Last day of being Three

A final toddler tantrum brewing (?)

Can I also call it the last day of the "Toddler"-phase?

I have been searching the developmental milestone sites, and it seems that the end of the toddler years is finally here.

Wow! Just like that we are passing another milestone!

Nooooo! 

Feeling quite sad about letting "The Toddler" go!
She has been so much fun and so exasperating and so lovable and so cute.
I hope there will be another few years of cuteness ahead!

She has been slotted in for the whole year with the four-year old's, and she was graded with all the four-year old's in her class.
She did not do too bad in her report card.
(Next year I will maybe go and ask about not getting a single top score of 4, but this year I will not worry about it!)

We still see a lot of toddler behaviour, especially those awesome tantrums, and hope that year four will have less of them! (Can I cross my fingers?)

There is much excitement in our house for the upcoming birthday.
She is counting the sleeps and told me to go and buy a chocolate cake with sprinkles, AND balloons!

That we will do!

Happy last day of  three, my little one!


The Preschooler is at hand!

Big Bug Expo

Big Bugs metal art by David Huni

The Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens has a Big Bug Expo currently on show in the gardens. It's been on for awhile, but we went exploring yesterday on the public holiday.
It will still be on until 6 January.

Looking to spot those bugs

It helped to get the Toddler to run from one "bug" to another, and it was big excitement when she spotted one that we missed earlier.

There is so much to do and explore in the Gardens. 

I plan to go there this holiday again, because we found new pathways that we did not see on earlier visits. 

It is not only the route straight to the waterfall that makes you feel like you got out in nature!

The play area stays a winner!

The Toddler Fashionista ensemble of yesterday: Her Madagascar dress she got passed on from her sister that was bought by Debbie many moons ago, and the UGG winter boots she got as a present from Wynand from San Antonio.

It does not help to tell her the clothes are going to be uncomfortable for a day out in the sun!
"Resistance is futile!"

Related posts:

"Mountain climbing" at the Botanical Gardens

Wordless Wednesday #139 - Tunnels at the Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens

A 3-year old Princess


(I see I am blogging quite regularly about the Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens! It really is a nice place to go with children! :D )

Accident on the highway

Running a bit late, but not speeding.

We had to turn off the highway to fill up with petrol.

And then back on the road!



If we had put in petrol before the time?

If we did not make that stop at the shops?

If we had started our drive a second earlier?

If only we had taken the other highway?



Rain bursting through the clouds, and then some patches of less rain!

But everywhere the wet highway...

THEN: The bundling of cars, and then we see the car skidding on the highway. There are cars all around us, and this car is not going forward anymore.


It is skidding past us, and I watch the face of the lady in the passenger seat! It is a face of unbelief!

Hubby swerve and misses the car, and for a split second we think we have made it!

The car skids into the barrier on the side of the road, and comes skidding back again...

It is right in front of us, and I hear myself scream.

I am thinking that this is going to be bad!

The cars are coming from behind, and we are in the middle of the highway...

We hit the other car on the side with a loud sickening THUD!

Hubby keeps on saying we need to get out of there! I push the button for the hazard lights...


Somehow he manages to get our car around the car which has now come to a standstill in the middle of the highway!

He drives to the side of the road, and keeps driving forward, afraid of more accidents...

The Toddler is crying now. We say something to her to calm her down. We have been in an accident, but we are fine!

We both get out of the car and look at the damage. The bumper is dented, and the number plate is missing. But it doesn't look that bad! The car can still be driven!

We wait for the other car to come to the side of the road, which somehow it manages to do. It is not roadworthy anymore!

Hubby jumps out and the two drivers exchanges their business cards, and then he comes back and we drive back home. He doesn't want to stay there!

Not on the highway anymore, and the Toddler crying because we are not going to the party anymore...

--------

The driver of the other vehicle says that 3 more cars skidded there while they were waiting to be towed! If we had stayed there, we would have been hit...



We feel very lucky today!

We did not get hurt at all, and except for the schlepp of having a car fixed, we are fine today!



(This happened 6pm last night on the N1 between William Nicol and Rivonia)

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The advent calender is a real winner

We made our second advent calender for the little one!

For a second year in a row I used Cat at Juggling Act of Life's details and printed out the calender.

She can't wait each morning to open the window.

Each night she spent a lot of time standing in front of the calender and speculating what is inside, and when she will be able to open it!

We bought some chocolates, and stickers, and a little doll with accessories that are scattered around the boxes.

The balloons seem to be a big hit, but the Hello Kitty tongue tattoos does not work, and only makes her tongue black, and leaving a slimy cardboard taste in the mouth.

(I should have started to search for little things a lot earlier... Next year!!)

Thanks again, Cat!


Related post:

The Christmas tree is up (the advent calender of 2011)

The Christmas tree & Lights

The Christmas tree went up this weekend.

This December feels like it is slipping by so fast!
I would have liked to put the tree up earlier...

Luckily the Toddler loved decorating it, and between her and her sister it went up in a jiffy!

Last night we went for our usual drive to the house with the most Christmas lights (Cnr of Appelblaar & Mopani in Randpark Ridge) we know in our area. They have even more lights up than the previous year!

I had a special day with the Toddler today. The school is closed, and we are struggling to make plans of what to do with her. Luckily there's a Granny and Grandpa, as well as my aunt. (Thank you! Thank you!)

It is a huge headache for working parents when schools are closed for the season!

Today made me realise of how much we are missing. There were so many sayings that I would have missed...

- Apparently she has two books of God. One of God, and one of Jesus.
- God loves children and wants to hug them. Adults just a little bit!
- We saw a car with pink wheels, and Jesus loves that person even more by given him/her the pink wheels.
- She wonders where God is staying, and if He is alone?
- The angels are getting old, and He is getting lonely!

I got to make a Christmas list of the things she wants from Father Christmas:

1. Ear rings (it involves ear piercings) > Where do we go to find a place that will shoot in both at the same time?
2. A new dress.
3. A tray with clay.
4. Make-up.
5. Leappad apps.
6. New shoes with heals.
7. A guitar.

It was a great day with my little one!

Related post:

Wordless Wednesday #150 - Christmas Tree Angel

The Christmas Tree is up

Wordless Wednesday #158 - Christmas tree angel

One month to the big 4

She is a month away from her fourth birthday.

This Mom has lost her budget mojo for party planning.
I don't think I ever had it, and day-dreaming (hers and mine) about kid's parties does not make it happen.
I think I will phone the teacher to take party packs to school before the end of the semester which happens within two weeks.
Watch this space! (Really!)

It does not make me feel better when I see all the blog posts about wonderful children's parties with wonderful themes...
My wish is to phone up a party person and say organise. I will pay! (I hope you hear me, Universe!!)

We are going to an athletics events at her school tonight, and we are looking forward to it! It seems it has generated a lot of excitement!

Some anecdotes of  recent times:

- I went to fetch the toddler the day before yesterday at school while they were busy reading a Christmas story to them. She was crying crocodile tears because she is "shy" for Christmas Father! (I have no idea what that means!)

- Last night we signed up at our local gym. I had the prerequisite that I would only sign up if she would be happy to stay in the kiddies section. She walked in there and did not want to go again! She loved it!
(So, no excuses for me!)

- We were at our local Dischem the other day, and Mieka told me that one of her friends at school has a roll-on, and she wanted one as well. As I don't like all the baddies in the roll-ones, I sold her on a spray which I hoped we could convince her to only spray on her clothes. But she is adamant that it should go on her "kieliebakke" (roughly translated: "tickle armpits"). It is also a word we do not use. So the next morning I had to help her lift up her clothes to spray it on, and when she got to school her father had to pray it on again! Luckily the novelty wore off after a day...


The weekend is upon us!
Off to the athletics!

Enjoy yours!

Wordless Wednesday #156 - Toddler playing in sand

Wordless Wednesday #155 - Movember

The reluctant gymnast

For the past few weeks we have had a reluctant gymnast who does not want to take part in the gymnastic exercises anymore.

She tells us she does not want to go.

But she loves hanging and swinging and jumping on the trampoline. It's just when they are asked to stand in a group and doing the warm-up exercises, or having to do exercises on their own...


We are not supposed to help them anymore and have to look on from the side. She still wants us to stand with her and hold her hand...

I look at all the other children and they all get their uncooperative days.

But she has been doing it now for quite a while...

I don't know if it's worth forcing her! I would have loved for her to continue a little longer. I think the exercises are extremely good, and she gets to catch up on milestones she might have missed, such as not crawling (she only did a crab creep).

How long should I give her before we call it a day?

What do you do about extra activities and children suddenly deciding they do no want to go anymore?

 

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You know it is near the end of the year...

when...

- The Student is back home, finished with writing her exams. I am exhaling with her! It has been a tough year!

- The Toddler is busy with assessments at pre-primary, and not so keen going every day.

- The concert is done and dusted.

- The ballet concert is a few movie clips on my phone!

- The tiny gymnastics end-of-year is happening on Saturday.

- We are seeing Christmas decorations everywhere, but I think I will leave our own Christmas decorations for December. (It feels like it has been put up very early this year?)

- We are all beginning to look forward to the holidays, especially since we now have our own holiday to look forward to. I usually feel that holidays at home does not feel like holidays.

- I have compiled my list: What I want for Christmas. It is the first time I had drawn up a list so far in advance, thanks to Blogger Secret Santa by Stiletto Mum.

- I am beginning to contemplate my goals for next year. One of the main goals is looking at studying again. A lecturer told me to contemplate doing a longitudal study with my Masters that I did not finish. As I hate not completing it, it is something really worth considering!

- It is great weather for swimming here! (Sorry, Northern Hemisphere!)

 

I love this time of the year!

 

What are you planning for December?

Do you also like this time of the year?

 

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Movie Clip Monday #29 - Ballet Concert

The Toddler had her end-of-year ballet concert, after she had been going to ballet classes for the entire year!

It was the first time we got a glimpse of what they had been doing...

We've seen some steps and moves at home, but it was eye-opening to see what the ballet teacher Jacqui has done with them.

They were all very cute!

Movie Clip Monday #28 - Singing Miekanese

The promised Monday Movie Clip about the Toddler singing her own made-up language.

39 seconds of Miekanese!
The cuteness captured!

You cannot take enough of these for future memories.
I always look back at the photos and videos and think I should have taken more...

Do you also think you should have taken more photos and videos?

(I definitely think I should have had more photos of my first-born!)

Letter to my little girl

My dear little big girl,

I haven't done the 46 months post, and it is probably not necessary any more...
45 months was just yester-day!
When asked how old you are, we already say you are nearly four. You have been four all year in your class with the rest of the four-year old's.

You are a daily source of cute sayings and fantasy stories and keeping us on our toes!

You are also surprising us with the intensity of your outrage when things do not go your way.
(I think we can still can it tantrums?)

Outrage about us not looking to the back of the car when we are driving when you want to show us something; outrage about not getting to eat the whole packet of biscuits before dinner; outrage about the wrong choice of shoes by Mom; the list goes on...

On Tuesday morning you were just not impressed to be awake. As we are also not jump-up-and-go-morning-people, I gave you a lot of sympathy.
Apparently your hands were not washed correctly when I tried to help you, and your shoes were wrong for the day!
I left you on the stairs for a few minutes while you were whimpering: "Sussie!" (Sister!)
We could exchange the shoes, and had to wash the hands again.
You were off with a whine about not wanting the eat the chocolate oats. You wanted the normal "mince" porridge, as you like to call it! (It takes too long, and we have to be off before traffic gets bad!)
So you had Dad's toast and egg (which you never want to eat) for breakfast in the car!

You make our lives very interesting!

We went to a craft market this week, and you had so much fun looking at everything. Dad wanted you to be more quite, because everything came with a load exclamation! "Mom/Dad, look here!"
(I had to remind Dad that you just wanted to share your excitement, and that it is okay if you are a little bit loud!)

When you find something that really agrees with you, you tell us: "Ek LOVE roomys!" ("I love ice-cream" - The English mixed with the Afrikaans!)

You have also learned quite a lot about swearwords (we blame the school, of course!), and we are having a number of conversations about what is the allowed or not, and why not!
You even had a conversation with Dad about the use of middle fingers and other fingers...
You know where to use it, but I like the fact that we can discuss it with you and it seems that you take our words to heart!

You love your sister, and miss her during the time she is not at home. We have to answer your questions the whole week about her being at university!

You are still very much a little girl who wants to wear dresses the whole time. You do not like your hair being in hair bands, and you like your toes and nails being painted.
You spent many times doing Mom's hair.

You love singing to us, and usually it is in Miekanese. Words in languages and melodies that are all your own! (I will put it up in a post on Monday - Movie Clip Monday #28).
It's fantastic! I love that about you!

I hope you never lose this creativity, and that we would be able to channel it in the right direction.

Thanks for being in our lives, and giving us so much love!
We feel blessed every day by the wonderful being of you!

You make me happy!

LOVE!!

Your Mom!

Concert done and dusted!

I don't know how the teachers do the yearly concerts...

They must have years and years and years of patience, to pull of the miracle of getting pre-primary children to sit quietly for longer than a hour.

The Toddler also got fed-up with all the daily practice for the concert, and did not want to go to school anymore.

Sigh of relief! They had the last day on Friday last week. The parents had their concert, and the grandparents on the Friday final.

I went to fetch the Toddler earlier, and while I was busy getting her stuff together, I heard the following in her class:

Teacher: "YOU WILL GO SIT DOWN NOW!"

"YOU WILL SIT DOWN IN ANY CHAIR YOU CAN FIND!"

"YOU WILL START EATING YOUR FOOD AND NOT BOTHER ME WHEN I TALK SO SOMEONE!"

I did not see who the poor offending child was, and I felt sorry for him/her.

The very mild-mannered soft-spoken teacher (or so I thought!) had had enough!

I can't blame her, but maybe it is good the end of year is around the corner?

I went away quietly...



(Photo by grandfather James)

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Going to the zoo Is a good second best

We were planning a camping weekend, but it did not pan out.
The Johannesburg Zoo was a good alternative for getting in touch with nature.

The giraffes were a firm favourite 

Quality time with my big sister

Posing in front of the gorillas

The lion right next to the window

We could not pass the rides at Joburg Zoo
with the inquisitive eyes of a toddler!

Related post:

The two-year old's first day at the zoo

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Wordless Wednesday #150 - Saturday morning lazy with the dog

Movie Clip Monday #27 - Toddler singing "The Gingerbread Man"

The Toddler singing a song with an application on the "Lexy Tab", as she calls her Dad's Samsung Galaxy Tab.

"Crocodile, I am going to eat you..."

(Video by her big sister)

Toddler take on the Tinker Bell movie

Toddler face watching Tinker Bell and the Secret of the Wings

We had to take the Toddler to see the latest Tinker Bell and the Secret of the Wings at the movies.
Even a mom with a very busy boy told us that her son enjoyed the movie very much, and that we should  do our utmost to go and see the film.

Hubby says he would not have believed it that his only movie experience now is in the domain of fairies, but that's what you do when you have a toddler.

 She has a Tinkerbell fascination, and she is promising us a wonderful Tinkerbell party!
(*Uh-Oh!*)

I asked the Toddler afterwards what she thought of the movie:

- She was a bit sad during the movie, especially when Tinker Bell got a broken wing.
- She did not like Periwinkle, Tinker Bell's sister.
- Why not?
   She does not look beautiful!
   She does not like her short hair.
   She does not like her white hair.

She watched the whole time, even while climbing the stairs.... (We had the cinema to ourselves last night.)

She did not keep on the 3D glasses for the duration of the whole movie, but longer than the previous movie experience.

Disney, you did a great job! Again!
Even Mom and Dad enjoyed the 77 minutes of fairies!

Wordless Wednesday #149 - Play in the mall fountain