Mother and Child

I have titled this post “mother and child” to convey 2 thoughts I had and still have while taking these photos of Mom and Boeta.

1. Standing back.

Sometimes when we are out and about, mainly to find birds and animals to photograph and above all to give Boeta experiences in nature, I find myself standing back and observing a mother and with her child. I cannot help but point my camera in that direction and start taking photos as they do whatever they do. I feel fortunate to be able to catalog such love and sincere interaction as well, I think it is a wonderful thing to witness, the unclouded interactions between a mother and her children and the flow of energy back and forth between them. Hoping you can see what I mean by these photos.

2. Emotional

Mom is back at work and being totally truthful, the day before she went back was very emotional for her. I can only try to understand and support as a husband to his wife, but recognize that the deep feelings of sadness also has their origin in the type of moments shared in above photos and the realization that for now there will be a little less of that on a full day basis with a new year and the inevitable away from home times that will happen. As men, we do not really get emotional about these things, at least for me that is true. I (we) see it as life and things that just has to be done, rather focusing on the next occasion.

What gets me emotional is looking at my family like I am fortunate to do in situations like above. My biggest dream for my wife has always been, for her to be a mother too, in addition to all she has achieved in life. After all these years, maybe because we are a little older, it tugs on my heart every time I see her with her son, interacting with him and feeling proud, being the father and husband to these two. Seeing her walk on the walkway hand in hand with her son, talking and explaining things, pointing, helping and talking him through the steps helping him climbing them as I am sure she will do for the rest of his life, my chest swells to bursting point with pride, looking at my wife, a mother … with her son. A happy uncontrolled tear rolls down one’s cheek, mine at least….to use a more modern term…that is so cool!

Talking about modern, the young man also thinks it is pretty cool…look at this face as he saw me taking the photos.

 A face like that makes you wonder what he will get up to in the future….time will tell.

Part of Just Jot it January

Just Jot It January – Pingback Post and Rules

Mom home = pure happiness

Mom home = pure happiness

Most of you know by now that Mom was away for 3 weeks and arrived back last night. The boys got ready early and got to the airport on time, but as luck would have it, the flight was delayed, still we said rather safe than on time. The plane arrived.

We waited in the reception area and mom came walking through with the airport trolley, loaded with 2 suitcases, computer bag and backpack. When she saw us, immediate tears and speed as she wanted to get to us (Boeta) as quickly as possible. After nearly running over a person who sidestepped the anxious mom, she came speeding to us and in the more or less proximity just let go of the speeding trolley, running and grabbing Boeta. These trolleys have their own brakes once released and it braked but the momentum was such that all the luggage except one came flying of the trolley all over the floor. Mom and Dad did not care at that stage, but Boeta was a little concerned.

Mom got flowers from the boys to show her we missed her and we are happy that she is back.

Fast forward to Saturday morning.

Boeta awoke to a whole family again and was promptly scooped up and put into bed with mom for an additional hour of sleeping bliss in her arms. Daddy got a cake and candles and we belatedly wished her a happy birthday. Then daddy prepared a second spoil with croissants and omelette in bed for all 3 of us. It was obvious that Boeta enjoyed all of this “being treated” and must have thought it an early Christmas.

We got going and he was in full flight by now. Daddy says he has never seen him fall so much, since when he started walking. Why? Well, he was performing for mom. Running past but watching her, showing her things he can do now, dancing, laughing. Mom brought many presents from the USA, but we decided to hold back most for Christmas and only give him 3 “items”. The first item is “Buzz” the Georgia Tech mascot.

The second was in direct relation to his new joy of playing with little cars.

In the last picture he checked if the car has an on/off button. One never knows. After playing with his new stash of little cars, we had to also do the laundry which meant going out the back door and into an area where he is rarely allowed at the moment, due to daddy doing some work there. He was this morning and went straight for the bin of bush soil and compost, which daddy uses to enrich the sandy soil in the garden. He started throwing the soil and it led to uncontrollable laughter.

This lead to a dirty boy, from head to toe. So for one of the first occasions, he will be having an early bath as well.

After his bath or cleaning session, the third a soft toy, one of those mom could not leave behind. An elephant, eagerly accepted and joyously played with.

The rest of the morning involved mom having to take tests in identification of objects…

Mom, being a mom, loved the picture of the baby…

Boeta being a boy and growing, naturally was more interested in the bread picture…

Boeta also showed mom his new special, just for him, chair…

Then there had to be some music played and again lots of acting for mom…

Most of all, playing and running, hugs and kisses, lots and lots of it.

Finally, daddy will repeat with what he started…

MOM HOME = PURE HAPPINESS

  Mom is our most special flower in a bunch of flowers.

To MOM…

To my wife and our mom

A few years ago, today, an angel was born with a heart of gold. The translated announcement in the newspaper read: “To Mother and Father, a beautiful daughter is born, all is well, we thank our Heavenly Father and the doctors and nurses of the Hospital”.

Over the years her parents nurtured her and loved her as she grew and blossomed into a beautiful young woman who brought joy to everyone she met, who enriched people’s lives with her pure, true heart and inspiring love, never relinquishing that which she held dear to her heart, but standing strong to protect it with determinate fire in her belly. They may not be with us in life anymore, but their love is still represented by these flowers**.

When you reached your mid-twenties and before we met, you wrote this as motivation for yourself in daily life. Your handwriting and I kept it after I found it.

I was drawn to you like a moth to a flame, in fact your beautiful eyes were that flame, I could not stop looking at them, at you. You were my soul mate, you were the person I would gladly give my heart to, the one soul I wanted to wake up next to every morning, just to see what you would say or do, to hear your voice, see you smile, hear your laughter, your humour and yes sometimes your anger.

Today, my love, it is your birthday! I found a birthday card of yours when you turned one, which translated reads: ” Today, you are one, may God give you many a year, Bless you with joy and with every small step, lead you safely and keep you save, though His angels to a life full and with much joy.” This holds true, even today.

I want to wish you the world and shower you with the love of all the stars above. You deserve nothing less. I want to thank you for the way you held my heart all these 18 years, how you protected it and how you nurtured our love and kept our flame burning through thick and thin for your love is always caring, a precious gift, always there in a hug, caress and your touch, be it our son or his dad.

I want to thank you for our son, for the way you protected him, even before he was born and for the mother you are. I want to thank you for giving him the same strengths and determinations, which he already shows, and giving the world another little bit of you through him to live on long after we are not there. I see so much of you in him and even though you are 100’s of kilometres away from us, in a sense part of you is sitting right next to me. Another beautiful angel, born with a heart of gold.

So Happy Birthday my love and mom. With this we send you all the love and kisses we can muster and wish you a wonderful day. We cannot wait to see you again and wish you just joy, love and success for the year to come.

Geseënde Verjaarsdag Mamma!

Ons is Lief vir jou.

The Boys

** The flowers have special meaning. The carnations come from mom’s parents, her mom passed away nearly 17 years ago now, and still, every year, we get lovely red carnations for her birthday, a reminder of their love for their daughter. It is therefore no surprise that daddy used this as the theme for this post.

*** The pictures are supposed to focus on the love as demonstrated by her parents and as we go to the “now” we go full colour. The semi-colour photo with Boeta is meant to show the change of guard, sort of, as he takes the flower from then to now, because he also represents 50% of mom and thereby her parents.

Following is some fun pictures while we attempted to put this together, not easy with time delay and daddy having to run and catch the little man for a pose in 20 seconds.

Shoutout to mom…

This is a post for mom. She is away on a 3 week trip to USA, flying somewhere between 2 continents right now. We miss her already.

As you fly away
we need you to know
we are okay
although we are feeling a little low.

You are our delicate flower
such a beautiful little seed
You created with your womanly power
giving him all he needs

As you fly away
we will count day and night
yes, we are okay,
but coming home will be such a delight.

We love you mom!
The Boys.
O.R.O. 2014

Daddy is no poet, but we hope she likes our little effort and gets comfort from it.

Note: The flowers are that of a Anacampseros sp., a local succulent. They flower at sundown for at most 1 hour for 1 day. They are delicate little things.

Cupcaked…

After a few naps, I was back in my hanging chair in grandma’s kitchen. This time she had a big surprise for me. You see, my grandparents could not be at my first ever birthday and I guess they really wanted to be there for the cake, at least!

After my midday nap, grandma said that she had a surprise for me, just because they missed my birthday, I could choose one of these…

I was shocked, so many cakes to choose from and mommy was sitting right there. She never allows me more than a bite of any sweet stuff. A whole cake and I could choose it myself! I decided on the green one.But second guessed myself immediately, when mommy took the others away and left only the green one.

I still could not believe this. Mommy said it is because we are at grandma’s house and they can spoil their grandchildren a little, they earned that right. I thought, we need to visit more! Looking at the huge cake, I had to ask daddy too; “Can I eat it all?”

He said yes! I grabbed one of the halves, before anyone changed their minds and “stuffed” my face. I guess I was too hasty, because I could not get anything in. Mommy and Grandma started laughing, and when I took my hand away, the cake was still stuck to my hand. I showed mom.

The green stuff stuck to my hand, and painted my face and hands. It did taste very nice, so I just continued licking, sucking and stuffing, before they stopped me.

Mommy said that she would help me with the rest and she gave me the “cake” part, I learned that I tried to eat the icing first.

I think I will do that again in the future, because the icing is very nice. Daddy said that this is why we always have dinner before pudding. Mommy said I was properly caked and I said: “Thanks grandma, dad, take me out of this chair, I want to run!“

Guava and custard

You know the flying car took us to a place called Cape Town in just over 1 sleep, daddy said I would have had to sleep at least 3 times, if we drove with mommy’s car and 4 times with the diesel.

We got the stroller back, and mommy talked to a friendly person who offered us a car with a baby seat, just like that. We loaded all our suitcases and off we went to my grandparents. We took the N2 (National road, said daddy), and I decided to say: “It is a car”, every time I saw one, but I got thirsty quickly, we did not even get to the N2, because I had to say it so many times, so I decided to say it every now and then, just so mommy and daddy could see I knew it was a car that passed us.

After a drive, we arrived at my grandparents. They were glad to see me, sorry us, in fact so glad grandma made me guava puree. Good thing too, I was getting hungry. I was a little worried about where I will be sitting, could not remember daddy packing my chair, but you know, he is very clever, he took a few sticks and material, said a few words to it, which I do not understand yet, and there, I had a chair.

My feet hang loose and it felt a little like swing, I liked it. I was very interested to see granddad standing back, far away. I think they have not seen me eat, and was scared I would make a mess, or scared I would fall, but daddy made sure that would not happen.

Mommy said that I had to wait for my pudding, and first eat some food she brought with her. She is also very clever, because if she did not, I would have surely starved. Grandma was also worried, it seemed, as I said, they have not seen me eat before. They really did not have to worry.

 After I had my meal, it was guava and custard time. Grandma made it special and maybe she was worried I would not like it, now that I think about it. Mommy said I should test it and see what I think. It was so nice.

After I had my guava and custard, I thanked grandma with a loving look and gave them both a kiss, okay, several for grandma, hoping there would be more.

One final comment on this post, mom also got some disposable bibs as we forgot to pack them at home. I am not a big bib fan, but for any toddlers looking, they do work, best is they can be torn into pieces after dinner – I loved that!

My first-est ever flight.

Everyone who is everyone knows by now that I took my first-est flight ever in my life. Mommy seems to like the flying cars, because she takes them to work and she said that daddy and me can come with her this time. Daddy seemed to like this idea too, so I decided that I will go with them, mainly because I did not want to stay home alone and it seemed a better idea to make sure they are okay. They may miss me too much, too.

Interestingly, this seemed to be a great thing, because when we went to the place the flying cars are found, many people came to see us off. Our neighbors girl also suddenly wanted to hold my hand, as if I suddenly became a very important person. I do like a little older girls, but mommy started to take pictures and I am not sure if I want to be seen liking girls yet, so I made as if I did not like it. I do have an image to uphold you know.

After a lot of people checking us, I think they lost their keys or something, because daddy took his out of his pocket and showed it to them after walking through a big arch that beeps, luckily I left mine at home. After a while we walked out to the flying car. I never knew they are so big. You need stairs to climb into them and daddy carried me up, leaving my stroller at the bottom, which seemed a silly thing to do. Daddy was very happy to see it again, when we climbed off the flying car, as some nice person who must have seen him forget it at the stairs, gave it back to him.

Inside, there are so many people who can ride along in these cars. I was totally astounded at all these people, I did not know there could be so many.

Another strange thing is that these cars have very small windows. I love the plastic curtains they added for us to play with. I wanted it down, daddy wanted it up, so we had fun, seeing who would win with this little argument. Daddy won, but just because he showed me all the cars outside, funny cars, they look a lot like my Lego cars, just bigger, with real people driving them.

It rained as well. I liked watching the water running down the window. Mommy said we must smile for yet another picture, because she wanted to remember this moment, as we go with her for the first time. She also asked if I would like to sit on her lap a little, because that would make her very happy. I did not want to make her cry, so I agreed to do this.

Just about the time I moved over to mommy, the flying car started to move, and I was not impressed. Daddy has an old diesel, and it moves much faster. I suddenly realized why we have to take mommy to work so early, this flying car with all the people takes forever to get anywhere. After a long time, it came to a crossing and stopped, then it turned slowly. I thought, I should have stayed home. Then mommy pulled out a bottle and gave it to me. I was glad, I was very thirsty. Just about then the flying car stopped again. I drank my bottle, but this must have been very funny, because when I was nearly finished mom and dad started laughing and laughing. They said I was drinking very fast, but I did say I was thirsty. The next moment, the flying car started revving its engines, daddy does that sometimes with the old diesel, but this is where they differ, because when this car started to move it slammed me tight into mommy, and she held me tighter, I think but cannot remember, I sucked the last part of the bottle with one go, because when I sucked again it was just air. Mommy did not see, so I kept sucking on it as my ears made some funny crackling noise when I did. The next moment we were in the ocean, I told daddy, “It’s the ocean”, but he smiled at me and said no son, it is the clouds. So, for those of you who do not know a flying car, they drive in the clouds.

I suddenly felt very tired and realized that it was my nap-time, so while I was sitting so tightly against mommy, I felt a warm fuzzy feeling coming over me. I thought, I remember this from not that long ago and ….. that is all I remember from my first-est ever flight with mommy and daddy.

Knitting for our son.

I always had a need to be creative. While work and lately being away from home a lot due to work limited the time that I had available for “me time” I always had time over weekends to do this. Now that the little man has taken over the management of our home, mommy really has to plan well to find time for herself. When I was pregnant I have made a conscious decision that I am really going to make an effort to make time for some creative time over a weekend. Okay, not easy..

My mom always loved to bake and she did a lot of sewing, making most of her clothes herself.  Me on the other hand never had the patience to make clothes. I love to do embroidery and quilting, even from primary school days, while my mom never did this. I have inherited her body shape and after I have fitted on all the jeans in the shopping mall to perhaps found one that fit I wish that it was the other way around and that I could rather sew!

My mom also did not knit and I also got the non-knitting gene from her, but in my wisdom decided that it would be nice to knit a jersey for my son. I mean how difficult can it be, and it cannot take THAT long? Wrong!! Brave and a little naive.

I started at the beginning of fall, hoping that I would finish at the beginning of winter. I eventually finished my project at the end of winter but I am hoping for the winter cold just to hover a bit longer, just to give Boeta some opportunity to wear his jersey before the next winter, when it will (most probably) be too small.

Boeta enjoyed the process as well. He just loved destroying a ball of wool, so mommy spent more time unraveling wool than knitting but we got through it.

Here is the end product. Do not look too close…

First fitting took place one evening and I just prayed that it was not too small already.

Mom? Where did my hand go?

Here is a proper, sort of, picture of the toddler and his cardigan! Still a little worried about the hand eating sleeves. I added 3 buttons after this and I am glad to report he came to greet me at the airport, wearing his cardigan.

Piano man (toddler)

We have noticed from an early age, when Boeta was only a few months old, he loves music, when he could just sit up, he rocked to music, very cute indeed. I recently posted a video of him rocking a little, since then he started doing turns as well.

Over the last few months, ever since March 2014, when we visited his Grandparents, he loves  hearing a piano. He got to play one a few times on the trip, and it stayed with him, last Sunday, for instance there was a concert on television with a piano, he stood and watched for nearly 20 minutes.

Our family history does have a lot of music in its genes, and the piano does play a big role. My parents both can play a bit, granddad played guitar, little piano and sang in church choir nearly all his life. Grandmother also played a little, so did her sisters.

We had a piano in our house all my life and although I could have played if I really wanted to, I was more interested in sports. I did join the school band, played bugle and sang in school choirs at various stages, so did my brother, who played the trumpet.

Boeta’s first real piano session with his aunt (dad’s sister), the real musical power of the family.

Our sister had music running through her veins and became a gifted music teacher, singer, conductor of 3 choirs and a marimba band to name a few achievements.

Opera singing

Marimba band

The mother of our house also grew up with a piano, learned to play it and has the ability to play by ear. She sang in choirs, one of which is fairly well-known in and outside South Africa, made a record (vinyl those days) with them and even traveled to Europe with them. Her piano is still in our possession, but is still in Struis Bay.

Boeta playing with mom at Struis Bay.

So we are now working on a plan to move it up to our permanent house, but moving a piano 700 km is pretty pricy. We just feel, it is important, so we have to do it, sooner than later. We think that it is important, as parents, to notice and promote or support any activity our child shows interest in, even if it does not go further than a love for it.

Yesterday, we bought our son a xylophone (glockenspiel to be more correct), his second, but the first one had wood bars, and not really sounding at all, but the new one has metal bars and he took to it immediately. Time will tell where this music love will develop to, but we might just have another piano man in our house.

Mom, Dad and our boy – our little family

As we came to the last stop, where we could allow our son to walk and experience the thick spekboom forests, it was, especially now, looking back, such a great 3 days. I see my wife, the person I have loved deeply for almost half of my life, who has achieved so much, given so much to me and everyone she has met, coaxing our 13 month son through the forest. Showing him all the wonders, his little mind filled with questions, what is this, that and everything else.

What a wonderful experience to be the dad in this group of three. This little blessing that joined us after so many years, making everything around him shine, becoming vivid, sharply, no crisply in focus as if it is touched by the beautiful dawn of another day, that freshness that is so nearly touchable before the sun fully brightens the day. We are three, mom, dad and son, but we are also ONE family.

We will be back, soon as we can, to this place where the elephants play in the water, the jackals and nightjars provide the background music of the night, this place where the dung beetle has right of way!