Hendrik's turns 27.

It was Hendrik's birthday on Thursday. Frans and Thelwyn took him to a show with some friends, so I had to babysit Martelize. I fetched her from her school for the first time. I found her swinging happily and I was greeted with a BIG smile.

She was as good as gold the whole time and did not even cry once. (Honestly! She really didn't.) I fed her, bathed her and put her in her cot to sleep at the appointed times and every time she happily obliged. What did I do to deserve such a good little grand baby girl? Martelize, as always, it was just pure joy to look after you!
Today (Sunday) we all celebrated Hendrik's birthday. The L's are househunting and the H's are getting the Malperthuis house ready as a weekend house. It's a privilege to dream with our children.

"Sharing a joke with Ouma. Ouma you are so funny and I am so friendly! Dis lekker op die plaas!"

"Look how my hair has grown! Ouma brushed it after bath time."

"At Tannie Lisa's baby shower on Saturday. I wore my camo outfit and everyone oohed and ahed. Tannie Lisa is expecting a little girl and I will play with her when we go with our parents to endurance rides and horse shows."

Two birthday boys: Hendrik and Gert's brother, Hannes. Hannes's birthday is on Monday.

"Riding horse on Oupa Jan is great fun."

Hendrik opening his gifts. He was thrilled with his Zulu CD rom, suitcases, special handtool and English Bible.

"What do we have here! " (Farao got a fright from the flash of the camera, not Franco - sorry Farao. The L's do not have a dog yet, and Jakkie and Farao were just as curious about Franco and he about them.)

"See, I can crawl fast, if there is something really interesting I need to investigate...!"

"Let me check your teeth. Everyone checks my four pearls and three other ones on the way every now and then."

A sniff from Jakkie.

"And the fun is spoiled, and my hands get a thorough wash... Oh well, we'll visit the farm again."

"Hi there, Cuz. Why are you chewing Ouma's red blanket?"

"Well hi there yourself! I was just watching you going all gaga over the dogs. I know dogs very well. Sandy and Zaran love me."

"What can I do now? I'm not feeling too grand - have a bit of a cold, so they won't let me play with Martelize, but still it's "lekker op die plaas." See you next week."

Babysitting Franco for a weekend

This weekend Jan and I had to look after Franco. Gert and Dorette had to go for the weekend for a work related retreat. I know now why God gives babies to younger people. It is nonstop work! But it was great fun. Franco was as good as gold. It helped to have Thelwyn, Frans and Martelize here too.

Friday afternoon soon after I had arrived with Franco. Thelwyn and I put both cousins in Martelize's cot and they had a ball together. Here they are watching Thewlyn who is trying to snap them.

Cousins playing footsy.

Franco - nearly 6 months. Happy to be (without Mom and Dad) on the farm.

Our big eyed princess - 11 weeks

Martelize was her usual adorable self. Here she is on the carpet next to Fanco. Thelwyn's hand shows how tiny she still is.

Saturday morning: Franco having fun in our bed! He had a bottle at 19:00, then again at 1:00 and only again at 5:00. We could have done with a little more sleep, but for a child who is used to waking nearly every 3 hours, this was a wonderful night. Anyway, one look at his cheerful little face, and we were wide awake as well. Thank you for being such a model baby Franco! The only time he did cry this weekend was 21:00 Saturday night when he woke with cramps. Fortunately Dorette had left medication and the problem was solved in no time. Jan was really good with soothing him and getting him to go to sleep again. Generally he went to sleep the moment we put him in his bed - no fuss, no rocking to sleep, just his cloth nappy and his dummy.
Franco pulling the blankets over his head. He loves to touch material and when he goes to sleep he holds a terrycloth nappy. Grabs it and presses it to his face. His dummy is also vital for going to sleep of course!

Franco sitting in a bumbo seat and eating his cereal yesterday morning. He tried to help by grabbing the spoon and by putting his fist in his mouth as well. What a mess! But he ate everything!

Look how neatly Franco eats his cereal! By Sunday morning both Ouma and Franco got the hang of eating neatly. Thelwyn gave us a great tip: wear the bib plastic side up - much easier to clean it this way. Where Franco ate only 6 teaspoons of dry cereal on yesterday, he ate 9 teaspoons this morning! He also ate pear for supper and butternut and carrot for lunch. Today he went on a semi bottle strike. Where he drank most of, or all of 180 ml formula on Friday and Saturday, he did not want any today - did not drink a drop between 4:30 and 15:00 when he finally drank 90 ml. He was glad to see his mum though when she arrived at 16:00!

Grandparents may spoil! Jolly jumpers are "out" as far as modern parents are concerned, but babies are still babies. Our own children loved the jolly jumper (for short periods of course). Today all three of them have straight legs and backs - they all crawled and did what babies were supposed to do. So we got one for the grandchildren. Franco tried it out this weekend and although he was not quite sure what to do yet, he smiled and gurgled a lot!

Hendrik is a great uncle. He often played with Franco and Franco loved to tug his hair and his beard. Kicking Oom Hendrik is part of the fun.

Franco practising to sit. Here he sprawls out like his gymnast Mom used to do.

Franco playing with his bunny. His handling of toys has improved much these past weeks. When he was sick about 3 weeks ago, I still had to place his lion's leg in his hand for him to hold. Now he easily grabs both legs of the swinging lion - one in each hand. He is not very interested in the toys on the tray of his swing though. He is much more interested in the swinging mechanism at the top of the swing. Will he become a mechanical engineer like his dad?

Franco can roll over and does so often, but he still struggles to free his arm!

Teddy, Thelwyn and Martelize (here 11 weeks old) Martelize's hand-eye co-ordination, balance, muscle tone etc. improve almost by the minute. She enjoys doing sit-ups with her mom.

Dear God, we praise you for a wonderful weekend. Thank you for our beautiful, darling grandchildren! What a privilege!