Day 4 in Ouma Miekie's January creche:

Franco is busy cutting teeth, so I gave him a piece of biltong (dried salted meat). Nearly all South African babies get biltong to to teeth on. He chokes on rusks. However, Franco did not know what to do with this funny mmm "toy" - sat with it for a long time and examined it, but it has not gone to his mouth yet... maybe he knows babies are not supposed to have salt in their diet! (But this was supposed to be a treat Franco! Oumas mag mos maar bederf!)

Franco playing "piano" on my trolley that we use to cart crockery etc. to the stoep.

Look at those swollen upper gums: his right tooth is nearly, nearly through - or is it? (Stop fiddling in my mouth Ouma - unless you have T-jell on you finger. Only babies poke their fingers in other people's mouths.)

Proof that Franco can crawl - I was busy typing and he was playing just next to me, when I heard him moaning a bit - lo and behold: Franco has crawled right out of the house and got dirty for the first time: the front door mat is not the cleanest place for babies!

The front door is very interesting - even more interesting than my favourite ball.

Wat is dit??
Yesterday Franco and I went swimming in the swimming pool at Kamp Reynard (sister's farm next door). We had a blast! It was fun, fun, fun. I could not take a photo of course! Wish someone could have taken photos of all the things we did together! Like practising to slide off the bed, like riding on Ouma's back... Franco loves Andre Rieu DVD's. Classical music can't be bad for a child can it? This weekend we are going down to Natal for my sister Elsabe's son's wedding, but I hope Franco and I can go swimming again next weekend. MUST go and pack now!

Day 2 in Ouma Miekie's creche

Martelize is now 5 months and 1 week and Franco 8 1/2 months. Martelize started going to her real creche on Wednesday and all went well, because she is such a happy, content little girl and because she is used to other babies (Franco) and because she only drinks bottle now... (Apparently it did not go so well with another new 5 month old who was totally overwhelmed by the other babies and who is still partially breast fed!)
Thelwyn was in tears after going to see the school (without Martelize) on opening day. All the babies were crying! Typical first day and we are thankful that Martelize was spared being dumped amongst other crying children! Thank you Jesus for looking after our little girl there among "strangers" who are now her other Mommies. Please be with Franco when he returns to his school on Monday... Please let him adapt well to his new class and enjoy all the friends.


Martelize loves her pink cow.

Franco loves crumpling and tearing papers - fortunately he does not chew them as yet.. at least not here...

His other favourite, favourite is a ball. This one has a loop attached, which makes it easy to get hold of, but actually he holds a ball pretty well.

Dorette came home early so that we could erect and fill Franco's splash pool.

Franco had a great time splashing....

... but Martelize wasn't too keen on all this splashing.

Ouma lifted Martelize out, but Franco went on crawling in the water and exploring the wet towels and gym mattress on the bottom.

First time in Franco's splash pool!

Franco loves feet - anyone's, but especially Martelize's

In Ouma Miekie's creche again

Thelwyn and Dorette both started working again this week. Franco's school only opens next week so he stays with me during the day this week and Martelize joined him for the first two days, before going to her real creche for the first time. Playing next to Franco was her introduction to life in a creche: we hope all the other babies will not overwhelm her. At five months, she tolerates Franco's advances much better than a month ago and she reaches out to him herself.

One of Franco's Christmas presents was a bag with 100 light weight balls. Here Martelize gets a turn with them.

Franco likes kicking the balls right out of the tub!

Franco is swinging in the jolly jumper and Martelize is intrigued by all his antics.

A sleepy Martelize... she sometimes falls asleep on the playmat or while eating. When she starts getting tired, I put her in her cot with her dummy and "spoegdoek" and she usually falls asleep immediately. She is a sound sleeper and naps lasts at least an hour - more often than not about an hour and a half.

Franco going wild in the jolly jumper.

While in the Jolly Jumper, he soon got attracted to the telephone cables and then discovered he could pull open my desk drawer - I quickly had to move the telephone and remove all little things like paper clips from the drawer. He is 8 months.

Franco was happily playing with his toys on the carpet and I quickly went to fetch his bottle. On my return I found him playing with this host of electrical cords! (They have since been lifted and tied to the window sill!) Franco was also very intrigued with the cord and switch of my treadmill - that seemed harmless enough. Will he become an electical engineer like his other Oupa? One thing is for sure, our house is getting more baby proofed as he gets more mobile. He does not crawl much yet, but if you turn your back, he can cover quite a distance in no time.

Franco giving Martelize a kiss. (See video below)

"Ouerleiding" Reunion

Our children grew up in Kempton Park. We belonged to a parents' guidance group ("Ouerleiding"). Once a month we would get together and discuss parenting issues - usually at our house. We had a big sitting room and because I was a play group teacher, we had a big play room and lots of toys and outdoor equipment. Other mothers took turns to bring the cake!

Often we had "braais" (barbecues) together in the park on Sundays after church: everyone would bring meat, a salad and whatever and we all shared. The children had a great time playing together. We started when Dorette was a few months old and Thelwyn, Karin and Elrika 2 years. Through the years we became close friends and many of the children have remained friends too. The regular parents' guidance meetings came to an end when the children were teenagers. I think by then we had all realised that there is actually one one solution to all parenting problems: communication with God.

On Sunday we had a reunion at Elsa's house and it was wonderful to see our old friends again. Some we have not seen for a very long time! We shared so much in the past, babysitting one another's children, taking them to school or ballet, and having long discussions about the children on telephone!

I was so busy catching up on Sunday, that I mostly couldn't be bothered to take photos and now of course I am sorry: I haven't got everyone on a photo - not even my own daughters and the grandchildren or Karin's new baby Julian, but here are a few to remember the day by.

Francois and Elsa's house in the background. Thank you Elsa for organising the reunion. We really enjoyed it! In the foreground Christo S and Christo and Danie.

Having a chat in the shade: Annemarie and Hester and Elsa and Christo S. Annemarie and I went to university together. She is a teacher in a special school. Hester also had a playgroup until her husband Manie had a motorcycle accident in which he was paralysed. Today she teaches Gr 4 and Manie does the financial side of Petra College, a college for children's ministry. Elsa was also a teacher before she started doing the finances for an engineering firm.
Christo, Sanet and Sariette.

Christo, Danie, my previous neighbour, Brenda and Sanet. Sanet fell recently and dislocated her elbow. Ouch!

Yesteryear's children: Adriaan, Servaas and Hendrik. They played together and often went on Father - son camps. Pieter, Servaas's twin brother is in England. Servaas is getting married in February and Adriaan is married and Dad of the cutest little boy.

Some more "children" Liesl, Servaas's fiance and new to the crowd, Karin and Elrika. Karin gave birth to a 2nd son in November and Elrika is pregnant with her first. They have been Thelwyn's friends since they were two years old!

So what has Hendrik been up to the past week?

Of course Hendrik was part of all the family activities over Christmas and New Year, but he had some extra things up his sleeve as well. I haven't got pics of his "after party" with his horsey friends (that is the party ....after the "Boeresport" - see previous post) , but these pics will give some idea of his week....

Frans and Thelwyn gave him a Endurance Ride crash helmet for Christmas and Frans offered that Hendrik ride his pride stallion, Raviv. Frans recently had an elbow operation and will not be able to do endurance riding this year.

Hendrik on Raviv, Frans's Arabian stallion and Thelwyn on her white Arabian mare, Rebecca, keeping a safe distance. They hope to ride the national Fauresmith endurance ride again this year. Hendrik was nr 15 of the Juniors the year he rode Fauresmith.... but that was quite a long time ago and he has not had the time to do it again. Thelwyn has had her share of successes and misfortunes at Fauresmith. This year? Time will tell. (To qualify for Fauresmith you have to ride at least 3 x 80 km pre-rides. It costs a lot of money and a lot of time and physical effort to get there)

Hendrik and a friend practising for the three leg race at the New Year boeresport. They did quite well! Hendrik also surprised us with his egg throwing ability - he and his partner got to 25 metres between them when the egg broke.

Volley ball in the swimming pool. The swimming pool at Goodland is shallow right through, making it an excellent place to play ball games. (There is also a dam at Goodland where we practics long distance swimming and believe me, that is a very deep dam!)

Changed sides

A man can't play all the time: he's got to work too! Thanks for mowing the lawn Hendrik!

The Old Year and the New Year

Martelize (5 months and 1 day!) woke up in good spirits on the last day of the year. We put a bow in her hair clip to make sure she can't swallow the tiny clip - it doesn't stay in her silky hair for a long time! (Dorette suggested that she should get used to clips before she starts pulling them out the moment you put them in!)
Dorette and family are back in Pretoria, but they have been too busy to come out to the farm, so we only got to see Franco on Wednesday evening this week. To make matters worse - we have no telephone...again!

On Old Year's Eve all the F's and the B's got together to celebrate the Old Year (see previous post). The three cousins were together for the 2nd time. (See here for the first time). Imagine what next Christmas will be like!
Gert (it was his birthday as well) with Franco, Thelwyn with Martelize and Nelia with Urielle (Urielle means Fire of God)

Franco and Martelize were intrigued by their 3 1/2 month old niece. Here Franco (8 months 1 week) grabs her foot.

If you look really carefully you'll see the Franco is sporting a one day old tooth! He finally "cut" his first tooth, but the next one is close. He sits sturdily enough that he does not need a supporting hand, but I wasn't taking any chances with wriggly him on that tile floor!

How's that for a New Year resolution! Jan started the new year by jogging a kilometre on the treadmill. His aim is 1000 km this year. (He ran the 90 + km Comrades marathon is his youth, but struggles to do physical exercise now, due to anaemia. Pray that he will overcome this soon!)

We spent the rest of the day on Goodland with the local community for "lekker boersport" (fun and games.) The young ones starting one of many races while...

Most of the post 40's sat in the shade and visited.

A summary of the B's faith symbols on 31 Dec 08

On old year's eve the F's and the B's got together to share what God had meant to us this year. I tried to post our programme on our other blog, but did not succeed. I tried to post the Bible texts that God revealed to me on this blog, and it would also not post, so this is just a summary of what the res of the B's and I talked about on the 31st:

I said: Jesus is the Christ:
My text verses were the following (in brackets my own summary / interpretation):
1 John 4: 2: (If I want to be a child of God, I must be filled with His Spirit and to be filled with the Spirit I must confess and proclaim that Jesus is God incarnate: He is the Christ.)

1 John 3: 9 (If you are born of God, you cannot go on sinning.)

1 John 3: 22 -24. (God lives in me, if I obey)

1 John 1: 1 (I must have a real relationship with God: see, hear and touch Him)

Hebrews 12: 14 (I must strive to live in peace with everyone else. If I am not holy I will not see God.)

Jan said: Jesus is my guide and his text verse was Isaiah 30: 21: Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it."
He used his two way radio as his symbol: we had to be quiet and then we could hear his voice even though we could not see him: the same way God speaks to us when we are quiet and listen.

Dorette said Jesus gives her freedom and teaches her freedom (John 8: 34-36), Gert said Jesus took him on a rollercoaster ride (Psalm 23) (He really had a rollercoaster ride with his father being very ill on the one hand and Franco's birthon the other among other ups and downs). Frans said Jesus is his light (He said had also started a new job in 2008), Thelwyn says Jesus is like a fountain which keeps on giving and never dries up, Martelize (through Thelwyn of course) said that God provides all she needs. Hendrik said God is his Helper. His verse was Psalm 50:15 Call out to God and He will help you and you will honour Him. (my translation). His symbol was a work glove - representing a hand.

Next time I hope I'll be able to post everyone's contribution.

MAY YOU ALL HAVE A WONDERFUL 2009!
LET GOD HOLD YOUR HAND: IT IS THE ONLY SAFE WAY TO EMBARK ON THIS NEW AND UNKNOWN JOURNEY!