Wow how extraordinary to be in August already – time is
certainly flying along – regrettably mindlessly a lot of the time – as in – how
aware am I of what is happening in each moment??? The two lives are such poles apart!!!! Aquarobics, bridge, tennis, book club,
meditation meetings, watching sport on TV, peaceful suppers with John looking
out over the bay, plus any other ups and downs that happen chance along the way
– and life here in this very different place in the bosom of our young
family!!!
I am missing Cape
Town and all it offers me and of course Mister Ramsey! But life
swings in various directions particularly out this way!! I sometimes feel that there is
not time to do anything let alone scratch myself!!! But as I said to a friend
today, I am settling into an easier time here but have to confess to waking up many
mornings to a first thought of how am I going to do this again today!!!! And
then the absolute innocence and wonderment and joy of these two little ones
takes over, and I start being in each moment rather than being sucked into the
number of hours in the day!! So no doubt life is a series of yays and ahs right
now and certainly far more yays!!!!
The grannys reading
this will understand this double edged sword!!!!
So the house is now
very organised – play /bedroom organised, clothes in the right places – see the
photos hopefully accompanying this blog. I had a lot of fun organising the activities
in the various learning areas. I am hoping that once Seren starts school again
next week, Morgan and I will be able to get down to some serious maths and
language type activities. Morgan rather likes to do things her way…. So I have
to pretty inventive and very flexible in how I do the Montessori activities
with her. She is so ready to build words with the moveable alphabet (cut out
letters) as she plays I spy happily and can hear the sounds in the words I
sound out. In Montessori ‘writing’ comes before reading – as in building words
with the sounds one hears in the words. Anyway we’ll see how we get on – of course
the secret is to follow her so we’ll see where we end up! Something she has started doing is wanting to send texts to Mel or Georgie - her best friend! A bit like writing with the moveable alphabet but obviously a lot harder - so she usually ends up typing in a whole lot of letters and then pressing the send icon!!
Bedtime consists of
her choosing three books and who is going to read them to her and then she
takes herself off to bed with bunny and her dummy!! She has the most amazing selection of books –
even nonfiction adult books like ‘The boy who harnessed the wind’ and ‘Three
cups of tea’ which have been adapted to suit young children. So bedtime is usually
not a challenge. The only problem is if Seren has not settled yet or has gone
down a little later, then Morgan can’t climb onto her bed. She usually then
falls asleep on my bed or Luke and Mel’s bed and Luke carries her through –
quite something to then get her onto the top bunk!!!Otherwise if Seren is asleep she trots through and climbs up herself. Right now she has her tent on the bed and is sleeping inside it tonight so we'll see how that goes! Morgan is still napping in
the day time and in fact if they both have a good nap in the early afternoon,
they both have a much better night.
We do quite a lot of painting together and
usually use this as a way of eating lunch!!! Morgan is not the best eater so
usually needs something to distract her as she eats! So not much of “when we
eat, we eat – when we paint we paint” around here at the moment!!!!! No doubt
though – now that the dining room is stunningly organised with the two huge
carvers – I call them thrones at each end and the eight beautiful really well
made black leather chairs with arm rests are in place under the table, we are
sitting having meals at the table. Morgan sits at the four seater child size
table in the bay window behind the dining table. Seren still eats in her high
chair which is now drawn up to the dining room table. So as it's so comfortable Luke,
Mel and I are finding that we are lounging and chatting after we’ve eaten. –
Really great – in fact tonight, the revamped dining area will be christened as
the German couple from upstairs are coming for supper.
So Luke and Mel’s
room is now sorted – of course there has been a major throw out of items no
longer worn – so some charity will be receiving many bags of clothing, adult
and children’s, soon!! Mel wants to give them to a Single mum’s group she knows
about in Seoul. It’s not as easy to find homes for things as it is in SA!!!! The
last room to be sorted out is Luke’s cycling, soon to be Mel’s study as well,
area. It should be super as it is a big
room – it was Memory’s room. They also plan to have a place there where Morgan
can build houses with all the huge cushions from the sofas which have been put
into the very useful two storage areas Luke and Mel have in the basement of the
apartment building. My area is very snug
and will be perfect for the new nanny.
Love following your activities! And thinking about them. And having ideas, eg, Morgan could write her messages with the moveable letters, you could photo and send.
ReplyDeleteAnd am wondering if Seren has learned to come down the bunk ladder safely! Love to all from Bugs
PS, Skownos great and small, plus all kath's family coming to lunch tomorrow...