Walking home….with the explorer!

After turning around, we walked back slowly, still looking for anything interesting.

The sun was going down fairly quickly by now. We still had a bit of a walk back home. Boeta did not care one bit.

Every time I pushed him a little he complained and wanted to walk in the opposite direction, only for the drag of a dad to remind him that it was getting late and we had to go home.

I loved this spot with the green algae to spend some moments here to shoot a few shots, all freehand.

I looked for Boeta who was in his own world, finding another treasure, I am sure. I called him and he came walking toward me pointing at a Oystercatcher flying past and asking what it was.

I again reminded him that we had to move on and he reluctantly joined me as we walked towards home. I took a few shots in that direction. You can just see the houses.

It was a brilliant evening yet again. I could not get enough of the clouds and the setting sun, so every now and then I would get another shot.

As we got closer we saw some fisherman again. Sometimes the ladies join their husbands/friends as they angle in the early evening as was the case with this young man.

Boeta was in great spirits and still throwing rocks, running and enjoying being at the beach. You would never know we were coming to the end of a 6 km walk.

It was too dark now. I was on the built-in flash to get any descent shots. Really time for us to get home.

I took a last shot of the white rocks and the remaining sunlight.This is the last of this series of posts. We hope you enjoyed the full photographic walk with us.

Tomorrow we leave for a short Safari and a few days in the mountains to celebrate our son’s 3rd Birthday. Hopefully we will bring lots of photos of wildlife and landscapes to share next week. Have a great weekend, I know we will.

I looked for Boeta …. he was busy looking for crabs under the flat rocks.

My son – The explorer! Happy Birthday, we are so proud of you! Love you, Mom and Dad!

 

About a toddler

Unbelievably it has been 2 years since we started sharing our rumbling ocean with you guys. Boeta was about to turn 1. Today we are looking at a near 3 year-old…in a month.

In those days I took him to the beach walking down with the stroller, showing him the waves, rocks, beach, birds, boats and dolphins. Today he loves (adores) the beach and on most days, especially in the afternoon after he wakes up his first words are: “Let’s go walk or let’s go to the beach”. He loves throwing rocks into the pools, has to hunt for real crabs, sea snails and most other creatures he can find, only to throw it into a pool.

He now weighs around 17 kg (37.4 lbs) and he stands 1.01m (near 40 inches) tall.

He is a friendly little chap wanting to kiss and hug most people if he is comfortable with them. He laughs easily and we tend to have lots of fun throughout the day.

He is also a toddler with normal “no, no do not want to do this or that” on a regular basis, but never says no to kicking a ball, walking and going to the beach….never. Last time he was sick…one year ago…the flu. He talks a lot, loves to learn, especially from books and counts to 10 in 2 languages, talks mainly in Afrikaans, but also knows colors in english and says the odd sentence in english like, “Are you thinking what I am thinking?” or “You are my best friend” and loves to sing Bah-Bah Black Sheep….When in his element he is a little character…

He loves running, yes toddlers run, but he loves to do cross-country running at the beach…On this occasion it was becoming late..he did not give up and wanted to cry every time I said let’s go home…I flashed the last shots. There is at least a 8 meter (26 ft ) difference between the beach and the top, where I stood. He runs laps in the path and I am yet to see how many he can do, I usually stop and walk home after 6 or 7. He loves it. I am tired after 2 laps….yes 2!

Earlier on this day I took a photo of him riding his bicycle with helmet…he can ride it on flat surfaces by himself, but not uphill yet.

So there you have it. Our little man is growing up, sometimes too fast. We are so grateful for this wonderful gift and we are so very proud of him.

Family time

I am taking you back to the Karoo and our holiday. Some of you may remember that I was taking you on a walk around the sheep farm, ending with the medusa succulents. When I got back at the stone cottage, Boeta was awake and it was family time. We took the yellow ball grandma gave Boeta, the week before and started playing. From this point I will add a note or two, but the photos will talk for them self….

So much fun to kick the ball past daddy…

Every now and then we worked on the ball catching skills. Boeta was precisely 2 years old and since this point we have progressed to catch and pass, but it all starts somewhere…

Got one…

Then mom got an invite to play along…

Daddy snapped up the camera for a few shots… Boeta was really in his element by now, especially now that mom joined in the fun…FULL BLOWN FAMILY TIME!

I took a final shot of him watching a bird on the chimney as the sun was setting, before joining them for some more play.

About 20 minutes later we had to stop and get a fire going. We had a fun day with lots of exploring and walking great distances, it was time to feed the tummies and build strength for the next day.

Boeta looked for the tractor and while mom took a break, dad lit the fire and the adults had a nice red wine to finish a perfect day as a family.

Round about the time the meat was done, Boeta was also running out of steam.

He slept soundly that night, as he does for most nights. We hope and believe that he does so in the knowledge that he is loved and in his dreams he is still laughing and having quality family time with mom and dad.

The Birthday on Holiday

Our 2 week trip was all about Boeta and creating a special time with him for his second birthday. It included seeing family and giving him all types of new experiences. He got the odd present every day or so, be it a new book or toy. On the 4th of June we awoke in Struis Bay. We had his grandparents with us and we were on our 4th day of the 2 week holiday.

Boeta was with us in our bedroom in his cot and at 6 am (the precise hour of his birth), we had him in bed, sleeping between us. This, for us, was a special moment.

We sang for him and spent time together before grandma and grandpa awoke.

We also hid gifts throughout, which he got once he saw it. Giving a 2-year-old too many presents at any one stage is a waste. This way he could enjoy his new friends thoroughly before moving on to the next.

He saw this box and pointed it out to mom. Now the little man seems to have more of mom’s genes when it comes to opening presents. It takes forever!

Boeta loves Formula 1 racing at the moment and one his gifts had to be a racing track with Formula 1 cars. Most people see this a present for dad and son! Okay, dad loves the idea too and yes, having a son also means daddy can get some added “kid-time” as the little man grows.

 We decided to do a proper birthday with cake toward the midday lunch-time. Being on holiday we had to put together a birthday with what we could find or managed to bring along in the suitcases. Struis Bay does not have the biggest supply, it has the basics one needs on holiday. Mom produced a bag of balloons, which we needed to blow up. The fun started.

Grandpa (81) and Grandma (77) are still full of life and they can still make a joke.

If there is one thing daddy will always remember and hold dear to his heart, it would be that we did laugh a lot on holiday as a family at each other. This is one thing we would hope Boeta would also be able to remember one day about us.

Mom also produced the smallest party hats, good for 2 year-old’s, but a stretch for adult heads and after some D.I.Y. we were set. Boeta was seated at the head of the table and grandpa put some of the balloons on the table.

We got, a car cake, added candles and sang to Boeta again. He wanted to touch the flames and mom blew out the candles for him.

 The rest of the photos present some idea of mini party we had for the little man.

The balloons were all over the house and Boeta got to play with them for the day.

Looking back, we had a good day with our son and his grandparents in the house of his late grandparents, so in a sense, they were also present. This was the first of many more adventures we had planned for the him.

This week the photo challenge talk about muse and the subject that you keep coming back to. Well for the last 2 years it has been our little boy and most of the things seen on this blog has been with him, about him and showing him the world around him. They are both qualifying as muses, but f you want a singular muse: FAMILY

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_photo_challenge/muse/

Another milestone

Today our little man is an unbelievable 20 months old. He has grown and developed at such a speed over the last 2 months, daily adding 2-3 words. Yesterday, boat, horse and sound of donkey. Keeping pace is the main aim now…

Above all, he is a healthy and we think typical toddler. For that we are eternally grateful. Here are few shots to show what we mean. He loves playing in the soil and creating dust, toddler heaven…

We stopped at our regular spot in the Addo for lunch and he was all to ready to enjoy this break from looking for wildlife…First checking, nobody says anything, creating dust…checking again, any negative reaction?

Walking and exploring, sitting in his favorite position.

Then there is the opportunity to learn, always asking us to tell him something…

He is good with color now, not saying, but showing if we ask, counts 6,7,8 and can show some letters, including spelling his name out, but not saying yet. We can not imagine a life without our Boeta standing between us, holding our hand, smiling with those eyes twinkling.

Also added this to “Love is in da Blog”, check it out, lovely idea…

https://justfoolingaroundwithbee.wordpress.com/2015/02/01/love-is-in-da-blog-february-ping-back-post-rules-week-1/

The magnificent shining star of O.R.O.!

The magnificent shining star of O.R.O. – 2014!

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE!

Boeta, yes, the little rascal running around in the house. He is the glue of this blog and all the previous highlights, be it wildlife, birds or environment, had been experienced with him at our side, as it should be.

Boeta working hard and started pulling faces too!

So a quick look at our year in relation to Boeta, and his development. You joined us when boeta was not 1 yet, in May/June. At this stage he was crawling, started late in February 2014. Training for crawling was a hard job and we started to see more and more of the joking fun-loving boy at this early stage.

Boeta preparing to crawl, one hand open in position.

                                                                                                                                                                              This photo was taken around early February when he showed his eagerness to want to crawl, starting to get the little brain sorted to do this main step to mobility.

Still a nice plump little boy, breastfed by his loving mom and healthy, inquisitive and starting to take solid food.

Moving forward to March, 9-10 months, and he was at full speed. All the family gathered for his Grandfather’s 80th birthday and Boeta saw them for the first time, that is, the extended family.

Boeta tearing down the hallway, 10 months

A favorite book with sliding windows

His rapid development from here astounded us at times. He has always had a big love for books, which we keep encouraging by adding more on a regular basis, we have books everywhere in the house.

Eating a rice cake!

One of the tough sides at times, especially for mom, having to leave her son for work, was being a single parent, we had to handle this as best we can, and we think we achieved it via Skype and constant communication. Mom was away for a total of 19 weeks this year.

This also afforded the little man to get to know things like notepads, which amazed us as it seems to just be a natural thing for the little man, but having said that, we carefully manage his usage of it and believe to focus on his books, nature and play as the most important things we can do for him now.

He started walking around a week before he was 1-year-old. We count ourselves very lucky that through all his “first” achievements, mom has been there and witnessed it. So we could applaud our man together as he developed.

Proud parents shared his 1st Birthday with you on the 4th of June. It is still something of a wonder and amazing thing to say we are parents after being married for 17 years, now nearly 19 years. We decided to bake his first cake ourselves, and although it was no designer piece, we were very proud of it. He loved bunnies at this stage.

With movement and walking, came learning new skills, first was to collect the ball and throw it or push his red sports car around the house. Daddy also secured the deck, to allow him to play on it, which extended to run and play space from the whole of the living room to outside as he wished.

Blowing the candle!

One must have some fun on your birthday!

By July we had a fully active toddler on our hands.

Then there is mom. Daddy being the primary caregiver, his participation is sort of given, but as parents we do put a lot of emphasis on mom when she is home, making sure she never feels out of the loop and always knows she is the one and only mom in our lives.

Nothing like the love and touch of a mother. NOTHING.

Boeta also got to experience nature with us, from our trip to the Addo national park, playing at the beach, and even his first flight to visit his Grandparents in September.

Doing some research in daddy’s birding book. Is there anything one can say to top a year of so many firsts. It was an excellent year for the 3 of us. We had achieved much as a family, but the main achiever was our little Boeta. He has been a trooper in sickness (last 2 weeks around Christmas), he has been the light of our lives all year-long, always laughing, running, jumping and yes we do have a tantrum here and there as he tries to communicate displeasure at something, but for the main, our star, we could not have asked for a more wonderful gift and we are so very proud of him. Looking forward to 2015!

As adults we can just wish everyone the best for 2015! May it be your best year ever, may you take something from a toddler like ours and see everything you encounter as a brand new experience to learn from and enjoy. Above all else, may 2015 be full of love, laughter and so many precious moments that it will be difficult to choose the best. Thanks for following us throughout most of 2014, and hoping you stay with us in 2015! For those of you who took the time to comment on posts, sending hugs and love our way, mostly towards the little star, thank you with all of our hearts.

CHEERS 2014!

Swiping the screen at 16 months!

Sometimes we just cannot believe the things kids can do today and how early they seem to get this modern technology world. To be clear, we think many kids manage these things even earlier if allowed, so this post it not about “look-look what he can do!“, although we are proud of him. Most of us within our followers, certainly, remember times before computers and advanced electronics.

We grew up before television, which we saw for the first time in the late 70’s. It started at 6 pm and we could only see the first hour kiddies programming on a black and white television. We played until dark most of the times, not that safe anymore in cities, especially. We sat around the table in the kitchen, talking, sharing stories. Playing card games as a family was lots of fun or having a night with friends, making music, with instruments (dad played guitar) every now and then or dressing up. Lots have changed since those days with things like eating, mostly part of television viewing nowadays.

As a kid, daddy loved listening to music, by putting a vinyl record on a one speaker player and dancing in front of it. Boeta loves doing dancing too, but the music is “live” on the television, kiddies music.

Daddy had a toy (which one can still find today), a ball with various shaped blocks, with which Boeta also plays and loves to play with, today.

 Thinking about how things have changed and what these little people get exposed to every day and what they can do, it is amazing in one sense and in some cases worrying. Looking back again, we had our first radio controlled toys, only at around the age of 12 years. Boeta, at 16 months, have learned to play with his, already!

  We had our first computers at University level, 286’s, then 386 and so on. It changed lives, made for hours of sitting in front of huge old screens, saving everything on floppies. Boeta, gets time every night on the Samsung note, playing kiddies games with mom. He loves it and has shown the capability to understand what to do without much tutoring.

Before you think, oh, they are living in the past, no, the comparisons are more to show the difference between us and our son. It is amazing to see and enjoy.

We think it is important to retain some of the old traditions and interestingly enough since he started eating, for instance, we all eat around the table every night. We will focus as most people can already see from the blog on nature and exposing him as much as possible to it, nurturing a respect for it, if nothing else. We will also have to focus on progressive development in terms of all things modern, because it is so very important as well.

This means that as Boeta grows and develops, mom and dad will also have to work to stay with the times, to help everyone make better informed decisions.

A Full Moon…

It is now 4.30 am. I have been awake from 3 am. Times like this I miss my wife.

I do not know where this comes from, he did not cry or anything, just suddenly found myself watching a monitor with a “wide awake” 13 month old. I fumbled and stumbled my way down to his bedroom, took him out and dragged myself back to bed in the hopes that he would fall asleep again.

No chance, talking and smiling. I even got a kiss, which felt like kiss of death (of sleep), so daddy got up, changed diaper, gave him something to drink, made coffee for myself and off we go on another day. I choose to look at this positively, long-term. Early morning nap, early afternoon nap and hopefully fairly early night.

It is full moon after all!

Helping hand…

Today was a stay indoors day. A cold front is rumbling through with strong winds, rain and bringing some cold winter temperatures. We therefore spent the day playing inside, then we lit a fire and dad put some steaks on, while mom made butternut and other vegetables in the oven, roasted butternut being our little man’s favorite vegetable.

Afterwards we took a nap and then started cleaning up, while mom prepared some waffles. We decided that Boeta could share in the treat, why not, and cut his into blocks, gave it to him with a spoon and stood back.

As you can see the spoon got dumped for a more favorite tool, hands.

So after all the fun, mom placed the butternut in ice cubicles to be frozen for later use. Our little man is now allowed in most of the house, except the kitchen without supervision, but he was eager to give a helping hand with the opening and closing of stuff (fridge, doors). As you can also unfortunately see, I am 2/3’s finished with the kitchen I am building and also the reason for his not being allowed in the kitchen. I was busy with the initial stages when Boeta announced his arrival and had 4 days, from birth to coming home, to get it up and running. I did it, but since then I am doing bits and pieces.

After the cleaning and sorting, playing hide and seek, he decided to attack the cushions on the couch, a favorite, and roll around with them. Then a bit of throwing balls all over the living room, just to give dad something to do when he is asleep.

We are not going to have settled weather until Wednesday, so we are going to have to explore every angle of the living room in the next few days. At least we had fun as a family.

Postcards from a Travelling Mom 2

Recently, I was asked by a Senior manager in our operation, “How do you handle the traveling while having a baby at home?” I started to explain the usual. Husband looks after baby full-time while mommy work, blah blah blah. Smile…

Then he asked, “But how does your maternal instinct handle it to be away from your baby?” I told him that I do not think that he prefers to be away from his family either living as an expat in another country not seeing his family in weeks, either, but work required both of us to make this sacrifice.

It left me thinking: Is there something wrong with me? Am I an unfeeling, cold mother? That same evening I had a Skype session with my boys at home and during the time Boeta fell down and started crying like it is the end of the world. My husband still told me not to worry as he did not hurt himself, he was just tired. I could not handle it. I was sitting in the only place I could get an internet connection, the hotel coffee shop, I cried shamelessly, not even trying to hide the tears. And at that moment I realized that I should not worry, this mommy still have a heart.

I am back with the boys and can be there for both of them and just in time, as we are having a cold front moving through, with gale force winds, rain and significant drop in temperature. This can lead to delays or cancellations in my link flights home, made it, thank goodness.

My latest trip was to Nampula, in Northern Mozambique. I did not have much time to take pictures, but took a few on the go, just to give some reference.

Just before landing

Nampula from the air

A local bar

A street market selling hardware

The next series of pictures will give you some idea of the general town environment.

Conference call with mom.

This is a little story that was so funny at the time, I thought I should share it.

Mom, arriving from work, told me that she had a conference call later that day. She played a little with our son and fed him, still breastfeeding at the time, she worked half days.

When the time came, she linked for the call and Boeta took station on her lap.

I took the pictures with my mobile, but the point is the interest on his face when he heard the voices and intently listening…a big day, your first conference call.

Within 5 minutes this happened…

We just broke down in laughter and well the conference call, lucky they could not hear us, took a back stage.

So much for business things. I told my wife if we have any trouble with him sleeping again, she should please organize another conference call. Magic ingredient to get a baby to sleep.

The good and not so good – first 12 months

EATING

The good

We had problems getting him to sleep a few hours continuously at night, so we tried adding some food (rice 1st food porridge) to the mix from just over 4 months and tea (Rooibos tea). It actually helped and as time went on we added vegetables (one type for at least 3-4 days).

https://www.flickr.com/photos/little_things_expanded/14362460457/

He had no issues with any so the mixing started of various vegetables and a few months later we added chicken and beef. His milk was still the mainstay. With time the food became more complex and we had little issues with his appetite.

The bad

The bad part about eating came later when we started introducing more grainy food, not the smooth stuff. Every now and then a gag reflex would happen, and it could get really messy if he had already a good dinner behind him. I felt sorry for him, shame, but tried to teach him by coughing at such times, which he to his amusement replicated, and we slowly got this sorted. By 11 months the issue was sorted, with a rare happening a while back, and he now chews better as well. Still not a great experience for all concerned.

Creating space for a growing boy.

We started the week (Saturday) with frustration and tiredness. This started to reduce by Monday and on Tuesday, things picked up again and we looked forward to Friday, when mom comes home. The week has been the opposite to the weather, sunny and warm from Saturday to Wednesday, cloudy, raining and winter cold again to Friday, a week of lost and found, losing bottles, finding them, losing my mind and finding it again. It has also been a week of creating space for my growing son.

I used our nanny panels to block off some areas, but his play space doubled. It means we do not have enough blocks and some tile space is now open, but it must happen at some stage and after a month of walking, he seems to protect himself better, still a keen eye will be necessary.

The blue bin is used to add and remove toys for the day, also to teach him to put them away. He also loves playing with the earth ball. It is used to kick (dribble), throw and I try to show where mom is, when she is away.

Then the 80 + year chair gets to be pushed around again by another baby. He loves this, squeaking, as the old chair works its magic again.

Above, his favorite bottle, loaded with milk and tea, usually! So glad we did not lose it. He also loves sitting on his haunches, while inspecting and doing things.

What a week we had, we got new space to play in, learned all kinds of new lessons. For now, we are focused on MOM, she is coming home tonight. A mother’s touch is definitely needed now and then, even for an active little boy and his dad.

Plus One year

I have been thinking about my years and birthdays, and ever since I can remember my mom always said: “You were born at this hour, whatever many years back“. It used to pass me by, never really even thought about it much, at stages as adolescent, may have been embarrassing at times.

Yesterday our son had his first birthday, and as I got up at 4.45 am, my first note to my wife was, “One year ago, he was still not born“, as he was born at 6 am. She replied, “Yes, that last hour was the toughest of my whole pregnancy!” So firstly as a man, the reference to my birth hour is totally understood now, as at 6 am, 4 June 2013, my life changed forever, but that said, I can only imagine the feeling of a mother, dealing with both the end of a pregnancy and a new baby! Such powerful events, not sure “we” will ever grasp the real magnitude of it.

So at 5.15 am, yesterday, Boeta was placed in front of his home-made birthday cake, video running, so the first 3 pictures are cuttings of the video, and he sat mesmerized, looking at the sparkles, while we sang!

Video picture – first cake!

On seeing the bunnies, he went straight for them, faint smile, a current favorite animal and the reason for the theme of the cake. (Note – will do a post of the cake separately)

It is my cake!

After this we blew the candle together, fun for all.

Blowing the candle!

This led us to the gifts, and he noticed the change in his playpen immediately. After opening the first two, he took off and first played with his new plastic car, then saw one of his old books, and spent the next 10 minutes paging it. We left him alone until he came back and seemingly felt ready for another gift.

Opening and trying new gifts.

We found that Boeta and maybe other babies too, get overloaded quickly, if you put a lot of new things in front of him, maybe too much to explore or take in, but we leave it to him and allow him the space.

Another gift later in day.

At this point it might be interesting to mention that we did not do any formal party, but it still was a day event, in the sense of opening presents, playing together and finishing off with a barbecue with 2 close friends. Comments about first birthdays that I have read, relate to the fact that babies do not know or remember or parents that celebrate their first year as parents, or surviving their first year and I can certainly relate to all of that.

The question is if you remember picking up your first crumb or holding a toy, first smile, first of most anything? Yet they all become important milestones or events in later development and things we take as granted, like writing. In most cases people do celebrate a first birthday, for whatever reason, and giving a massive party would be a choice, but for us, we focused on being a family (love) and starting new traditions as a family (baking own cake, all hands on deck), thereby an event for all. Boeta’s first contribution to this tradition  was…..eating it!

One must have some fun on your first birthday!

Cutting his hair.

Being a dad, writing this might seem funny, but maybe men just hide feelings better. Boeta has, is and will always be an exciting addition to our family as a whole. He is a late comer to the family, we were married for 17 years and his nephews and nieces are all in middle to late 20’s.

He is our only child and most probably will remain so as time marches on with everyone. From the day we got pregnant it was one experience after another, a roller coaster of emotions, from profound happiness, uncertainty, tiredness, guilt, pride and many more. Every new achievement was exciting and made us as parents proud beyond believe.

Crying was the one emotion I rarely show, but I joked a few times that after witnessing the miracle of his birth, actually maybe even before that, his first movements in mommy, I got emotional at christenings of people I do not even know and beware the action hero dies in a movie (joke), but that is about how it is. Children has such an impact on a parent, much deeper than the superficial stuff.

The main reason for this post is the fact that Boeta is approaching his first birthday. Mom took off work for 3 days, and we are busy preparing his cake, making bunnies for the eventual decorations. We also decided to cut his hair just before his birthday and that process started last night.

Boeta starting to walk and before hair cut!

It was an experience for him (not great), but it ended up as an unexpected experience for us as well. As he finished, I looked back at those little cuttings with a deep sense of loss, feeling like we killed a part of our son. Very confusing feeling initially and after some thought over the last hours I realized that I was in mourning over the end of his first year.

It was such an amazing time, for the first, nearly 4 months, we were lucky enough to be together 24/7, as a new family. As we bonded with our child and he with us, we also had to learn to operate as a family, tougher than you think after 17 years. Through all the late nights, short nerves, and the rest, we had such an incredible time with our son and celebrated every achievement. I will miss picking him up, cuddling, sitting with him in the rocking chair, on my shoulder, walks in stroller, doing baby workouts, and many more baby fun things.

After first cut.

Now that I have come to grips with my emotions, yesterday, I feel better as well, and today I hope I took enough pictures and video, to enjoy those moments over and over again. I am also looking forward to the next year, talking, running and playing with my son and yes on cue he started walking the past week, our baby is becoming a toddler!