Emma had a minor operation on her eye yesterday.
For several weeks, we've been battling to get rid of what appeared to be a sty in her eye. After two doctor visits plus eye drops every day, we ended up at the Opthalmologist on Wednesday who said that two of her sebaceous ducts on her eyelid had got blocked and needed to be cleared before the infection got into the eyelid tissue. Normally they do it with local anaesthetic in the doctor's rooms but as she is a little too young to understand, he said he'll need to clear the ducts under a general anaesthetic.
What a brilliant doctor - he used all sorts of games with his light to get her to relax and cooperate with him so he could see what the problem was.
Well they went to the eye clinic in Sandton yesterday, and at about 10:30 (after a three hour wait - try do that with a child who could not eat until it was all over), he put her under and cleared the eye out. Every patient and nurse at the clinic showed an interest in her and all said good bye when she left. She soon woke-up and Mom and Emma spent the day at home sleeping and recovering.
We went through the procedure with her verbally the night before and so she was very calm and relaxed when things happened just as she expected. Quite nice as there were older children who put up a great show!
Anyhow, we took the bandage off this morning and the doctor checked her out at 12:00 and all seems fine. A bit of oitment and cleansing of the eye for the next week and all should be back to normal.
She is being an absolute star - giving us no issues when we need to clean the eye and put in the rather "gluppy" ointment.
Otherwise, Daniel's drawing ability is really taking off. He is beginning to serve up drawings of people that have clearly defined features. So nice to see. They absolutely love drawing at the moment.
interesting to see how they are also handling abstract comments and jokes. They have worked out that we fool around a lot with words and now we are sometimes the recipients of word games and incorrect statements that we used to catch them out with! Nice to see.
Otherwise the first slight chills of autumn can be felt at night. The weather has been really wonderful with little rain except for today.
We finally got tickets to the World Cup after every bid for lots of other games were turned down. Got tickets to see Denmark vs Holland at Soccer City which should be quite a good game as Holland are one of the better sides. And with my Dutch ancestory, we'll even know which team to support.
Interestingly, there are not many soccer jerseys/shirts for sale in the shops yet. Many people are wearing Bafana Bafana shorts on Fridays which have been designated "Football Fridays" at most places of work. But many people can't afford them so there is a market for cheaper copies.
Daniel and Fiona have not got rid of their dry coughs which seem to catch them unawares especially at night. So it looks like it'll be back to the Doctor on Saturday.
Our big project at the moment is preparing for the Expectant Multiple Parents seminar which Fiona runs for Samba every quarter. So nice to see how willingly all the companies donate prizes of their products for the seminar. I do the Expectant Father talk.
Come on weekend!
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Monday, February 15, 2010
Monday 15 February 2010
Faces painted at Spur on Friday night.
Painting by Daniel of a rainbow and person - his first of a person
Picture by Emma - significant as she has clear legs(a little advanced for her age)
More face fainting at Spur.Our plan with Daniel not weeing in his pants has worked. We have about two accidents in the last two weeks - fantastic compared to five incidents a day not so long ago. This morning he woke up with a dry nappy too.
Emma is also conquering new heights - she now does not wear a nappy at all - not at night nor during the day. Fantastic!
Otherwise we all have colds - nothing too serious except for Fiona who has a very dry cough. we're having typical Highveld summer weather - massive thunderstorms alternating with hot, humid days. Lots of rain is always good!
Tuesday, February 02, 2010
Achieved!
Well, we are pleased to announce that Daniel no longer wets his pants. He has sustained the habit through the week. As a result, we hired a jumping castle on Sunday morning which they seemed to really enjoy - especially when their friend Andrew arrived in the afternoon to join them. We all had a lot of fun throwing the balls from the jumping castle pool at each other (they were those soft plastic balls so they did not hurt). Emma certainly laughed a great deal. interesting to see how quickly they moved through the castle - keeping their balance and not falling out. Really enjoyable to watch.
Otherwise Emma's tummy is just not sorting itself out- it is not hassling her at all. Just the smell is industrial strength! anyhow, we handed a sample of her poo to the lab which will now culture it and then give the results to our doctor. We think it may be an allergy or maybe something like white bread for lunch at school.
The flu is also going around - Fiona was pretty sick last week, and today Daniel had a temperature. I'm also getting a sore throat.
Talking of school, they both are reacting really nicely to the teacher. Emma produced some nice art in which she showed perspective - something that children of her age obviously don't do. She now has a great love for colouring in which made our visit to Spur on Friday night very easy as she spent her time colouring in every inch of the children's activity sheet they give you.
Daniel is, according to their teacher, above average in his mathematical ability and his attention to detail. She also says they are both very creative and their fine motor skills are well developed.
Now that the weeing in their pants issue is behind us (touch wood), we are focussing on getting them not to attack each other so readily. So it is a lot of encouragement to ask nicely for desirable items instead of grabbing them or having a tantrum. Still a work in progress although it is interesting how reasonable they both are when the other asks for access to the new most popular toy in the house (changes hourly).
Good news on the neighbours front - the house is beginning to resemble a house again as the front porch has been unblocked (there was someone living there) and there seem fewer people around. The owner is now going to have to evict the laggards who ignored his legal notice to move out by the 1st.
Today is an interesting day as 20 years ago today, the political situation changed when the ANC was unbanned. This led to the release of Nelson Mandela a few days later. Quite a momentous day - interesting to hear many politicians stories about where they were and how things were received. One of those days that you can remember what you were doing when the news came through. I remember looking up at the Giants Castle in the Drakensberg Mountains knowing that things were going to change but not comprehending what it actually meant. What was so amazing how people seemed to take everything so positively and in their stride. Maybe that is why it ended up so well instead of in civil war. I think civil war was not far off at times. Quite a priviledge to be part of really amazing history - not many get to experience such momentous times.
Interesting to contrast those times now with the news that our president has fathered his 20th child - and in a extra-marital affair with a women almost 30 years younger than him! The media and opposition parties are having a field day.
Otherwise, it rained very heavily last week - probably the heaviest rains in 12 years which is a relief as it means that ever present spectre of drought is put off for a bit. On Friday night, on our way back from Cresta Shopping Centre, we were genuinely worried about our safety as there were floods of water coming down the roads. anyhow, we got home safely and the rain started easing up on Saturday - just in time for us to enjoy the jumping castle on Sunday.
Otherwise Emma's tummy is just not sorting itself out- it is not hassling her at all. Just the smell is industrial strength! anyhow, we handed a sample of her poo to the lab which will now culture it and then give the results to our doctor. We think it may be an allergy or maybe something like white bread for lunch at school.
The flu is also going around - Fiona was pretty sick last week, and today Daniel had a temperature. I'm also getting a sore throat.
Talking of school, they both are reacting really nicely to the teacher. Emma produced some nice art in which she showed perspective - something that children of her age obviously don't do. She now has a great love for colouring in which made our visit to Spur on Friday night very easy as she spent her time colouring in every inch of the children's activity sheet they give you.
Daniel is, according to their teacher, above average in his mathematical ability and his attention to detail. She also says they are both very creative and their fine motor skills are well developed.
Now that the weeing in their pants issue is behind us (touch wood), we are focussing on getting them not to attack each other so readily. So it is a lot of encouragement to ask nicely for desirable items instead of grabbing them or having a tantrum. Still a work in progress although it is interesting how reasonable they both are when the other asks for access to the new most popular toy in the house (changes hourly).
Good news on the neighbours front - the house is beginning to resemble a house again as the front porch has been unblocked (there was someone living there) and there seem fewer people around. The owner is now going to have to evict the laggards who ignored his legal notice to move out by the 1st.
Today is an interesting day as 20 years ago today, the political situation changed when the ANC was unbanned. This led to the release of Nelson Mandela a few days later. Quite a momentous day - interesting to hear many politicians stories about where they were and how things were received. One of those days that you can remember what you were doing when the news came through. I remember looking up at the Giants Castle in the Drakensberg Mountains knowing that things were going to change but not comprehending what it actually meant. What was so amazing how people seemed to take everything so positively and in their stride. Maybe that is why it ended up so well instead of in civil war. I think civil war was not far off at times. Quite a priviledge to be part of really amazing history - not many get to experience such momentous times.
Interesting to contrast those times now with the news that our president has fathered his 20th child - and in a extra-marital affair with a women almost 30 years younger than him! The media and opposition parties are having a field day.
Otherwise, it rained very heavily last week - probably the heaviest rains in 12 years which is a relief as it means that ever present spectre of drought is put off for a bit. On Friday night, on our way back from Cresta Shopping Centre, we were genuinely worried about our safety as there were floods of water coming down the roads. anyhow, we got home safely and the rain started easing up on Saturday - just in time for us to enjoy the jumping castle on Sunday.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Wee Update
Well, we have a major event on our hands - Daniel has managed not to wee in his pants for five days straight. Quite a thing!
He's met his side of the deal so now to find a jumping castle for next weekend!
Let's see if the habit is now retained.
He's met his side of the deal so now to find a jumping castle for next weekend!
Let's see if the habit is now retained.
Sewerage and Wee Problems Diminishing!
Well the good news is that two of our big issues are getting sorted out.
Daniel's weeing in his pants is being sorted out through the use of a bit of psychology.
Fiona's poster for Daniel (four days complete)Fiona drew a picture with a road leading to a jumping castle (the big incentive - we've promised that if he keeps his pants dry for five days in a row, we'll hire a jumping castle for a day). She then drew five cutouts of cars and trucks, one for each day he keeps dry. We also then positioned a blank outline of each cutout on the road to show how far we are and how far he has to go. The idea is that he gets to stick a car on the appropriate outline on the road. When all five are on the road, then it is jumping castle time!
Initially he lasted two days before have a bad day at school (they say it was due to the stress of starting a new school). Anyhow, after lots of encouragement, he embarked on the journey on Wednesday again, and today is day five of our consecutive dry days! So it seems to be working well. He does occasionally have a small leak in front which we ignore as he genuinely runs off to the toilet thereafter. Progress!
And then our neighbours had a plumber in last Sunday to clear their line so we don't have a sewerage pool building-up on the other side of the wall. Thank goodness as we've had a lot of heavy summer rain this week.
Otherwise we had John Thatcher from Stellenbosch visit is for dinner on Thursday night. All went well until he phoned us five minutes after he had left to say he had broken down at the end of our road. He thought that he had run out of petrol so we got some from a nearby garage. This made no difference, so we called the AA who arrived at midnight. The technician said it was the fuel pump which he managed to get going by connecting it to his portable charger. Anyhow, John stayed in our hastily cleared spare bedroom. On Friday morning, the AA towed the car to a dealer who undertook to fix it. Well, John waited until the end of the day before they told him it was ready (he spent the day walking around Hyde Park Shopping Centre which must have been quite boring after an hour or two). Anyhow, when it was time for him to pick up the car, they asked him to wait again. Turned out they had cleaned the car and got water on the coil so it had to dry out overnight. Anyhow, he ended up staying with us on Friday night too. On Saturday, we said goodbye for the third time and he got on his way! Quite an episode!
John before his first goodbye!Fiona and I saw Avatar last night (Granny Jo did the babysitting). Well, what a movie. It blew us away - a new era of film making has arrived. Imagine sport in 3D. Hope the TV people are looking at the technology.
Emma has had an upset tummy for a week or two. She is not troubled by it so we've been giving over-the-counter medicine to remedy it. Anyhow, yesterday, she also developed an infected eye, so we decided to see our doctor who consults on Saturdays (thank goodness). Anyhow, the tummy is just something out of sync so we're giving her probiotics to get everything back in sync. Nothing to worry about. Her conjunctivitis is quite bad and we're applying medicine 4x daily and putting warm compresses on every hour.
Now just for this rainy weather to stop!
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Settling In
So far, so good. Emma and Daniel have fitted really easily into their new school. According to the principal, they stick together quite a bit, with Emma only really playing with Daniel and their friend from down the road, Andrew. Daniel, on the other hand, has been a little more outgoing and played with a few other children. A pretty seamless change.
Daniel has reduced his pants wetting but has the odd off day still. Latest BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) for him is that he needs to stay dry for five consecutive days for Dad to hire a Jumping Castle for their exclusive use in their garden for a day. OK, we might invite Andrew to play along too. We are still on day zero!
We're trying to get Emma to reduce her whinning and screaming if she does not get her way by reminding her to negotiate rationally. Is working quite well as Daniel usually allows her a limited time with whatever she wanted from Daniel. So slowly but surely, hopefully the screaming will stop and the talking will begin.
Otherwise, it is the rainy season and our neighbours drain has done the usual January thing and got blocked up by all the leaves etc. that they have failed to clean up. As a result, there is a pool of sewerage laden water building-up on their side of the concrete fence that is beginning to seep through onto our driveway. I came home early tonight to build a temporary earth mound along the fence to stop the water coming any further into our garden. Luckily our compost heap has turned into a lot of nice soil. They've undertaken to sort it out (two messages to the "madam" yesterday were seemingly not delivered as she denied knowing anything when I spoke to her) tomorrow. So we'll see.
Good news is that there are "For Sale" notices at the entrance to their house, and we're told that all the residents were served with eviction notices today so hopefully we'll see some positive changes. The risk is of course is that the 40 plus people living in the house have damaged it so badly with their modifications for additional rooms that nobody in their right mind will buy it. We then could get another "slumlord" buying it with the resultant chaos. We'll have just wait and see.
Next week is the inaugural meeting of the Blairgowrie Residents Association which has arisen due to situations like our one with our neighbours. Lets hope that we'll see some pressure on the Council to regulate all the practices that are not fitting for a suburb.
Tomorrow is Friday which is great after the first week at work. We are all tired! Fiona and I are hoping to have a movie and dinner night this weekend as there are so many good movies out at the moment - at least three: Invictus (we have to see it as it is about something that we actually experienced), Avatar, and Julie and Julia. We worked out that we last went to movies about a year ago!
Daniel has reduced his pants wetting but has the odd off day still. Latest BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) for him is that he needs to stay dry for five consecutive days for Dad to hire a Jumping Castle for their exclusive use in their garden for a day. OK, we might invite Andrew to play along too. We are still on day zero!
We're trying to get Emma to reduce her whinning and screaming if she does not get her way by reminding her to negotiate rationally. Is working quite well as Daniel usually allows her a limited time with whatever she wanted from Daniel. So slowly but surely, hopefully the screaming will stop and the talking will begin.
Otherwise, it is the rainy season and our neighbours drain has done the usual January thing and got blocked up by all the leaves etc. that they have failed to clean up. As a result, there is a pool of sewerage laden water building-up on their side of the concrete fence that is beginning to seep through onto our driveway. I came home early tonight to build a temporary earth mound along the fence to stop the water coming any further into our garden. Luckily our compost heap has turned into a lot of nice soil. They've undertaken to sort it out (two messages to the "madam" yesterday were seemingly not delivered as she denied knowing anything when I spoke to her) tomorrow. So we'll see.
Good news is that there are "For Sale" notices at the entrance to their house, and we're told that all the residents were served with eviction notices today so hopefully we'll see some positive changes. The risk is of course is that the 40 plus people living in the house have damaged it so badly with their modifications for additional rooms that nobody in their right mind will buy it. We then could get another "slumlord" buying it with the resultant chaos. We'll have just wait and see.
Next week is the inaugural meeting of the Blairgowrie Residents Association which has arisen due to situations like our one with our neighbours. Lets hope that we'll see some pressure on the Council to regulate all the practices that are not fitting for a suburb.
Tomorrow is Friday which is great after the first week at work. We are all tired! Fiona and I are hoping to have a movie and dinner night this weekend as there are so many good movies out at the moment - at least three: Invictus (we have to see it as it is about something that we actually experienced), Avatar, and Julie and Julia. We worked out that we last went to movies about a year ago!
Monday, January 11, 2010
First Day At Nursery School
The FEDS household developed a trend of getting up after 08:00 during the past few weeks (our children understand the meaning of holidays - thank goodness). Wll, this morning we had to reverse the trend with a 06:00 wake-up (ok we tried for then and it took about 15 minutes to deal with the fact that it felt like midnight).
Actually, the wake-up went well with nobody really complaining (compared to the screaming matches that resulted late last year when they got woken up early). The verbal preparation for the big day paid off!
We have to feed them breakfast before they go off to school - quite a challenge as they can take up to a hour to eat breakfast. Anyhow, we prepared nice Bacon and Cheese Muffins and gave them Apple slices to try and spped things up. Well, a few slices were eaten before everything was rudely rejected. In the end Emma had Cornflakes and Daniel had to wait until his mid-morning snack as he was just not eating anything! It'll take a few days for them to learn to eat when it is given. The teacher said they demolished lunch!
The shool was very quiet as most children only come back when the school term starts on Wednesday. Quite nice as it gives our two time to settle in without the stress of lots of strangers around.
The day seems to have gone well - they even had a noon sleep - something that they are also have been refusing to do lately. Anyhow we had two very tired little beings at dinner tonight.
The weekend was quiet. We visited the Brightwater Commons for a milkshake, a ride on the merry-go-round and to look at the enormous Goldfish they keep in the ponds ( a highlight as with a bit of imagination some look a lot like Nemo).
So we did at least three running rounds of the "Nemo Ponds" in the midday sun! The Merry-Go-Round is a child's delight as you can ride as long as you wish - something that just does not happen!
Early to bed - there are another four early starts ahead.
Actually, the wake-up went well with nobody really complaining (compared to the screaming matches that resulted late last year when they got woken up early). The verbal preparation for the big day paid off!
We have to feed them breakfast before they go off to school - quite a challenge as they can take up to a hour to eat breakfast. Anyhow, we prepared nice Bacon and Cheese Muffins and gave them Apple slices to try and spped things up. Well, a few slices were eaten before everything was rudely rejected. In the end Emma had Cornflakes and Daniel had to wait until his mid-morning snack as he was just not eating anything! It'll take a few days for them to learn to eat when it is given. The teacher said they demolished lunch!
The shool was very quiet as most children only come back when the school term starts on Wednesday. Quite nice as it gives our two time to settle in without the stress of lots of strangers around.
The day seems to have gone well - they even had a noon sleep - something that they are also have been refusing to do lately. Anyhow we had two very tired little beings at dinner tonight.
The weekend was quiet. We visited the Brightwater Commons for a milkshake, a ride on the merry-go-round and to look at the enormous Goldfish they keep in the ponds ( a highlight as with a bit of imagination some look a lot like Nemo).
So we did at least three running rounds of the "Nemo Ponds" in the midday sun! The Merry-Go-Round is a child's delight as you can ride as long as you wish - something that just does not happen!
Early to bed - there are another four early starts ahead.
Friday, January 08, 2010
Xmas at the Fullers in Durban
On the phone to Emma
On the phone to Daniel
Attitude!!!
Swimming!
Learning to work his way back to the step(in case we have an accidental fall-in)
Caitlin and the Airplane
Caitlin and Erin
Up in the sky!
Granny & Granpa
Caught hiding
ready or not, here we come ...
Bombshell - no boys allowed until she's 40 years old
Watching cricket on TV
Dressed up 
Daniel loves giving performances of his own original songs
Playing with new toys
Look Mom, I can blow two whistles at once.
Granpa stop talking about the merits of using 
Mom and her daughters
Sisters
Daniel on Terry's new bike
Caitlin and the Airplane
Caitlin and Erin
Up in the sky!
Granny & Granpa
Caught hiding
ready or not, here we come ...
Bombshell - no boys allowed until she's 40 years old
Watching cricket on TV
Dressed up 
Daniel loves giving performances of his own original songs
Playing with new toys
Look Mom, I can blow two whistles at once.
Granpa stop talking about the merits of usingNivea on your face
(actually everyone was releasing their streamers and pulling crackers)
Mom and her daughtersLauren, Erin, Mom, Caitlin, Fiona (Left to Right)
Sisters
Daniel on Terry's new bike
Thanks to Leona, Lauren and Fiona for the pictures.
Thursday, January 07, 2010
2010
We decided to get our Blog going again after an invitation from Amber to view her twins blog. Thanks Amber - could you give us the necessary permissions as I think we tried to comment after your closed down the public access. If necessary post your contact details on our blog (via a comment) so we can give you our login name. We won't publish your details.
Well it is 2010 - the excitement of a new year - especially one in which we host the World Cup. Quite exciting as all the construction work is beginning to look like something.
We had a great summer holiday, spending the first few days down in Durban with the Fullers for Xmas. The weather was a little off (in opinion) as we only got to go to the beach one very hot morning. It rained or was overcast the rest of the time. Anyhow, the twins had a fantastic time as they were the recipients of many presents, and they got to swim in a pool for the first time in about two years. Took a bit of getting used to but they were soon floating across the whole pool and demanding to be caught when they jumped in. A really enjoyable day for all.
We bought them each a peddle bike which they seem to need time to get into as they are largely ignored. They need to learn how to peddle a full360 degrees (Emma does little 180 pushes before stopping her feet from going forward). We're not pushing them too hard as they will hit the bikes on our driveway when they are ready and then we'll battle to get them off.
On our return to Johannesburg, we then have spent a few days with them in our own pool which they have enjoyed enormously. Emma has really taken to the water but Daniel is a little more hesitant as our Joburg pool is a little colder than the Durban pool as it is shaded by a few trees (which we need to cut down but cannot yet as the local Weaver bird has several nests in the tow big shade ones). The Jungle Gym that they got for their birthday in September is still being used a lot - mostly the slide although Daniel loves swining on the swing - but only if it is at it's maximum swing - which will scare everyone watching!
Joburg has alternated between being really hot and humid, and rainy (currently more rain than sun). Today is the first day this week that has been hot enough to swim. On sunny days, the twins played a a lot with tubs of water and the sand from their recently filled-up sandpit (the last sand was redistributed throughout the garden). We put up an umbrella (over the sandpit) and a big Gazebo over the lawn to protect them from the sun as it is so fierce (they do wear sunblock, hats and costumes that cover most of their bodies).
Rainy days are taken up playing puzzles, the game snap (with a set of cards), jumping on the couches and our bed, and playing various mother-child games throughout the house. We also play wrestle a bit to get them used to a bit of rough and tumble. We've also gone to see the Barney Show at Sandton City (they seemed quite intimidated) by the massive crowd of people and Barney and Father Christmas), the zoo, and at Lifestyle they rode on the train and the other rides.
Fiona went back to work on Wednesday and I go back on Monday next week. So I've had them for the last three working days of my leave. Yesterday we went to the Brightwater Commons Shopping Centre to draw money to pay the gardener. They had a ride on the merry-go-round and had a milkshake at the local wimpy before chasing around the large waterway complex after the massive goldfish that live in the ponds. Every fish that was reddish was called "Nemo" and excitingly pointed out to the many people passing by. Eventually Emma needed to go to the toilet (she is experiencing a runny tummy at the moment) so I decided to hit off home as I had no change of clothes and did not feel like doing a public toilet with two kids who don't understand where not to put their hands. What a mistake, Daniel decided that he wanted to watch fish and eventually had to be carried out screaming to the car followed by his sister whose tummy was getting very sore and was moaning too. An interesting sight but most people gave me knowing glances. anyhow, it then took her a hour to deliver the so-called "poo" but that is another story.
Daniel then undid all his great work in learning to wee in the toilet and proceeded to wee in his pants five times in the next few hours. In the end, I ran out of underpants for him! So it was back to nappies for the rest of the day. He knows how to use the toilet but seems to get so engrossed in things that he just doesn't get there in time. So after trying stickers to reward toilet visits (which worked initially) we are now "parking" his most treasured toys and books. At first he pretended not to miss the toys but after a day or two was doing the toilet visits each time. So he got everything back and now we're back to "parking" everything.
Grrrrrrr! Emma has mastered the art of going to the toilet as she is very extrinsically motivated and loves getting stickers on her star chart. She is now beginning to sleep without a nappy at night.
We've also had the cricket (SA vs England) on every day (to give us a break from CBeebies). Wasn't the Third test exciting. Sad that SA could not get the last wicket. The Australia vs Pakistan gam this week was also really exciting - good advertisments for test cricket.
Well, the traffic volumes are beginning to increase again (after the quiet of the holidays), and it looks like next week everything is back to normal again.
The Roberts family are looking forward to some new additions soon: Twins expected by Gavin and Sam in London at the end of the month, and a girl for Craig and Alison in Durban in March. Always such a priviledge to have children.
Happy New Year!
Well it is 2010 - the excitement of a new year - especially one in which we host the World Cup. Quite exciting as all the construction work is beginning to look like something.
We had a great summer holiday, spending the first few days down in Durban with the Fullers for Xmas. The weather was a little off (in opinion) as we only got to go to the beach one very hot morning. It rained or was overcast the rest of the time. Anyhow, the twins had a fantastic time as they were the recipients of many presents, and they got to swim in a pool for the first time in about two years. Took a bit of getting used to but they were soon floating across the whole pool and demanding to be caught when they jumped in. A really enjoyable day for all.
We bought them each a peddle bike which they seem to need time to get into as they are largely ignored. They need to learn how to peddle a full360 degrees (Emma does little 180 pushes before stopping her feet from going forward). We're not pushing them too hard as they will hit the bikes on our driveway when they are ready and then we'll battle to get them off.
On our return to Johannesburg, we then have spent a few days with them in our own pool which they have enjoyed enormously. Emma has really taken to the water but Daniel is a little more hesitant as our Joburg pool is a little colder than the Durban pool as it is shaded by a few trees (which we need to cut down but cannot yet as the local Weaver bird has several nests in the tow big shade ones). The Jungle Gym that they got for their birthday in September is still being used a lot - mostly the slide although Daniel loves swining on the swing - but only if it is at it's maximum swing - which will scare everyone watching!
Joburg has alternated between being really hot and humid, and rainy (currently more rain than sun). Today is the first day this week that has been hot enough to swim. On sunny days, the twins played a a lot with tubs of water and the sand from their recently filled-up sandpit (the last sand was redistributed throughout the garden). We put up an umbrella (over the sandpit) and a big Gazebo over the lawn to protect them from the sun as it is so fierce (they do wear sunblock, hats and costumes that cover most of their bodies).
Rainy days are taken up playing puzzles, the game snap (with a set of cards), jumping on the couches and our bed, and playing various mother-child games throughout the house. We also play wrestle a bit to get them used to a bit of rough and tumble. We've also gone to see the Barney Show at Sandton City (they seemed quite intimidated) by the massive crowd of people and Barney and Father Christmas), the zoo, and at Lifestyle they rode on the train and the other rides.
Fiona went back to work on Wednesday and I go back on Monday next week. So I've had them for the last three working days of my leave. Yesterday we went to the Brightwater Commons Shopping Centre to draw money to pay the gardener. They had a ride on the merry-go-round and had a milkshake at the local wimpy before chasing around the large waterway complex after the massive goldfish that live in the ponds. Every fish that was reddish was called "Nemo" and excitingly pointed out to the many people passing by. Eventually Emma needed to go to the toilet (she is experiencing a runny tummy at the moment) so I decided to hit off home as I had no change of clothes and did not feel like doing a public toilet with two kids who don't understand where not to put their hands. What a mistake, Daniel decided that he wanted to watch fish and eventually had to be carried out screaming to the car followed by his sister whose tummy was getting very sore and was moaning too. An interesting sight but most people gave me knowing glances. anyhow, it then took her a hour to deliver the so-called "poo" but that is another story.
Daniel then undid all his great work in learning to wee in the toilet and proceeded to wee in his pants five times in the next few hours. In the end, I ran out of underpants for him! So it was back to nappies for the rest of the day. He knows how to use the toilet but seems to get so engrossed in things that he just doesn't get there in time. So after trying stickers to reward toilet visits (which worked initially) we are now "parking" his most treasured toys and books. At first he pretended not to miss the toys but after a day or two was doing the toilet visits each time. So he got everything back and now we're back to "parking" everything.
Grrrrrrr! Emma has mastered the art of going to the toilet as she is very extrinsically motivated and loves getting stickers on her star chart. She is now beginning to sleep without a nappy at night.
We've also had the cricket (SA vs England) on every day (to give us a break from CBeebies). Wasn't the Third test exciting. Sad that SA could not get the last wicket. The Australia vs Pakistan gam this week was also really exciting - good advertisments for test cricket.
Well, the traffic volumes are beginning to increase again (after the quiet of the holidays), and it looks like next week everything is back to normal again.
The Roberts family are looking forward to some new additions soon: Twins expected by Gavin and Sam in London at the end of the month, and a girl for Craig and Alison in Durban in March. Always such a priviledge to have children.
Happy New Year!
Sunday, March 15, 2009
End of the Weekend
The time goes so quickly - the weekend seems to be about a minute long.
Daniel and myself have the beginnings of a cold so we're not too well - lots of sleep today.
Last night, the twins went to Granny Jo while we had a evening out - movies and dinner. We wanted to see slumdog millionnaire - along with the rest of the world - so we ended up seeing "The Curious Tale of Benjamin Button." Wow, what a great movie. Slumdog must be bloody good as this was fantastic!
Emma and Daniel have become serious TV addicts - we allow them to watch the Cbeebies channel on BBC - which they love. Their most favourite programme is "in the Night Garden." We're restricting their viewing to about an hour a day as otherwise they'll spend every waking moment in front of the TV. They both are also dedicated Barney fans - Daniel insists on having his Barney blanket draped over the end of his cot so that he can see Barney's face while he lies in his cot!
We've developed a nice bedtime routine which involves singing a variety of songs. Interesting to see how they love to change the tunes using the same words. The shouted version of some of the songs brings about a great deal of laughter. Really very enjoyable - and it means that bedtime is relatively painless.
We're going to experiment with getting them to sleeping on their mattresses (out of their cots) - in preparation for our trip to the coast next month. Could be interesting as they will try and sleep in our bed. We think we have enough discipline in place to prevent this from becoming an issue.
Talking of discipline - we have been using a discipline corner which has really worked very well. Their behaviour changes 100% after a session which is really nice.
Daniel and myself have the beginnings of a cold so we're not too well - lots of sleep today.
Last night, the twins went to Granny Jo while we had a evening out - movies and dinner. We wanted to see slumdog millionnaire - along with the rest of the world - so we ended up seeing "The Curious Tale of Benjamin Button." Wow, what a great movie. Slumdog must be bloody good as this was fantastic!
Emma and Daniel have become serious TV addicts - we allow them to watch the Cbeebies channel on BBC - which they love. Their most favourite programme is "in the Night Garden." We're restricting their viewing to about an hour a day as otherwise they'll spend every waking moment in front of the TV. They both are also dedicated Barney fans - Daniel insists on having his Barney blanket draped over the end of his cot so that he can see Barney's face while he lies in his cot!
We've developed a nice bedtime routine which involves singing a variety of songs. Interesting to see how they love to change the tunes using the same words. The shouted version of some of the songs brings about a great deal of laughter. Really very enjoyable - and it means that bedtime is relatively painless.
We're going to experiment with getting them to sleeping on their mattresses (out of their cots) - in preparation for our trip to the coast next month. Could be interesting as they will try and sleep in our bed. We think we have enough discipline in place to prevent this from becoming an issue.
Talking of discipline - we have been using a discipline corner which has really worked very well. Their behaviour changes 100% after a session which is really nice.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Still in the land of the living, but only just!
OK, so it has been forever since you heard from us, but it was a tough start to the year! At work we were launched into the news with all the Competition Commission investigations, which was incredibly hectic and then the following week my boss told us all that he had received a promotion, so since the third week of January we have all wondered who the new MD will be, and we finally heard last week. It hasn't left me with a lot of time to arrange hand over meetings, and introductory meetings with everyone, but that is how it goes!
From the third week of Jan through to about the end of Feb, one or more of us were sick, and there were a couple of days where Steve and I had to juggle being at home and also had totally sleepless nights. We had tummy bugs, croup, tonsilitis and general colds and coughs - wonderful!
I have also taken on a different portfolio at SAMBA, so am no longer the Samaritan support, but am now co-ordinating the seminars and doing general PRO. I had my first seminar this past weekend, so spent nights and days sorting and arranging. It was great fun, but very exhausting. I will make sure I am more organised next time around!
Steve has been busy studying most nights, so last week we both took a day off work to spend some time together. We went to breakfast and then a Hobby expo which was interesting, but it was astounding to see the way some of the woment there grabbed stuff as if it was the last sale on earth! They all bought so much stuff, they were wheeling around these huge trolleys full of beads, paper and other odds and ends! Quite a site to see.
The kids are now fine, and their little personalities are so cute! I obviously say something quite a lot in the car while driving, but didn't realise it until I heard it repeated from the back seat. While stopped behind a car at stop street the other day I heard from both of them "Go Dude!" Well, I guess it could have been worse! Also when I take them to school, we look at various things and discuss them. The craze at the moment are busses, motorbikes and purple cars. Whenever we see those, I obviously say "Look, guys at the ...". So, now they say that too! 'Guys, look!" It is too funny for words!
This past weekend was Granny Lesley's birthday, and two little ones blew out a candle and sang Happys to her via skype - oh the joys of technology!
Time to go for now, but I promise it won't be that long til the next one!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
