Jan

Seven Steps

Hi all,

I must start today’s blog with all the newsy stuff for this week; the biggest news is that I took seven consecutive steps on Saturday – my own personal best. I guess from here on out its practice, practice, practice, and pretty soon I’ll have this walking thing sorted. I also know many of you are wondering about my spotty situation, and the scheduling of my next brain surgery – well, no news on that front I’m afraid. The spots are still there, but there are no other signs of illness or fever, further reinforcing the fact that it was not chickenpox. However, it was still a wise decision to postpone the surgery, given that this is an unknown that may have introduced additional risk.

My vocabulary this week increased to include tickle, (tick·le [pronounced tik–uhl] def. verb, to be attacked by Daddy, followed by screams of joy and pleasure). I’ve also started saying my surname, Lederer, but only the latter part of it, which sounds something like this ‘errra errra’.

Gastronomically speaking my repertoire of flavours now also includes English Breakfast Tea, which I found to be pretty yummy.

My week was somewhat chaotic, as you will have noticed from my two mid-week blogs. Monday started off with my usual OT, and as we arrived to park I noticed Daddy’s car was already there. Needless to say I pointed at it and said ‘Daddy’, to which Mommy replied ‘yes, Daddy is here’. I was intrigued to find out that Dad was seeing Lauren as well, but for craniosacral therapy. We watched Dad get the last few minutes of treatment before hugs and kisses were exchanged all round and Dad had to head back to work.

Tuesday morning I played hard, followed by a trip to the stores to pick up some groceries. Marching up to the Pick ‘n Pay at Victory Park we passed a Steers; I let out a big ‘mmmmmm’ at seeing the Steers, and my wish was granted, a large Softserve ice-cream was presented to me. I love how my Mommy understands me! Back home some hectic playtime ensued as I pushed my little toy cars in and around a parking garage, and up and down the ramps. Afterward Mom and I met Bev at the Corner Café where we chatted for the afternoon.

Back home Opa and Dad were waiting for us, sipping on some coffee. I was overjoyed to see Opa and pretty soon he was pushing me around the back garden on my Smart-Trike. Dad joined us and we collected acorns from the oak tree and placed these in the Trike’s carrier bin. Afterwards we all had supper together, and I showed off to Opa how I can aptly feed myself.

Major excitement ushered in Wednesday as it was back to music school for me. Be Sharp Beetles had been closed for the summer holidays, and today it was ‘back-to-school’. We did a bit of recap of the last semester’s work followed by a teddy-bear’s picnic and a puppet show. I loved the puppet show and squealed in delight the little characters pranced about. An animal theme waltz followed and then the class was over.

Back home Granny met us for a short visit, and then Daddy arrived home, as Mom, Dad and I had an appointment in Unitas with my surgeons. Wednesday’s blog, Going Spotty, details the outcomes of the visit.

Mom and I slept very late on Thursday, and we woke up to find Granny had a arrived for a brief visit. In the afternoon we headed out to Jimmy Jungle in Fourways only to discover it was closed for renovations, which made us both sad.

Friday I was feeling a little under the weather so I slept almost the whole day. Mom and I went out briefly though to mail a birthday present to someone special in my life (I’m not going to say who as it will spoil the surprise for them), and we also got Josh a present for his birthday party on Saturday. Mom happened across a collection of In The Night Garden characters, so I’m now the proud owner of a full set of characters that are perched atop the TV in the study!

Dad had to go to Pretoria for a meeting on Friday afternoon, which he moaned about for most of the week. Most of you will know that the traffic between Jo’burg and Pretoria is a mare just about every day of the week, at any time. When he finally arrived home it was bucketing down with rain, which didn’t let up for most of the evening. Because of the lightning I had a very quick bath, and as I drifted off to sleep I could hear the rain gurgling away outside trying to dissipate. The back patio was under a few centimetres of water as a result of the rapid downpour.

On Saturday the three of us popped in to Chuckleberry’s to drop off Josh’s birthday present. Mom had decided that owing to my spottyness, it was best I remained in a self imposed quarantine and not infect my little friends. Mom is really good about that – the minute I show signs of a cold or flu or other symptoms, Mom reduces my contact with other little people to prevent me become ‘patient zero’ as it were!

After dropping off Josh’s present, we had lunch at Kauai at the Virgin Active gym. I suspect it was just to get Discovery points that we lunched at the gym! Although we did check out the gym-crèche, which I where I would have chilled out while Mom gymed. However Mom and Dad were extremely disappointed with the facilities, as there were three large steps with aluminium strips on their edges where littleys like me would undoubtedly have injured or hurt ourselves. To make matters worse, there were some littleys playing in that area, and there was no supervision around. So we summarily cancelled my membership – Mom and Dad would make a plan around baby-sitting me while they went to gym.

After leaving the gym we headed to Yeesh in Bryanston, which is similar to Jimmy Jungle. Unfortunately, en route, I fell asleep, so Mom and Dad headed back home. Later in the afternoon, once I was awake again, Dad took me to Yeesh where I played to my heart’s content. I started off diving into the ball-pit and sliding into the ball-pit. Dad covered me with a tonne of balls and giggled as I fought my way out. Next some quality bouncing was done on the trampoline, and despite the fact that I dribbled throughout the session I also giggled as Dad made me levitate each time he bounced me. I also slid down the slide numerous times, and soon discovered that I could also climb up the slide! At the top was a cool play area with a hammock where I chilled for a while to get my breath back. Sadly the venue started closing late in the afternoon and we had to make our way home.

Sunday was very quiet; I played on the patio in the sun and spent some time in my little pool. I also got busy with some flour in the bath and afterwards I looked like Casper The Ghost, as I was white from head to toe.

Well, that’s it for this week. I’ll keep you posted on the scheduling of my surgery. To everyone that sent me such awesome prayers, wishes, emails and SMS’s, thank you so very much. We all appreciate them lots and lots.

Lots of love,

Jarrod