended on us, we certainly underestimated the joy we would receive in return. This morning they were totally surprised by their gifts - C has been wanting one for so long, but the Leappads hit the spot for both. I usually write a letter to the kids on or around their birthday but today I am overly emotional so it is better left for another day soon.

My little boys, I love you to no end. There is no way that I can describe how you fill my life with joy, every day. Love you to the moon and back.

Here and there...

iPhone sunset with doves.

Or this and that. Just a little catch up on what's going on:

1. Sunday evening/night was my Bear and the tummy bug. Poor kid. Sleep was not great for him and the parents.
2. Yesterday I was called from school for our Lion who promptly was the next victim. Poor kid. At least he was done by bedtime and apart from struggling to fall asleep we all slept well.
3. I am holding my breath for the next victim. Our Princess is the "tummy child' of the family so I bet she will be next. Or me - I have a sensitive digestive system
4. We are in the midst of repainting the inside of our house. Hunter worked hard on it the week I was away and every bit of time he gets. I am helping where I can. I love how the colours came out and it is wonderful to get rid of the yellow based cream in the house and replace it with a lovely colour called Tranquil.
5. I am totally amazed that Mr C mentioned that he likes the new colour that has some blue in it! Gosh that child is totally perceptive about colour and shades. This is subtle people - a very subtle shading. I would guess 90% of grown ups would not notice it at all.
6. Mr L surprised me last night with a question about the way the ceilings and roof construction in our house works in a very simplified way. Sometimes I am so happy to know what it going on in that little brain that I often feel does not allow much insight.
7. On that topic we have a series of appointments for him starting with a OT evaluation by a therapist the school requested. They (and we) feel we need to know we have everything in place for him to go to grade R next year and if not, where to send him if our school is not the right place for him. Then in October we are seeing a very specialised child psychologist that is known for getting to the bottom of kids difficult to diagnose or that has more or borderline issues (the appointment was made in February - kid you not). In the past I believed that the SID/SPD diagnosis was 100% spot on I am not any more. We need to make sure it is, or not. I am also still waiting for an appointment with his neurologist - who was full in February for the whole year and for whom I had to write a motivation for an appointment yesterday to be on the list for cancellations after initially being told I can just phone for a cancellation in the first week of May. I am wondering if we should try another one, but then he has history on him. (yes, of course I am quietly very stressed about his all - ok, now admitted it for the very first time) And of course the usual yearly Opthamologist appointment.
8. I am trying to get to the gym in lunch times - yes, it does not give me more than 40 minutes to exercise but its better than nothing. (the gym is literally 5 minutes from the office)
9. Saturday is going to be busy with the last games of the rugby season and the first games of the hockey season, as well as the usual horse riding which we are trying to squeeze in between this all. I am looking forward to spend time with friends we have not seen in ages on Saturday evening.
10. In between all this work is busy and I am totally frustrated with total fools that sometimes cross your road. The time wastage just freaks me out. 
11. I am still totally loving Project Life - totally - I have both week 18 and week 19 up on my Project Life blog since I last pointed you that way. I really want to continue to do this for years to come. It really makes memories so tangible even for the kids.

Oh yes and my friend Samantha van Riet who gave away the lovely books earlier this year now has a new feature on her blog - free printables to keep the kids busy. Perfect for cold winter days and evenings. Have a look here and she will keep them coming - there's a freebie button on her blog. Check regularly

So what's happening in your world?

Good one Mr Murphy!

Ah you know, some days....

So last night when the boys went to sleep Mr L started crying, and then showing Hunter that his right ear was sore. He has a cold the last 2 weeks and he loves to have his head under water in the bath and when he swims (which is still at least weekly). So we added some Swimmers ear to dry it out and gave him something for pain and fever. The night was restless to say the least, Hunter took the biggest brunt of it with the little man. Adding to it all is that the whole area's power went off at about 10 pm and was not on when we had to get up and going this morning.

Where Mr Murphy stepped in really well though was that Nanny L had a pre scheduled appointment at the clinic this morning - arranged months ago. So I had no choice but to bring Mr L with me to work and then take him to the doctor. Turns out he has a very bad ear infection in his right ear and has already spread to the left- she was astounded (as most doctors usually are with him) with his very high pain threshold - the ear drum is on the edge of bursting!

As it turns out the doctor never arrived for Nanny L's appointment ( I promise) - she was furious, I am incredibly calm because, guess what, the child I thought I would never be able to handle at work is doing so well. Maybe the fact that he is sick helps - but he is just the sweetest thing. Friendly, charming, good manners and playing iPad or colouring away on his blanket. At the moment he is lying down - maybe a nap? I am totally sticking my tongue out for you Mr Murphy - oops,. should not say that.

BTW we had a lovely day yesterday - the weather was beautiful for an outdoors Labour day.

To say this year started well...

would be a lie. It's been tough. I have been sick, worse than in a long time. I am exhausted. H is equally exhausted. It's not only the daily run of the mil of 3 kids in 3 grades, 5 parent evenings, netball meetings and all that goes with kids in school. Top that with busy work schedules and nothing much else happens. Yesterday was a day straight out of a very bad dream. I will not go into details but house keys were hidden (L) , ballet bags forgotten at school (A) and mommy rushing around, gates lifted from tracks at home etc etc.

The honest truth is that our little Lion is not adapting well to the change in schools, being away from his brother. We had to go back to separating them in after care -we were left with no option other than that or taking them out and getting an au pair or such. (the reasons are legal technical with grade R being part of the Primary school and responsibility etc). He will have to adapt and we will have to provide him with the support to. In any event, it will be better in the end that he makes his own friends and adapt to being with the younger kids. But it's tiring - the very moment I pick him up at school he starts with reasons why tomorrow is not a school day. He insist on it being a weekend and doing something that is weekend related and insist the he will NOT BE GOING TO SCHOOL. And insist he does, on and on an on and on.... Until we get him to calm down eventually. Every meal is a trial in endurance(apart from toast and eggs for breakfast which is quite possibly his favorite food ever).

But maybe we are seeing the light - the last two mornings he came to our room dressed and his bed made (more than the other willingly do on their own first thing in the morning) and this morning he actually told me he wanted to go to school - the first time this year.

In amongst this all we had a good weekend - yes, Mr L's antics was exhausting but there were many good points too. We had a lovely 40th birthday party with a jumping castle , party packs and icys for the kids and good food and company for the adults. What I will always remember is dancing the night away until late with all 3 kids, the boys falling asleep on their mattresses with some other littlies way after 9. It was a good night. We are hoping for many more somewhere in future. These are the moments that give us hope. The ones I want to embrace with all my might.

With that, let me share our last week in pictures:

Day 35/365 4 February Promise of rain.

Day 36/365 5 Febraury Little butterfly in the office garden.

Day 37/365 6 February Rainy day morning - Mr C loves hi umbrella

Day 38/365  7 February Morning after the night before rain diamonds. One of my favorite iPhone photos ever.

Day 39/365 8 February Mr C's turn to buy tuck shop and he chooses bouncy balls for them.

Day 40/365 9 February Horse tiding at the Voortrekker monument.

And to close off - my nearest and dearest playing on the iPad after bath time on Sunday night (and a silly little girl in the background)

On Facebook I said this morning that today will be a good day, I insist. And yes, it will be. We need to move forward, and we will. Come what may.

The kindness of others.

Mr L' s glasses cost about R 4000,00 every year due to the complexity of the right lens and the various added measures involved in making glasses for very active 5 year old boys. The medical aid gladly pay for one pair a year, which by the end of the year is totally worn out and in desperate need to be replaced. Earlier this year his glasses went missing in the house for 13 days - they were mysteriously found in the bottom shelve of my clothes cupboard. In that time he wore his old glasses that were well worn and not as strong as his current prescription. The day we found them was celebrated with a picture on Instagram shared on Facebook. A few days later an old school friend who is and optometrist in Paarl send me a message on Facebook inquiring about his eye issues which I replied best I could. He came back to me with an offer of an extra pair of glasses asking me to send on a copy of his prescription and a number that I got form our local optometrist. Today, in amongst our post was a new pair of glasses.

I can not even try to thank him enough for this - it is a huge relief to have another pair and he certainly loves his new glasses. He has asked me not to publicly thank him as he did this for the joy of giving, not for PR purposes. I am touched today once again by the kindness of others. And the joy of giving and receiving. Thank you so much Uncle F- he loves them

Every school concert has one.

That child that steels the show, that everyone shares a laugh with and who everyone talks about? That child? That child was ours on Friday night.

 But no, although in a big role, he did not steal the show - that was up to the other twin, playing a camera man for the event. My, did we laugh at this antics! He was so into his role and the show.

Even receiving his medal was a led to some antics - a real little showman.We were blow away. He has so much confidence and can be a real comedian.

Mr C received his medal too - with grace and dignity as it should to be for Olympic flag bearers.


After the Sports show, the kids came in for the Carols by Candlelight - Mr C and Mr L were at the two ends of the back row, leaving Mr L with heaps of space to entertain the crowd while Mr C delivered a faultless appearance at his end.

We are really sad to leave our much beloved little school at the end of this year - for the last 5 years we have always had at least one kid in the school, but it will be great to have them all in the same school next year. And a great school to boot that we already love.

I do feel a bit more at ease

On Saturday we had the meet and greet with Mr L's new teacher and class mates.I was always worried that he will look older and act older than the other kids but really, he just fits in perfectly. He even has a classmate that also wears glasses so that's another win. His teacher asked to talk to me after the kids all left and immediately told me that L was placed with her because she has some experience with SID/SPD and her own 4 year old has also been diagnosed with it. She has asked me to send his brush to school and have a meeting with his OT early next year. All very positive. On the negative side she did mention that we need to think carefully about moving him in the middle of the year to grade R as most SID/SPD kids do not cope well with change - of that I am very aware and she may have a point there, but let's start the year and run the gauntlet together.


 Although he never smiled he did give his new teacher a huge hug when we left and there were never any tears. He also stayed in the class without me willingly and happily. I am very proud of how he handled it all -he does have heaps of courage and quite a bit of self confidence to boost the mix.

A sunny happy day...

...after all the "doom and gloom" yesterday. My Facebook status this morning reads:So another morning, the US has a new (old) president, SABC bans the term Zumaville because it is apparently racist and we have found Leon's glasses after a 13 day frustrating hunt. Somehow finding the glasses is enough to make me a happy person today. I found the glasses last night in my clothes closet - in the second from bottom shelve with seldom used stuff. No idea how it got there but we have found it and I can not be happier! Some other bits also add to my happiness:

• I won tickets to see "The little Mermaid" on Melinda's blog - so looking forward to using them during the December holidays
• I also won a R500 Naartjie gift voucher on the Rattle and Mum blog - love that!
• I managed to book a shoot with the photographer we used the Groupon for last year (and the lovely pics in my blog header and side bars) and guess what? Not only could we find a time but she has a special running! I am so totally happy about it - yes, it will be too late for Christmas cards but we shall just use one of the images we took this Saturday and I will still have my lovely pics for the wall and photobooks. Saturday just did not pan out as planned -the kids were not co operative, the light was not great, everything just did not "gel" - if you know what I mean.

The little boy that could

The Princess somewhere in between 4 and 5 learned to write her name. Very much the usual run of things. Mr C is a very visually orientated little man and he has the great plus of having a big sister to copy and learn from - hence somewhere before his 5th birthday he was writing down the whole family's names - faultlessly. Mr L often asks to write his name, but just scratches a bundle of stripes and circle. Nothing that makes sense. Another reason to worry about him. But I was pretty sure that he at least knows what his name looks like and can identify it, and maybe even more.

We have a whole lot of alphabet letters on our fridge - A use them to learn her spelling, every now and again names get "written" by C. L was casually just playing around with them when two Saturdays ago. I casually asked him to "write his name". Which to me and Hunter's joy he did, immediately and faultlessly. He also on request attempted his brothers (got the first 4 letters correct) and mine (the first 3 correct). I knew he could!

More and more so, almost every day, I get the feeling that he knows and learns so much more than we take note of. That the barriers of communicating what he knows leads to us underestimating his potential. I hope that with the help of his OT and teachers we can unlock all that hidden potential. Develop more ways to get him to show us what he can in fact do.

I know that Hunter and I will do our very best to fight for him, to develop him to his best. As we will do for all 3 our kids.

So the school thing.

As many of you may remember the school requested to evaluate Mr L at the school for submission next year in grade R. I was extremely stressed about this but the evaluation day went very well. It seems like my dream of all 3 kids in the same main stream school will come true. The school came back with an acceptance to grade R but with a proposal for us. They propose that we start him in grade RR to gain confidence in being the one that knows most in the class and to give him the chance to lay the foundation a bit better. He will then be moved to grade R when they feel he is ready for it. Hunter and I discussed it and really for him it was an easy decision to take them up on the offer. I feel very happy that the school and the headmaster and headmistress from the pre primary took the time to look at him and make an unique plan for him. Happy that they looked at him as an individual. Our OT agrees it is a good plan providing that they do not keep him in grade RR for long as she feels he might get bored. His current teacher feels the same

 However it almost implies that he will eventually go to grade 1 a year later than he is suppose to. Taking into account that he is a boy and a late baby for his year it is not the worst of it. The fact that he has apart from the SID/SPD issues also a physical disability with his eye and that the third that is blind most certainly will interfere with the crossing of the median and reading it seems a good decision never the less. They also proposed to evaluate Mr C at the end of next year to establish if he will be ready for grade 1 in his age appropriate year as often boys late in the year are not. At this stage his current teacher mentioned that she doubt he will not be ready.

So it seems as if our twins will not be in the same grade. I know that if Mr L was not part of a set of twins this would have been way less of an issue to me. I may not even have thought twice about it. But is makes me very sad. It breaks my heart to feel that he got the short end of the draw int he twin set. The kids watched the Princess' grade R graduation and concert the night before last and my only thought was that next year this time Mr C will be there - and Mr L not. Will he blame us some day? Will he be teased as he has been before because he wears glasses? Now he will wear glasses and have to do sport with the grade older than him. I guess we will have to cross those bridges when we come to it. And deal with it in a way that will keep his self image as high as possible.What this will do is force us to see them as the individuals they are - which have in any event been our mindset all along.


I have prayed a lot about this and I know that I have to push aside what I feel and concentrate on doing what will be best for him.I want to be excited for him, see him bloom the way the other two do. It may be a year later than his brother, but bloom he will. In a main stream school that we love, just one year later.

Dear son....(2012 edition)

 My dear little Bear,

Mommy stands amazed almost every day seeing you develop and grow. In the past year you have started to really get into figures and numbers, letters and drawing. While you used to love to colour, it is drawing that is your real passion now. And pottery - you love to make and create things. I am totally astounded at your knowledge of things you take an interest to - like everything space and universe related that by far outsmarts your moms.

I love to hear your little voice talk non stop, even though it usually means that you and your sister are having a verbal battle for attention.I love to see how this weekend you adapted to the social scene like a fish to the water. How you sometimes played with your brother and the other little boys but how you also enjoyed the company of the two slightly older girls. A real social player.

Mommy can not wait to see what the next year holds for us all. Mommy loves you to Uranus and back my sweet Bear.

My dear little Lion,

I am so glad that this year was a much easier one for you than the previous. That we could rejoice in so many new milestones achieved and issues dealt with. Mommy loves to see how you grow in class, how you sit and do a task, how you complete the jobs given to you. I love that you shout out right in the middle of a shopping trip "There's fireman Fred" or whatever letterlander you see. Most of all mommy loved to see you draw and elephant on your new magic board on Tuesday morning  - I had no idea that you could that.

Almost every day your brave courage and determination totally astounds me. I was so happy to see you play around this weekend, sometimes on your own as you often prefer, but very often as part of a group. It was great to see you take a small leadership roll with the two younger boys.I loved the determination you showed in mastering your bicycle on all terrains.

Mommy knows that the next year will be one that challenges you and us and I can not wait to see how you will grow. Mommy loves you as much as all the stars in the sky my brave Lion.

BTW - I love that top photo. It speaks to me of a true brotherly camaraderie and love.

Keep calm - deep breath!

So the school called - they want Mr L to come in for a day to be evaluated at the school, to see how he functions in a class.  My heart beat so fast, my hands are shaking, I feel like crying - ok, who do I kid, I cried.

On the minus side - he does not handle new places well, he does not like change. Evaluating him in these
circumstances is not ideal.
On the plus side - they did not say outright no
On the minus side - I have to drop him there and leave him there. They will phone me if he a huge problem arise and I need to pick him up.
On the plus side - Mr C can go with him and stay the day too. They will at the same time decide at which teacher he will be placed.
On the minus side - the teacher he knows (A's teacher of last year) has a very busy and disruptive class this year and she will not be able to do the evaluation
On the plus side - the teacher that he will be evaluated by is the headmistress and she is in our church and he knows her by sight. Her class is calm and relaxed.

So we will try to prepare him best we can - we will talk about going, his teacher and OT will too, I will take them there a few mornings to say hallo. In the end, it boils down to:

 Ps 46:10

Trust that God will keep His hand over all this and that the right decision will be made for our child. :Live in HOPE - my word for the year.
Prayers please!

On milestones

We as parents often celebrate those big moments, those milestones that we wait for so long. That first tooth, well if you ask me the whole teething thing is no celebration. That first crawl - mobility at last to mommy's delight. To be replaced by urgent packing away of everything on eye level when baby gets the hang of standing. And talking - all 3 of mine followed that first "mama" or "papa" (yes, my Mr L said papa first - he is still daddy's boy though) with floods of words often talking together to my frustration. And so we continue - it seems those first ones, celebrated with zest often have negatives to them. Then there are the other big, only positive ones -like potty training, riding the bike without trainer wheels, brushing your own teeth and tying shoelaces. All onwards and upwards towards Independence.

But I do find that the other less big in anyone else's books are often the ones that makes me the happiest. Learning to pour your own juice without making a mess, making your own bed however shabby, being able to press play enter on the DVD remote, wiping your own bum. A big one for us was to teach them to play in their rooms after they wake up on weekends - giving us an hour or so to sleep a bit more. You know, those things that really makes my life easier.

So last night when, on asking if they want to shower, the boys enthusiastically said yes, and showered without a single tear and big talk of how big they are, I shed a tear of happiness. Both where so afraid of showering - it has taken us (especially Hunter) many many frustrating tries to get this achieved. To on their own prefer the shower is BIG! Yeah to easier camping, gymming etc. And much faster bath and bed times.

Any unusual milestones that you loved? Anything you are working on at the moment?

The Lion's favorite things

Mr L's favorite list form October is here.
I have to add that this is the very first time that he has actually given me answers on questions like these. In the past I had to assess and give answers - this time he did all on his own. Some immediately, others after I gave him examples or options.

DVD:  Auto B Good - any one
Meal: "Worsie" -  boerewors (sausage) on the braai
Fruit: Pineapple and strawberries I swear he can eat half a pineapple at a time
Vegetable: Potato No surprise - he is not really into veggies yet but at least am eating all types now
Breakfast: Egg and toast or Coco pops
Drink: "Pienk melkies " - strawberry flavoured milk
Drinking yogurt flavour: Strawberry
Sweets: Chocolate -still our chocoholic
Chips/crisps: Cheese naks
Toy:  Spartan sword and shield - he took these to school yesterday for show and tell
Colour: Blue
 I also asked him his sister's additional questions:
Animal: Lion
Sea animal: Nemo! (clown fish)
Bird: Flamingo - they made a huge impression at the zoo
iPad app: " Spotty horse" - Make a scene - farmyard
Book: "Dinosaur sleep over"
Song: "Alles vir jou" van Lianie - May & Jay For the record - none of the parent's taste in music - very corny stuff
Extra mural activity: Rugga (rugby) and swimming
Current obsession: Cars, trucks and bulldozers

So once again he defies the odds!

Yesterday was our yearly check up at the Pediatric Ophamologist - something I go to every year with a total knot in my stomach because every year, we return 3 months later to measure the angle that the right eye "falls out" and every year we seem to miss the dreaded operation by the skin of our teeth. This year I am breathing much much easier - it seems as if his eye has stayed stable the whole year and as if he is reacting well, even better than expected to the glasses and the drops over weekends. So the great news is that we will have no operation and that he gets a lens that is a ,5 higher as the doctor thinks he is able to handle that. We have now moved from the initial -3 to a -4 and now a -4,5 (his eye is in fact -6!) So great news all round. We will be exploring the possible use of a contact lens for the eye next year.

I took my iPad along to possibly do some work while we wait (it is always a long wait there) but alas, a certain young man decided he wanted to play "Spotty horse" ( Make a scene farmyard) on my "iPerd"- his term for iPad (for the non Saffers a "perd" is a horse - so he was playing "Spotty horse" on my iHorse). He shared the game with a little girl that was also waiting and really, with over 2 hours waiting time between the doctor and the optometrist for teh fitting of  his glasses I was eternally grateful for taking it along and letting him play.  It must be the only place in the world where every kid they meet wears glasses - although wearing glasses was never an issue for him (I think because he was just a little baby when he started) it must be for those who get theirs later. There is always much talking and comparing of glasses between the little ones and the parents.

I had to smile - the doctor brought out a sheet with 10 alphabet letters for me to hold and stood at different distances, asking L to show him the letter he was holding. I did not expect him to be able to do this - not because he can not see the letters but because I did not know he actually had the skill to match so specifically (and not pictures). But he did! Faultless! Another bit of hope for us.

I also had another huge smile later at the Optometrist - as we walked in the receptionist had me completing the forms and then asked us to take a look around the frames while we waited for the optometrist. He ran straight for the colourful kiddie frames and as a pro (it is his 4th frame after all) he immediately started fitting frames and talking to himself : "Nee nie die een nie, waar's die blou ene? Die een is te klein" (No not this one, where's the blue one? This one is too small ) As much as both me and the optometrist tried to convince him that red or orange or green was cool, he was set on blue (once again) and choose a nice dark blue frame. At least a different shade and make. Photos to follow when we get it next week.

So all that done and dusted, we got home at about 5:20 after I left the office at 2:30 to pick him up. 

I am much much relieved and very thankful. So what was your Monday like?