Last day of school 2012

Friday was the last day of school for the year. I thought that documenting only the first day of every year will be way more sensible if one documents the last day too - to see how much they have changed in the year.

It was also the very last time that we will have kids in our very beloved little Catholic pre school, so I decided on a whim on Wednesday to make each of the teacher (8 in total)  a little something. So I popped into Ruby's (a treasure trove) and found wonderful bits to make something. In the end I am almost shy to admit that each gift cost me R8,60  - but put together with much love. I then decided to send one each for some of the teachers that was important in the Princess' life this year too and made 15 in total.

I bought crochet flowers, felt, ribbons and brooch pins and glued it all together with my trusty glue gun.
I am very happy to say that I think most teachers loved them and most pinned them on immediately.

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.

Imagine....

 You are in Big five country, only you and your beloved alone. All that separates you from the animals out there is a structure(boma) made of split poles and electric fencing that generally houses new animals brought into the reserve for quarantine purposes . A small corrugated iron roof provides very basic protection from the elements.

Imagine....Sitting in a bird hide way after most tourists are gone, watching night fall and seeing nature playing out the dusk routine. Seeing a lone black rhino coming to the dam for a drink right beside a crocodile. Seeing little weavers calling their mates to the nest and kingfishers catching their dinner. Hearing the sound of the hippos calling their mates.

Imagine... sitting outside the boma next to your beloved, staring at the sky with the stars so close you can almost touch them. Seeing the sky turn from light blue to dark in the west and the lightening flashing over the hilltops in the east. Hearing the far off thunder dispersed with only the sound of crickets and a far off lion calling. Marveling at how small we are in this big universe. A spiritual journey in nature.
 

Imagine... eating a basic dinner together under the stars, falling asleep holding hands and listening to Gods wonderful creation around you. Waking up around ten to the sound of huge elephant bull in musk, literally pushing over trees and yanking off branches. So close that you can hear his tummy grumble. A bit of fear mixed with a whole lot of wonder.

Imagine... waking up when the alarm on your phone goes off at 2 am to the wonder of the stars and the silence, quickly breaking up your basic little camp and heading off to do your practical bit for the plight of our rhinos.

Just imagine ...and know that this was our reality - our very special date last Friday. I will always cherish times like these with Hunter, experiencing nature and God's creation on a level that very few have the opportunity to do. To know that we made a difference that night towards the protection of those that need it most.

The future - white rhino cow and suckling calf

It's for that spectacular horn that he might die - just see the comparison below with the horn size of his friend.

 PS. Every day "ordinary" people like us contribute to the plight of the rhinos, some of us in a practical way. This is not the first time that I went with Hunter to do this, but it's the first time I could find some words to describe the wonder of the experience to share it with you. If you want to contribute financially, please support "stoprhinopoaching.com" . Hunter belongs to an orginization that are part of patrols like these which are done under the protection and to the assistance of the anti poaching units in our National and Provincial Parks. Feel free to drop me an email if you want to know more. If you want an experience similar to this they do offer guided wildness trails in big five country ( only persons older than 16)

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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.

Bandanas galore

Today is national bandana day in support of the Sunflower fund. The kid's pre school always ask them to wear them and does a bit of an educational. We had a bit of fun last night and this morning with the bandanas.

I love that the theme is "Hope" - my word for the year

 So are you wearing yours? If not, I am sure Pick n Pay still has some for sale right now! At R20 a great cause to support.

Our life on Instagram - 3rd week in August 2012

We had a lovely, but very busy weekend - I feel rather exhausted today, but alas, onwards and upwards with a very busy week. L:ooking back on last week:

Day 33/365 It felt like Spring, it smelled like Spring.

Day 34/365 Watering the flowers - something the kids love to do, with a little too small bike in the background.

Day 35/365 Beautiful post sunrise colours.

Day 36/365 Bought my books for Bookclub in September and this beautiful Hope necklace - my word for the year - had to have it when I saw it.

Day 37/365 Drive- in night! First night that it was warm enough for us to vernture there. We all loved Ice Age 4!

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?

What??? I said?

When I saw on the school's newsletter that admission applications close on the 22nd of June this year. Yes, it has been made a whole lot earlier than it used to be. In addition, grade R is part of the Primary school next year and forms the first formal year of education. This means that I have to enroll my boys into grade R now! And at the Primary school, not the Pre Primary who I have talked to about my boys, especially Mr L before.

So on Friday I popped in at the Pre Primary and had a chat to the headmistress there. It transpires that I need to do a whole lot of homework and get a whole lot of reports for Mr L. (For those not aware he has Sensory Integration disorder - or Sensory processing disorder). He is behind in some fields of development and apparently at this stage ahead in others, but he does not have what I would like to call a "non neurotipical" profile - I hate the word normal. What the hec is normal? What is a fact is that he has made huge progress in the last year. But it also means that although our OT and his teacher and the headmistress of the pre primary all are of the opinion that he should go to a main stream school, the governing body of the shool has the right to refuse him entry. So I need to get the supporting "evidence" that he is indeed suitable for the school. The Pre primary principal is prepared to go to the headmaster of the Primary school and have a discussion to allow him without even having to refer it to the governing body. For that I am so grateful.

But, this all means a scramble to the OT for a new updated report, asking his teacher for an updated report and getting a developmental psychologist report if the OT thinks we should. A lot to get done in just a month. But I know that if we can get this done, and if we can indeed get him grade 1 ready next year, I can have my twins in the same school and grade successfully. As our OT always says, that is our big goal. The rest will follow. Maybe with more attention and therapy, but it will follow. We also have to move the two of them into separate classes next year so that they can both establish their own friends and place in the class.

So we are pushing ahead getting everything done, and then it's a question of holding thumbs and praying that this all works out. What I do know is that he loves these books at the moment - and he is doing so well sitting, concentrating, drawing. Starting to lift his wings and fly. Hope, yes, hope. There's that word again, My word for 2012.

I have to share this

As some of you may know, my word for the year is HOPE. Striving for happier, better times, but also working towards them.To have hope is not to have an empty yearning towards achieving the positive, but actively working towards that too.

Hence I am delighted to report that one of those seemingly small but in real practical terms huge things in our lives have been resolved. (There is a rather big one too but I am still too scared to tell you as Murphy reads this blog but I know some of you might guess it). There are no more tears at hair wash times. No more tears every morning untangling those little tresses of very fine hair while guiding them into a pony tail. In fact we have not used our special torture instrument called the de-tangling comb in over two weeks! Because we have this:

A Michel Mercier brush! Oh my word! It is magic. You get one for fine hair, one for normal and one for thick hair. It is really and truly the answer to my prayers. The Princess is even brushing her own hair - kid you not! This never happened before.

So this is my bit of a public service announcement ( neither Dischem or Michel Mercier is in any way involved with this)- available at Dischem at R150 each and choose the right one! There is a pamphlet that explains how to determine what type of hair you have.

I promise you tear free hair days - forever!