Hi all!

Happy Easter everyone! Today was my first Easter, and I hope all of you had as much fun as I did, and needless to say, OD’ed on chocolate eggs!

Mommy warned me that the week was going to be quiet, with the focus being on getting me stronger and closer to crawling. Monday morning we did our walk to the Brigthwater Commons with Granny. Mommy pushed my traveller for half the journey, and then Granny took over. I opted for a snooze during the walk.

After our walk Granny dragged Mommy and I furniture shopping; I found it pretty boring. I guess I’m not that into furniture, yet. What was more exciting was a visit to the toy store where Mommy bought me a bunch of brightly coloured balls. These have proved to be a favourite of mine for the time being.

On Tuesday morning we headed off to Lieben’s birthday (Easter egg hunt) party. It was a fun party, and with marshmallow sticks as take-aways the memory of the party lingered in my mind for a long time. I was in little Jarrod heaven. Mom smiled to herself as she heard little sighs of delight coming from the back of the car. We were on our way to the airport to see Aunty Shazza; she was arriving back from Cape Town at 13h00 after a one day and one night visit with friends. I slept for the last part of the journey and when I woke up we were already there. Mommy made herself familiar with the new domestic terminals, which was rather interesting. I was most impressed with the improvements that had recently been done, in preparation for the 2010 World Cup (I wonder if I am allowed to mention the 2010 World Cup, as the Local Organising Committees seem to have placed moratoriums on the usage of that name). We settled in at arrivals to wait. Mommy chose to feed me lunch while we were there. It was great fun wolfing at the airport. After meeting Shazza, we headed off home for a bit of a visit; en route we stopped for Debonairs pizzas.

Mom and I slept in a little on Wednesday and then headed off to Sandton to run some errands and did some Easter egg shopping as well. Opa was coming for dinner that night so Mom wanted to get one or two things for dinner too. Dad arrived home early to meet with a second builder so that the unfinished building job that the first thieving bandit builder did could possibly be finished now. I walked around outside with Dad while he chatted to this builder. It turns out some of the stuff that the first thieving bandit builder erected needed to be redone. Actually this was quite obvious from all the cracks!

Dinner with Opa was awesome, and after dinner Opa watched as Dad took me through my bathing routine, starting with the bunzy run. A bunzy run starts with me getting naked for the bath, and then Daddy runs with me to the bathroom while Mommy chases me down the passage, and then catches us and grabs my buns. I giggle until it hurts. Then Dad baths me, but not before we spend time playing with my floating toys. After playtime, Dad baths me, and as he cleans me from toe to head, he names all my body parts. After the bath, Opa followed us to the nursery where Dad went through my massage routine, where I get rubbed up and down with wonderful massage oil. He administers all my meds and creams as well and then I was ready for bed. I bid Opa farewell for the evening, and Mom took over the last leg of my bedtime routine, which is a quick chat and play, a bottle, and then its off to dreamland for me.

Thursday morning, after Dad fed me and did my morning cares, Aunty Shazza arrived. I was most excited by this early morning visit. After a brief cuddle from her, she was off again, with Dad’s car. Apparently she needed some wheels for the day, and since Dad rode to work on his bike most days, given the clear weather, his car simply hung around on the driveway the whole day; I think the car was really excited to get out a bit! Later in the morning I had OT and physio, after I’d taken a little break from these therapies. It was great to catch up with these again, as I had missed the healing treatments. During the afternoon Shazza arrived back with Dad’s car. Both Mom and I were surprised to see her bringing the car back already, as she was welcome to hang onto the car for a whole while longer. The upside, of course, was that I could spend some time with my God-Mommy again. Dad arrived home early, as it was technically a Friday, with the next day being a public holiday. By late afternoon Dad took Shazza to her folk’s place while Mom and I chilled around the house. Later in the afternoon Mom took off to collect Granny to take her to a meeting. Dad and I kicked back and chilled.

As Friday was Good Friday, it was a really quiet day. Dad and I chilled around the house, as Mom snoozed late. Around midday Dad got a call from Roger, as they were in South Africa at the moment. Plans were made to meet later in the afternoon. After my afternoon snooze we headed off to Brendan’s place (Terry’s brother) in Melville, where Roger, Terry, Ella and Lucy were staying. I was so excited, as I hadn’t met any of them before. We had a great visit, and although we had plans to catch up with Bev and Claire later in the evening at 44 Stanley, that did not work out. Roger and my Dad did lots of catching up, and I made friends with Lucy and Ella. While there I also met Brendan and Gill, his girlfriend. I giggled at Bren’s dog, Henry, who stole socks. Roger spent a good few minutes wrestling his sock back from Henry. Later in the evening my Mom took my socks off, and Henry watched with delight at the opportunity of tucking into baby socks, but alas, that opportunity passed him by. As we were leaving, Brendan produced a bucket of honey, which is from the bees in his garden. We were enthralled, and as a going away present we got a pot of natural (homemade) honey. I suddenly started getting quite excited about breakfast the next day, as honey is a favourite of mine.

Saturday turned into a busy day of shopping and errands, and once these were all under our belts, we headed off to the airport, for the second time that week. This time it was with an air of sadness, as we were going to bid Aunty Shazza farewell as she was heading back to Australia. As Aunty Shazza and Uncle Marc are my Godparents, I gave them a special gift to take with to remind them of me. I decided to have two keys engraved with my name, attached to Carol Boyes key rings for each of them, so that my Godparents will always know that they have keys to see me. It was an emotional goodbye, and our drive home was a quiet one. It was dark by the time we got home, so I started getting ready for bedtime, but not before Dad, Mom and I played soccer in the passage. It was such great fun, Dad would kick the ball at me, and with Mom’s help, I would kick it back. I can’t wait to start playing on my own.

Easter Morning started off with Mom and Dad presenting me with a Wheely Bug in the form of a Lady Bug. It looked stunning; big and red with wheels which will take me in any direction. Once I’m stronger and my legs can properly reach the floor straddling the bug, I can see I’m going to have lots of fun. Opa came to visit at about 14:00, and he brought a friend, Barbara, with. We all chatted in the lounge over tea and cakes, and I showed off playing on my drum, my tambourine and my xylophone-piano. It was a really nice long visit, but by late afternoon it was time for them to leave again.

After they left we tidied around the house, and Dad fed the animals. I had a quick bottle and we were off to see Bev and Claire to wish them a happy Easter. I fell asleep in the car on the way there, and since they lived about 10 minutes from us, I stayed asleep there while a bottle of wine was served up. Once I was awake, I was presented with some beautiful eggs, and a big letter ‘J’ that Claire had baked for me. I was delighted – no one had made me a ‘J’ before! Next came another big surprise! Bev gave me a painting out of her collection. I practically wet myself in excitement – my very own art. Mom and Dad were very moved, and needless to say I gave Bev and Claire hugs to show my deep gratitude. After a wonderful evening together we headed back home.

Dad kicked off my usual bath routine, but before I set off to sleep I quickly had to write to all of you. The news about my development is that I’m finding standing really easy at the moment. Sitting poses no problem for me, and I even can assume all fours in a crawling position, but with no movement! Watch this space. The week ahead is going to prove interesting. On Wednesday we’re all heading off to Prof Fourie at Unitas. This will be a defining moment for me, as this meeting will determine my next steps in terms of further procedures, types of procedures, and when these will take place. I will keep you posted on these, and keep your fingers crossed for me. What is nice about the week ahead is that tomorrow is a public holiday, so my Daddy will be home with me the whole day – I really don’t enjoy that he has to leave me everyday to go to work, so any extra day with him is awesome. I think we’ll use the time to carry on working on my other blog, which is a partner blog to this, called kidzhelp.com. I’ll be ready to officially launch it soon, so keep a look out for it.

Bye for now.

Lots of chocolate kisses,

Jarrod

Figure 1 My painting from Bev by Billy Molokeng called “Our Culture is Gone”

Figure 2 Natural Born Giggler

Figure 3 Standing for my Granny

Figure 4 A long shot

Figure 5 Happiness

Figure 6 Marshmallows in the car

Figure 7 Sticky marshmallow smiles

Figure 8 Chilling with Aunty Shazza

Figure 9 Lesotho wrap

Figure 10 Splashing

Figure 11 Aunty Shazza presented me with this pic of her and Uncle Marc

Figure 12 Trying out my Wheely Bug

Figure 13 Sharing a last drink with Aunty Shazza at the airport

Figure 14 Enjoying cholocate Easter bunnies

Figure 15 Me and Opa at Easter

Figure 16 Meeting Barbara

Figure 17 Shatzi squints through her Easter snooze

Figure 18 The Easter ‘J’ Claire baked for me

Figure 19 Matt’s new look

Figure 20 Ready to go!

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