Our little Bokkie

Kade played his very first rugby match yesterday and did us very proud. He was a little concerned at playing initially because "I'm not really a good runner with the ball Mom!".

We encouraged him to do his best and he found his niche; tackling. He very proudly informed us that although he may not be very good at running with the ball, he tries his best to make certain that nobody from the other team gets a chance to run their ball to the other side and on occasion he had a few guys down on the ground, at the same time.

We helped him realise that there were other valuable jobs for the team mates to do and being a good tackler was as important a job to the team than just scoring a try. He practically tackled anything that moved after that and he did very well, preventing 6 guys from scoring tries and as a result his team won 8-5.

Perhaps we are going to have another springbok rugby player in the family.

Building a life

Something that has been on my mind ever since my "big boy" turned 7 on Saturday and I can't seem to shake it. I have heard it mentioned more than once that the first 7 years of a child's life is considered to be their "foundation" years and all the values, or not, and the "base elements" if you could call them that, are instilled and in some cases drilled into a child in their first 7 years.
I find myself recollecting all life's required skills and values and wonder if I have have taught enough, loved enough and helped him learn enough to be grounded for life. It's sort of like laying the foundations for a building, without any architectural plans or design and if you miss something or add in too little or too much of any particular ingredient, well sooner or later the rest of the building will collapse, not the ideal thought really for a first time builder!!

So basically, I've been asking myself the following questions; have I drilled or instilled, which ever method you chose, the correct and the necessary life skills in these crucial 7 years that will ground him for life? Have I laid the foundations correctly or am I constructing a building that could ultimately collapse because I haven't developed the foundations properly? What do I do if I have missed something life altering? Is it too late now to fix it?

As you can see this is something that is actually beginning to stress me out a bit. I would like to believe, please let me believe, that the foundations can be adjusted and moulded correctly and accordingly as we build our soon to be "towers of virtue and morality" and that they will be the sweet little angels and upstanding citizens that we all aspire them to be.

Happy Birthday Kade

Birthday boy's breakfast order:

7 flackjaps and chocolate sauce. YUM












Check the smile on that face. A cool bicycle for his birthday. "WOW, just what I wanted."

















Lunch at Panarotti's with his friends followed by a fun game of ten pin bowling.


















What a great day. Happy Birthday Big boy.

Love letters

Kade has been enjoying our Church's Holiday Bible Club this week and yesterday they were invited to write a letter to someone. This is my "Love Letter" from my son. It reads.....

Mom you my favourite Mom in my heart.

I really love you a lot.

I am really happy it you my Mom.

Now isn't that enough to just make your heart turn to mush and your knees go weak?

Passion Gap

Kade is the very proud owner of his very own "Passion Gap"! After much wiggling and wriggling the stubborn tooth finally came out (without the help of a dentist). For those who are not familiar with the term passion gap...know this...there is a "cultural group" in the Cape that deliberately remove their front teeth and believe that in doing this, they are sexier, better looking and a good catch....yes it's true...it is sexy in some cultures to have no front teeth!!!
Ja well no fine hey! Nay bru....check out my sexy boooi chiiinah.

Soggy, Mouldy Sarmies without Treats

While all the Mom's were waiting to collect their little ones today, we began a rather (as it turned out), serious debate over lunch boxes and what should go into them or more matter of factly, should special treats go into them and when and why? Kade is quite a fussy eater and only chooses to eat his sarmies if the are made with the Woolies hot dog rolls; sometimes I am lucky and can get away with the brown hamburger rolls but that is really pushing my boundaries. If I were to make him a sandwich with regular sliced bread, white or brown, the confection I so lovingly prepared, will return home every time without fail. During our discussion, the question arose on what to do when your little one does not eat the healthy stuff but leaves no trace what so ever of the treats. I simply piped up, to a few of the Mom's absolute horror that I would simply pack the unwanted sarmie into the refrigerator and return it back into the lunch box the next day, minus any treats. Those dreaded sideways looks glare my way. Clearly I have hit a nerve. I need to explain, obviously.

My secret really,(and I know that one of those horrified Mom's will read this, so my secret is out) is that I don't put the same sarmie back into the lunch box. I lovingly make him another identical sarmie, pop it into the box and make him believe that he is eating yesterday's left overs and to add insult to injury, no treats. I sound like quite a horrendous mother don't I? How else do we teach them that wasting food simply because you don't like the shape of this bread vs. that bread, which was more than likely prepared with the exact same freaking dough is not acceptable, without having to guilt trip them about all the starving children out there who would have given their eye tooth for that meal?

I don't have to do the "you're possibly eating a mouldy, soggy sarmie thing" very often, he catches on and brings back the empty lunch box, leaving me quite exhilarated at my triumph and left holding on to the hope that it was in fact eaten and not disposed of in some devious manner.

Master Inventor

Kade is my little Picasso, my inventor. Occasionally he reminds me of an absent minded professor; so deep in thought that a hurricane could be raging outside and he would remain locked in his own little world. Talk about a male in his box, it starts really young.

I am amazed at his ability to draw, he has a way of capturing every detail, not missing out a thing, even at his young age. When he is not deep in his world of sketches, he loves to invent machines and contraptions, that often seem really far fetched to me, but hey, the future is bright.

Today he approached me with a very complicated looking sketch and asked me to sit down so that he could explain this machine to me. "You see Mom, you climb in this side here." pointing to an image that resembled a compartment from a space shuttle. "hhmm I see." I reply, squinting and looking very interested. "And then you push this button over here and hold on to those handles over there and then when it is finished and the smoke goes away, you will be thin, and you won't be fat anymore."

WHACK!

I'm caught really unaware on this one, it was a good thing he initially asked me to sit down. I hadn't realised that he was so concerned by my body weight, that he felt it necessary to invent an entire machine in order to help me slim down a touch, OK, a big touch. "Do you think Mommy is fat dear?" I asked regrettably, knowing the innocence and honesty of a child's answer. "Oh, Mom" he laughs "yes, a little bit". "Ouch, let me turn around for a moment while you pull the knife out." He didn't get that one and laughed at me again. I suppose I should be grateful that in his very, too honest, answer, he did mention "just a little bit" or am I hoping for too much and grasping at straws here?

I do recall a while back, driving the kids to school and out of the blue Kade asks me "Mom, you know that special milk you buy to help make you thin?" (My fat free milk) "Yes, dear, what about it?" I reply "Well Mom, I think you need a new one, because that one is not working."
These really are not safe comments to make to your unsuspecting mother while she is driving a car, just by the way.

Perhaps it is time to take a hint, especially when coming from the honest little mouths of babes, but until he does manage to build his masterful invention, I fear I am going to have to attempt to do it the old fashion way, with a different brand of fat free milk of course.

Guilt

Yesterday brought on a sampling of what Winter is about to bring; a little rain, clouds and a distinctive chill in the air, which sent me digging into the black, dark hole that is the kid's cupboards, in search of something, not only warm but that still fits.

While dressing up Madam Fluff and Snuggle Bug in their woollies, I noticed that poor Kade didn't have his uniform in it's entirety. We have the suitcase, shorts, shirt, socks, shoes, hat and tracksuit top, but alas not tracksuit pants. Having spent, what is some small developing countries, is considered a fortune already on all the school gear, we decided that the tracksuit pants and raincoat could wait a little while longer. We were saving that purchase for "a rainy day". Well our rainy day snuck upon us and still no tracksuit pants.

Driving in the car on the way to school, it appeared, ZAP, flicker, flicker, zzztt, zzztt, it just appeared from nowhere....a bright, blazing, couldn't miss it if you tried, neon GUILTY light. I kept quiet, my eyes shifty, hoping nobody would the see guilt that just crept into them. I glanced around quickly, looking at Fluff in her jeans, Bug in his tracksuit and me in my long pants and poor Kade with goose-fleshy legs in his shorts. At that stage I realised the heaviness of guilt, it puts a weight on your heart, making it feel like it is going to drop right through your gut into your feet. In an attempt to remove the guilt, I tried to shift it onto the school; I mean is it really MY fault that the clothing shop is only open two days a week? It didn't work very well; guilt just reminded me that the shop was open the day before and had I checked the weather I would have realised that the rainy day purchase was err....NOW...

When we arrived at the school, I noticed quite a lot of children running, happily, (I made myself believe) in shorts and just wearing their warm tops. Hang on, is that a "guilty" neon sign I see flashing above THAT Mother's head, I look again, no, I must be seeing things, or perhaps it is the blinding light of my own neon guilty sign, shining so bright it is reflecting on everything and everyone.

Thankfully, as the day progressed, it gradually got warmer and warmer and my neon guilt light seemed to lose it's spark and fizzle out, the heaviness of my heart seemed to ease up, yet not completely. I scratch around the study, in search of the notice that states the days and times that the clothing shop is open. Found it. Thursday, we'll be there, before they open to purchase the tracksuit pants, Ha Ha, Mother Nature "bring on" your next rainy day.

Until then, I really must find someone, anyone, able to repair this faulty-light-up-at-any-moment-without-warning neon light of mine.

Words of Wisdom

Some times the wisdom of a 6 and a half year old can really knock your breath away. While I was typing away, bragging about the conquests of my Snuggle Bug, I left my kids *almost* to their own devices. They were happily drawing, colouring and cutting while I tapped away hurriedly on my story before they noticed I was missing in action.

I went through to the lounge to be surprised and amazed at the beautiful works of art my little Picasso's had created. Madam Fluff, however had completely destroyed (don't ask me how) my favourite pen. While I am having a little huff and a puff, while serving them up their dinner, Kade walks up to me and says "Mom, you know, I really know how you feel." HUH? "Remember" he continues "when I built that robot with my lego's that I really liked and they completely destroyed it?" Hhmm, I'm listening "Well, Mom I just forgived them, that's all you have to do Mom, just forgive her." ....................

Please tell me how on God's good earth I can be mad after that?? I Love these kids :)

This time I must dash, I just had to run and save Connor's chicken nuggets from being drenched in strawberry flavoured syrup instead of tomato sauce.

The tooth fairy and the tooth monster

Kade has a loose tooth, yay. It's the fourth one now, but let me tell you this, loosing teeth in this house does not pass by as uneventfully as I am assuming it does in others. Kade's new teeth are so excited to come out that they can't seem to wait for the milk teeth to fall out first. We basically have our very own "Jaws" in the house, running around with two rows of teeth.
The last time Jaws appeared we ended up having to make a visit to the dentist to remove the stubborn little buggers, that, although were as loose as they could possibly be, just refused to bugde!
The second time around and slightly more relaxed about the phenomenon than I was the first time, we decided to give it a few more days to see if the reluctant tooth would fall out, we tried the wriggling, pulling on it and every conceivable pain free method we could think of. Alas! the tooth is still there and today we're off to the dentist again!! Kade is actually quite excited about this, here's why; the last visit to the dentist was his first and I was so stressed out that this dentist would put him off for life (as I am) that I basically threatend the dentist and bribed Kade. The deal that the "tooth fairy" was prepared to make with Kade was, that for being so very brave and going to the dentist to have his teeth removed, he would get double the usual fairy pay out!!! One part for the tooth and the balance for bravery. I can't help but wonder somehow if he is keeping the teeth in there on purpose for double fairy pay outs?? This unusual occurance surely doesn't happen more than once?? Perhaps it had something to do with the brilliant way the dentist handled this first time visitor, by playing "space ship" on his gadgety dentist's chair and beaming him "up to the light", which, even I thought, was very cool!
Personally I am rather saddened that when you get to my age that the tooth fairy doesn't stop by anymore. Since my pregnancies I have had endless problems with my teeth and I now have the tooth monster stopping by, chipping away at my teeth in the still of the night, and then again sometimes in broad daylight. Some mornings I wake up to feel little grains of tooth in my mouth, the other day a cashew nut was the culprit and the one before that a block of ice. In fact my new best friend is Myprodol!! I suppose the tooth fairy only offers money for healthy teeth that are still all in one piece and not if they just fall apart bit by bit!
For Kade's sake I have to put on a very brave face at the dentist ,when, in fact I have openly admitted that I would quite happily give birth again before I have a root canal.
Wish me luck, my appointment is next week.