With marked irritation in his voice....

Mr  L told me that he hated having to explain why he does not wear glasses anymore. Apparently most 7 year olds find the concept of contact lenses very odd and the look of their friend that was always wearing glasses also slightly weird without them.

But it has been almost 6 months of him wearing contact lenses. It has truly changed his world! He just functions so much better in any circumstance with the lens than with his glasses. I keep thinking how much easier his life, with all his challenges would have been if he did not have the eyesight problem mixed into everything else. Everything from concentration and school work to his game of rugby or judo has improved at leaps and bounds. I can not be happier for him.

We have reached a big milestone today - and I am not sure how many of you will even understand it. He wore a monthly contact lens for a whole month! In his first month and a bit he wore daily lenses - and expensive option but the best place to start. From the middle of January he has been using monthly lenses -meant to keep for a month. We have gone through 7 lenses in 4 months - one only kept for a day before he lost it. One tore after a week. It's been a tad costly. But this month he made it - kept one for a whole month!

In the meantime, from a parent perspective I can tell you that many many days it would have been way easier to just use glasses. It takes time and patience to get that lens in . Some mornings it's first time lucky - others you need a few tries with. Hunter very easily also learnt how to help L. But for us, that can see the difference it's made, there is no other option. Glasses are now reduced to sometimes Sundays to rest his eye or late in the day after homework(it does get red and irritated at times - he is only 7 and no matter how you stress it, he does rub his eyes with dirty hands).

To think, 6 months ago I knew nothing about contact lenses. Now we are all well versed veterans, including the 7 year old

If you want to know more about his sight issues and why glasses do not work - read here: bright eyes

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.

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.

There's no place like space for a great party.

Imagine having twin boys with very different passions and having to organize a party that both of them will love? Up to this year I think anything would have been fine for them and they did love their Lion and Crocodile party last year, but by 5 they very much have their own opinions and I wanted a theme that would thrill both of them. Mr C is at the moment totally obsessed with space - he knows all the planets, how many moons and rings they have and all sorts of facts that I do not even know at all.Mr L is still obsessed with everything with engines be it with wheels, wings or whatever. His ideal party would have possibly been excavators etc, but the promise of many rocket ship items the week that space was the theme for the week at school did it. And a space party was born.

We had the party at their pre-school - a brilliant idea. You can rent the school for a Saturday for a fee - it is cheaper than a party venue, has all that you need in terms of playground, tables and chairs etc and theirs even have a braai area as it is connected to a church. The school gets extra money for maintenance of equipment etc and you get a great party venue where the kids totally feel at home.

On to the decor/theme stuff:

The party packs were plain silver paper bags with each child's name on their rocket ship. Inside were some stickers, and "alien" to grow and bangles and rings for the girls and a slinky for the boys.

Silver paper plates and cellophane bags to take left over sweeties home in the party packs

A few balloons with silver stars on and CD/dvd's with silver pipe cleaners hung on the gazebo edge.

Mr C's Uranus cake. I swear I am the first mom in history to make a Uranus cake (yes, I did Google and found one bakery one). I was so stressed that he would not like it but he counted the moons, confirmed that 9 was indeed correct and gave his blessing. He loved it! (Chocolate oil cake with butter frosting)

Mr L's rocket ship cake. My, was that boy crazy about his cake! He totally loved it. (Vanilla hot milk sponge cake with butter cream frosting.)

I made some of my now (almost) famous colouring in table cloths for the tables. But due to the sunny weather not much colouring happened.

 For the first time ever I did a sweetie buffet in stead of sweets pre packed in party packs. The little aluminium containers on the left had names on and was used to dish sweeties in. Every sweet type was named something to do with space like "Space cadet vitamins" and "Alien faces". What was left at the end of the day was taken home (plus some just because). Amazingly the kids ate very little sweets, chose only what they liked so the waste was minimal and I totally loved that so many parents had some sweets and took party packs home for themselves.

Below you can see why a pre-school is the perfect party venue - lots of equipment, dressing up, sandboxes and yes, the ever popular jumping castle.

The kids just played and played until we gave them all a nice Boerewors roll to eat (Prego steaks for the parents.).

We then let them loose on the sweetie buffet. The only item that was totally finished by the end of the party was the sherbet. A total hit with all!

 Then we went on to make each kid's own little bit of space by making little mini space globes (snow globes). I used little plastic containers bought at the packaging shop, beads for planets, big stars and smaller stars and glitter for the final stardust touch. I then added water and sealed the lids with bostik. Most kids loved it, even the smaller ones.

 After a lot more playing and chatting we all dispersed just in time for us to tidy up and be back home just as the Springboks took the Aussies on.

I loved that the party had a relaxed atmosphere, I loved that it was relatively low intensity - I made everything before hand - to set it up took us about and hour, to tidy up less. Above all I loved that the boys declared it the very best party ever.

(BTW - I did not take many pictures - thanks to teacher Wendy for the ones marked "Captured by Cat" and Marcia for the rest - you two did a great job.)

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.

Tomorrow....

Is the big day
Tomorrow I will leave my boys at the "big school" for L to be evaluated for entry into the school
Yes, I am very nervous.
Yes, I do believe that it is unnecessary.
Yes, I need it to go very well and just be over so that I can get rid of the tension lying in my tummy.
And yes, I will let go and let God.

All your prayers and positive thoughts for tomorrow( Thursday).