A Good Week

Hi All,

Let me say as a start, personally this week has been a very good week for me! This being despite the fact that Chile suffered a massive 8.8M_W (moment magnitude scale) earthquake, and at the time of my blogging this afternoon a further 76 aftershocks ensued. The initial earthquake also resulted in a tsunami that radiated outward from its epicentre to regions as a far away as Japan, Russia and Hawaii. Some interesting stats Dad and I discovered and are worth noting about this earthquake are that it was 800 times more powerful than the one that hit Haiti six weeks ago, and is ranked in the top ten earthquakes on a number of measures.

Given these developments, and similar ones over the past few weeks and months, I think that its important to say that time is so precious we really don’t know what will happen in the future, so to all of you out there, in the words of Mark Twain, “Dance like nobody’s watching; love like you’ve never been hurt. Sing like nobody’s listening; live like it’s heaven on earth.”

Dad and I also came across an interesting news clip during the week about Action Comics; the Action Comics No. 1, in which Superman made his debut appearance in 1939, was sold for a cool $1m! The original sold for a mere 10USc! Being interested in science and physics, Dad and I also had some interesting discussions about element 112, Copernicium, which has now received its rightful place on the Periodic Table of Elements. It is a synthetic radioactive chemical element that sports the symbol Cn, and was created for the first time in 1996 by the Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung (GSI). The GSI proposed the element’s name in honour of Nicolaus Copernicus, and has a half-life of less than 30 seconds.

Ok, back to my awesome-saurus rex week!

Firstly, thank you all for your positive thoughts and concerns; let me tell you what they have done for me this week. The week started with a new job for Mommy – backwashing the pool. You see this is a first for Mom, and by her own choice she decided to take on more work around the house, as Daddy’s job in now starting to build up momentum for the year. Backwashing the pool is easy for a littley like me, because there is so much fun in cleaning and scrubbing the pool. Mom eventually left me in Granny’s care to do it as she had to read the instructions that Daddy wrote her and look after me, and admittedly couldn’t do both. She was quite funny to watch while she went about her business. After this exercise, Granny came with us to the shops to do some grocery shopping at Victory Park. Granny walked with me on the walker while Mommy whizzed around the shop to get ‘stuff’. My new skill for the day is making kissing sounds on demand and blowing kisses as well. I humoured my Mommy who was thrilled and kissed and blew kisses all day even over the phone to Daddy. I also insisted on phoning Mommy from her cell phone to the home line and chatted till she found me under Daddy’s desk with her cell phone.

In the afternoon just before dinner, I played and played with Dad when he got home, it was really good to bond with him. I know he’s doing all the corporate work at the moment, so Mommy can stay home with me, while I recover from all my surgeries. Mommy says that’s a huge sacrifice for him as he would love to spend all his time at home with us. So thanks Daddy I know Mommy appreciates it and so do I.

Tuesday saw us going to Edna, but before heading out I decided to get into the shower fully clothed and racing around it while my folks attempted to in vain to catch me. What they don’t know yet is that I am giving them a chance before I get mobile to get used to it.

Mommy decided that it was time for a ‘big’ check up with Dr. Nicoletta. It was really good to see her again. We had a really long appointment while she asked Mommy about everything that was going on with me. It did turn out that I have an upper respiratory infection, i.e. a mucky nose. You’ll remember that last week the concerns around the low grade fever and vomiting had been discussed with Dr. Nicoletta, so she was happy to see me. The challenge with an upper respiratory infection is that the Basel metabolic rate of the body increases, which can cause panting and an increase in blood pressure. At this point in the 8 week recovery from my surgery it would be unwise to have a change in blood pressure, especially with my head size under constant review, much to my in vain objections.

We did measurements and length, which I objected to hugely to my Mom’s surprise. Dr. Nicoletta was thrilled as separation anxiety is NORMAL at this age. So my stats are officially 11.2kgs, I am 82.5 cms long and my head size is 48.8cm (a bit on the big side, but being monitored, CLOSELY). In addition there is no obvious challenge to my development even with the change in language taken into account. Mommy and Daddy are so happy with me, they could burst with pride.

When we came home, Mommy started baking and she is thrilled with the fact that as Apple Pie was baking, I scurried up the hallway saying, hmmm, hmmm, hmmm over and over again. She has taken this as quite a compliment. Daddy almost fell over his bike boots to get to the kitchen when he smelled it too, so I know I’m not wrong about it being hmmm.

Wednesday came with some trepidation on my part. Music did not go well last week, so Mommy and I were cautious about going, but decided it was important to go. Before going to music I went to my very first government building, to fetch Mommy’s driver’s licence. For those sceptics out there, we were in and out of there in less than 5 (five) yes 5 minutes.

At music I was in top form. I started doing actions to the hello song as we drove through the gate. Mommy was so excited, we ran to class to get going. I blew on a recorder for the first time. This is a very important skill for language development. I did all my music exercises with ease, even teacher Liesel was happy with me. Mommy rewarded me with some new instruments, a recorder, whistle and rhythm sticks. In the afternoon I noticed all my jungle gym equipment coming out into the garden, then remembered that we were hosting Mom’s group. My sandpit was moved to a position in the front garden in order for Mommy to keep an eye on me while I played in my favourite toy. My little friends arrived sans Ryan who was in Sandton hospital with Gastro; we all sent our wishes to him and I hope he can play soon. The rest of us however took advantage of the weather and even ended up in the nick in the water pools. I had my first wee in the garden and thought this was quite funny. Once my friends had gone, Daddy and I had Salmon Pasta which we both scoffed down and I proved my sense of humour to my folks by trying to cough every time Daddy did. I haven’t repeated this skill so Mommy and Daddy aren’t quite sure if it was fluke.

Thursday was family breakfast morning and we headed of to Doppio-Zero for our usual ritual. It was raining hard so I learned about an umbrella and learned to hold it for a parent who was carrying me. Dad also opted to use the car as opposed to his bike, given the wetness of the morning. We then headed off for a facial for Mommy with Lisa close to Ryan and dropped off a little something to keep him occupied for when he came home. After my afternoon nap I found that Lynne was there, this was such a treat as I had not seen her in some time. I was good fun, she discovered a new word i.e. “Chicky” which I have been quietly learning, and gave a special treat for the occasion by doing the actions for “Head, shoulders, knees and toes”. Again my Mom is thrilled with small things. In the evening Opa visited and the boys had pizza and I bounced on Rody the horse on my own for the first time, my feet reach the ground now, so the independence was thrilling for me. During my bath, with Opa watching, I started down foggy like motions on my tummy. Mom and Dad were thrilled!

Friday was a quiet day for me, which saw Mommy doing some BabyGym® work to re-license and drop off all her documentation. Daddy worked from home so I had to busy myself on the other side of the house while he got on with it. On the up side, Mommy relented and when she found me with a chocolate egg that Lynne had brought me, she let it go. So just to thrill her as everything was so positive this week, I tried to plug in my little piano with a laptop extension cord that was lying on the ottoman.

Saturday was great as it was very very busy. Mommy and Daddy took me to get a costume for Lynne’s party that evening. Daddy got an outfit (Austin Powers) and Mommy used the infamous dress up kit. I am saying no more about this matter, pictures are attached to protect the innocent. We then headed to Cresta, where I walked the entire length with my walker. I visited my favourite German lady at Lohmiller and following that we headed off to other shops to get presents. Dad and I discovered an orchestra playing outside Woolies, so while Mom went in to shop, Dad and I sat on the floor in front of the musicians, listening to them. I loved the sounds of Memories and other covers that they did. Dad and I swayed along to the music – it was a wonderful moment for us. After leaving Cresta I was exhausted and had a marathon sleep. Mommy headed to gym and Daddy and I spent time in the garden bonding. Mom and Dad then headed to the Brightwater Commons and while Mom got some goodies for Tammy and Granny, I walked and played, walked and played, and even road the carousel. Tammy and Granny met us at the Commons and we played some more. You would think my parents want me to walk with the amount walking they are making me do.

Mommy and Daddy headed off to Lynne’s party looking quite strange in their 70’s outfits and I stayed and played with Tammy and Granny till late. My folks arrived home at passed 1 am – Granny says they are grounded. Mommy says I’ll understand when I’m older. Just before Granny departed I licked my finger to turn the page of a book I was reading, and now have a special call that Tammy and I do to each other, it goes along the lines of “AAAA OOOOO Gah”. Further to Mommy’s enjoyment I now call her “Mama”. I reckon she thinks she has really made it in life.

Granny was scheduled to come back mid-morning Sunday to baby sit me while my Mommy and Daddy went to their second birthday party this weekend – this time at Paul and Amelie’s place. It was Paul’s late 30’s early 40’s birthday party; unfortunately it seems that we poisoned Granny with Mozzie repellent and she suffered in silence all Saturday but needed recovery on Sunday, and couldn’t baby sit me. Mom checked with Amelie, and it was agreed that it was ok that I attend too! Bonus, party time. At Paul’s place there is a tennis court, which was perfect for me, as I walked and walked its length and breadth. It was so hot (29°C) that every so often I had to go and take shelter in the shade and rehydrate. In the car on the way home I fell asleep and had a nice mid-afternoon snooze. I spent a great deal of time with Dad in the afternoon, and Mom went out to gym. While she was out I spent a good deal of time packing and repacking my DVD’s in their boxes and sleeves. It’s my new thing! Lastly, this evening I walked eight consecutive steps!!!!

Keeping the absolute best to last, I’d like to welcome my new cousin, Isabella Joy Nunes, to the family. She was born in the wee hours of Friday morning, weighing in at 3.4kg. A big ‘mwah’ to my new cousin, and I can’t wait to meet you. Congratulations to her proud parents Richard and Silvia!

Well, that’s it for another really great week. Keep on smiling.

Love,

Jarrod

Photo 1 Evening gardening

Photo 2 Being Jay-Bee

Photo 3 Crawling with Daddy

Photo 4 Playing with my Barney Ball

Photo 5 Sonic observes from a distance

Photo 6 Giggles with Roxy

Photo 7 Loving the micro-mist in the afternoon heat

Photo 8 Practicing stair climbing in the wet

Photo 9 In bath covered in flour, again!

Photo 10 Flour-y giggles

Photo 11 Climbing on Dad’s desk

Photo 12 I love getting into the cats’ lambskin doughnuts

Photo 13 Piano man before bedtime

Photo 14 Chewing on Rody’s ear

Photo 15 Major giggles

Photo 16 And giggles with Daddy

Photo 17 Playtime with Dad

Photo 18 My hiding spot

Photo 19 Playing in the pool with an acorn

Photo 20 Learning to get into the pool

Photo 21 Helping Dad with some DIY at the poolside

Photo 22 A flower I picked for Mom in the garden

Photo 23 Dad and I playing with Duplo Legos

Photo 24 And a quick giggle with Dad

Photo 25 Escaping through the furniture

Photo 26 My Dad embarrassing me big-time – going as Austin Powers to Lynne’s 70s birthday party. Yeah baby!

Photo 27 My Mommy, looking gorgeous, for Lynne’s birthday

Photo 28 Putting DVD’s into boxes – any boxes!