Mom flew out of bed really early and shocked us all by being ready before 8 am on Monday morning. I was in a rare bad mood. Mom then threw me out the house all dressed and off we went to physio. Then we flew off to the new school Mom has planned for me. We had a meeting with the owner and teachers. On the way we went to the garage for petrol, this was Mom’s foray into the big “WHY”? I grilled her with a ‘why’ on everything and eventually after she pranced into a lecture on kinetic energy, I went ‘oh’! I moved onto the next question I planned to wear her down on. “Please can I have Tow Mater Lego today?”, reminding her of how good and how cute I am. Mom is definitely becoming more resistant to my wiles.

Next it was off to Granny and a quick run around the house. We then headed to the stationery store to get some additional Mister Maker Kit i.e. art supplies. I ran around and was generally noisy in the shops. I tried to take a puppy home with me without paying and almost convinced Granny to get it for me but Mom gave her a stern glance and she told me Mom said NO. My response was but why Mom?

We stopped for lunch and fetched Tamsin at school. I then headed home to Granny’s house and decided to sample some dish washing liquid. I then punished the person who left it there by throwing up on the carpet and most of the bathroom. On the way back we stopped off at speech therapy and did our session there. My concentration seems to be coming along nicely and I did a good job. I then spent the drive home asking Mom if I could have Lego. At home I decided I needed some private time. Mom asked if she could help. My response was, “no thanks Mom, I’ve got it under control!” In the evening I helped Mom cook and then refused to eat it, and fell asleep in the folk’s bed.

Monday night I had a terrible night. I kept waking, Mom and Dad were up with me most the night, and I tossed and turned, had fits, cried, screamed and had a generally awful experience. At one point during the night Mom and Dad even started getting ready for a hospital visit to triage, as my behaviour was inexplicable. I eventually settled, but continued having a fitful night. Dad ended up being really late for work as a result, but by morning I was fine again – none of us have an idea what happened.

Before music on Tuesday I opted to try put on make-up. I often see Mom doing it, and she does so quickly and expertly I figured it couldn’t be that hard. The pictures, sadly, tell a different story.

Once my make-up was ‘adjusted’ (i.e. removed) I had music and I’m proud to say that I concentrated brilliantly throughout the entire class – a new first for me. In general my concentration is coming leaps and bounds, whereas a few weeks ago I was diagnosed with some concentration issues. My mantra kicked in once again – “whatever you throw at me I’ll prove you wrong!”

Granny took me cooking on Wednesday and we made stuffed tomatoes which we took home and had for dinner. Yum, it tasted really good. At Granny’s place after cooking I met Shannon’s latest kittens that were about a week old. I even got to hold them – they are soooooo cute.

Thursday was a really special day for Mommy, as it was her birthday. Dad and I were up really early preparing. I did some last minute artwork in a card for Mommy, while Dad put candles on a red velvet cake for Mom. Eventually we heard Mom stirring as she started to wake, so it was our cue to spring to action. I grabbed a massive bunch of flowers, that I could hardly fit my arms around, and Dad trailed with the birthday cake and relighting candles. As Mom opened her eyes I shouted “Happy Birthday Mom!” and brought her the flowers. We then all had cake and tea and a really relaxing morning.

What would make the day extra exciting, is that later in the morning we headed off to Dad’s work (Mommy also used to work there, but stopped working when I arrived). One of Mom’s ex-colleagues, Sunette, whom Mom worked with, was visiting South Africa after emigrating to New Zealand. Sunette had planned a visit to Mom’s old work to see all her colleagues, so Mom and I decided to pop in for a visit too. Dad met us at the entrance of the building called Towers Main. It’s not the building Daddy works in, which is called Towers West, but I did see Daddy’s building and it looked amazing. What I couldn’t understand from Daddy’s building is that it’s one of the greenest buildings in the country, but it didn’t look green to me. Anyway, I didn’t bother asking questions; for a change.

We headed up to the 23rd floor of Mom’s old building and there we met Sunette and lots of Mom’s friends. I sat at the boardroom table and played with my Legos blocks. I felt really important. Dad then let me stand on the windowsill and I looked down the 23 floors to the ground – it was amazing. I think it’s the highest I’ve ever been inside a building. Later I ran around on the boardroom table and had lots of giggles and fun. I gave Sunette a big hug, as I’d never met her before, but she was an avid supporter from miles and miles away. All too soon we had to leave again, as I had a dentist appointment in Killarney.

The dentist was really stunning, and gave me a good bill of health for my teeth. Unfortunately not too much can be done about the tooth I chipped, but in a few years I’ll be getting a new set of teeth in any case, so I’m not too phased.

Daddy came home early from work, being Mom’s birthday, and joined us at speech. After speech we headed to the Lifestyle Centre for dinner at Primi-Piati to celebrate Mom’s birthday. We arrived there just after five in the afternoon, and it was still 30?C and light. I love summers on the Highveld. I even got to make my own pizza! When we left, I showed Mom her last birthday present for the day – a complete full moon that we’d ordered for her!

I hardly spent any time with Daddy on Friday morning, as he had to get to the office really early. Mom and I also had a very early appointment with Lauren, but although we arrived in time we still waited for ages for our appointment – poor Mommy could have saved the effort from rushing. After OT we met with Granny at home and headed to Yeesh for a play. During the morning we had the perfect palindrome in terms of the time and date when the clock struck 2011/11/11 11:11:02!

Saturday morning we headed off to the barber for Dad and I to have our hair cut. Mom dropped us off there and went to get groceries. Dad and I had a really nice time chatting and playing as we waited our turn to have our hair cut. Both Dad and I opted for really short hair, as the heat at the moment demands that our hair doesn’t make us unnecessarily hot. As a reward for being so well behaved while having my hair cut, we all had lunch at the Wimpy where I played up a storm on their jungle gym.

The afternoon was still sweltering hot, so there was only one thing to do: swim. We all headed up to the pool and spent the rest of the afternoon swimming. But not only was it great for cooling off, I also learned to swim! Mom and Dad are thrilled with my performance, and I thoroughly enjoyed the pleasure and feeling of swimming. Admittedly at first I did drink a few too many litres of pool water, but it was all worth it.

Later in the afternoon Granny arrived to babysit me, as Mom and Dad had dinner plans with Bev and Claire at District Six. I did howl a little at being left behind, as I’m up for a party with the best of them, but pretty soon Granny had me calmed down and we were having just as much fun.

Dad slept really late on Sunday morning – he cracked his tooth during the week from stress and grinding his teeth, so he saw my dentist on Friday. Over and above stress relieving exercises to treat his TMJ, she also put Dad on a course of really strong relaxants and anti-inflammatories. As a result of Dad taking these meds after coming home from dinner, and having had some wine, they really wiped him out. I was really glad for Daddy that he slept late, as he’s normally the first that is up with me in the mornings.

To thank Granny for babysitting me the night before, we took her for breakfast at her favourite place – the Wimpy! I wasn’t complaining, as I like their food and love their toys. Today’s toy was a yoyo. I’d never seen one before, but pretty soon Daddy was playing with it doing tricks like walking the dog, rocking the baby and looping. I was impressed with Dad’s yoyo skills.

After breakfast I had to show Granny my newly acquired swimming skills. It was a hot 35?C so swimming was the perfect way to cool off. I did my usual little swims and doggie paddles, and reaching the sides and letting go. My big feat for the day was that I swam right across the breadth of the pool without Mom or Dad’s help. All of us are thrilled at my progress!

Sadly Granny had to go back home again, and I opted for a snooze. When I woke up the skies were dark and there was the sound of distant thunder, but it all blew over in a matter of minutes. Thank goodness, as Morgan and I had a play date at Montecasino Bird Park. After Mom, Dad and I spent some time feeding the parrots nectar, and Dad rescuing a parrot that I may or may not have accidentally let out the aviary (I can neither confirm nor deny this), we met up with Morgan and his mommy Tanya.

It was a good afternoon, but I was really out of sorts. I think the extreme heat was getting to me, so we all decided to head into Montecasino, which is basically a little town that is indoors, so it’s air-conditioned and cool. My mood immediately improved and Morgan and I played games in the arcade. We spent the rest of the afternoon at a sidewalk café where Morgan and I played to our hearts’ content. By the time we left there it was already dark outside.

At home it looked like it had rained in our absence, as the roads were all wet and the plants and flowers were a little happier, but despite it having rained, and was 7pm and almost dark, it was still 29?C.

We’ll that’s it for this week.

Lots of love,

Jarrod

Photo 1 Experimenting with makeup

Photo 2 Experiment gone wrong

Photo 3 House building has been big on my agenda this week

Photo 4 And tower building (yes, that is a clip in my hair to keep the fringe from my eyes)

Photo 5 Experimenting with underpants

Photo 6 Granny helping me at “Little Cooks”

Photo 7 Holding Shannon’s one week old kitten

Photo 8 Testing the cat’s toys

Photo 9 With Dad at work, 23 floors up

Photo 10 On the boardroom table

Photo 11 Playing at Primi-Piati

Photo 12 Stand back Masterchef

Photo 13 Potty use is getting back to my pre-stroke days

Photo 14 Swimming

Photo 15 Feeding this dude on Mommy’s shoulder

Photo 16 My turn to feed him

Photo 17 Leaving so soon?

Photo 18 Yes, I that would be me in the undergrowth with the birds

Photo 19 Dad actually believed the he could have a conversation with this bird!

Photo 20 We were fortunate enough to find this peacock in his fully glory

Photo 21 And this just defied logic . . .

Photo 22 Morgan and I playing at Montecasino

Photo 23 Just being boys – trouble finds us!

1 Comment on Palindrome

  1. Lisle says:

    Please dont tell your parents J-man, but I REALLY laughed out aloud, at you drinking dish liquid. You are such a “Boy”… your fearlessness knows no bounds!!!

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