Thursday 4 August 2016

3rd August


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.

1 comment:

  1. 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.
    And 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...

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