Silverwaters

I was thinking lately about the interesting ways of communicating kids have. I’m sure it has something to do with the fact that Jordan is basically bubbling over with things to say. Cherise has the greatest time telling him to ’say this’ and ’say that’, then running to me to say it all over again. He’s doing very well with his speech control right now (wish he could control his bladder half as good, ha!), and can copy so much! Anyway, I thought I’d share some of the funny things they all say from time to time, some of which are a bit of a ‘tradition’ so that I’ve even found myself saying them!

Wrappage: This word was coined by Cherise and is a combination of wrapper and package

Lickers: Another one of Cherise’s. It’s anything that can be licked after baking, mainly the whisks on the mixer, but can also be the plastic spatula, a spoon, etc. So long as it has something on it, she’ll say, “do I get to lick the lickers?”

Jordan likes to give words to items based on their ‘feel’ or taste. He calls play dough ‘mushy’, honey is ’sticky’, food is ‘yummy’, etc (will let you know if I think of anymore)

Cherise used to call the phone ‘hello’

Today Jordan was playing with one of those nerve wracking play phones that says things over and over. He pushed the button that said, ‘it’s me!’ Jordan say’s, ‘hi, me!’

Cherise and CC both used the word nene for nursing, which is what CC originally called it. Jordan called it leet for a while, but now he says, ‘nursy’ which sounds more like ‘nurshy’. (speaking of which, I could use the prayers, I’m weaning him slowly, no more day time nursing, including naps starting this week)

K, that’s all I can think of now, but I’m sure there’ll be more, Jordan cracks us up almost every day!

Sorry, I didn’t post the last few days, we had our retreat–simply great! I’m feeling much healthier again, thanks to everyone’s prayers! I think the 10-14 hrs of sleep a day for three days helped too…haven’t had 2 hr naps since I was PG! Anyway…feeling refreshed, alive, and lots more.

Charlotte had her big dance performance again tonight. She did very well, though I hope she’ll learn to relax and smile more on stage. Maybe it runs in the family (That was the toughest thing my dad tried to teach me: smile!), but she smiles real big at our shows, maybe the big thing is still a bit overwhelming for her. Cherise is counting the months until she can go to dance school as well, thinking that the youngest group ‘looks my age’. There were plenty of cool performances, the theme being winter/back to school, plus the winners from a dance competition they held just before Christmas. Jordan was surprisingly good–my favorite moment being when there was a dance on the dark stage with the girls holding flaslights. The music was intense, the crowd silent, then Jordan shouts out from the balcony where we’re sitting “FLASHLIGHTS!” He’s so into those things! Got quite a few chucles, and I had to stifle laughing out loud! Ahhhhhhh, kids! They liven up my life!

I thought this was just too funny. No offence to the British, it’s way too true.

One of the British national daily newspapers is asking readers “what it means to be British?” Some of the emails
are hilarious but this is one from a chap in Switzerland.

“Being British is about driving in a German car to an Irish pub for a Belgian beer, then travelling home,
grabbing an Indian curry or a Turkish kebab on the way, to sit on Swedish furniture and watch American shows on a Japanese TV. And the most British thing of all?

“Suspicion of anything foreign.”

It’s been postively freezing here these days. Today went to -14, the coldest area in Croatia–go figure…Tomorrow is meant to be even colder. I mean, if I want to start counting my blessings, I can be happy that we’re not in Russia where it’s -27 to -40. Or living in tents in Pakistan under snow in the cold. Thank God we have a good, sturdy house that withstood the blasting wind last night, and keeps the ice out that crusts the outside of our windows, and laundry lines indoors so that we can have clean, dry laundry.

All in all, I love summer. 6 more months to go!

I got into making orange marmalade as we didn’t have any preserves made for this winter yet. Honey is so expensive, so I decided to make marmalade for those in-between things like pancakes, on top of peanut butter bread, etc. It takes a while to make, but I’ve found I really enjoy making preserves, pickling stuff, etc. It’s kind of a hobby for me now; it relaxes me. I can’t be on my feet for too long right now, so making marmalade was good as it needs hours to soak, and uses minimum supervision. I’m happy with the results, and back off my feet again, ha!

Actually, he’s been acting like a two year old for some months already. No is his favorite word, even when he means yes. He tries so hard to do things on his own, which is at times adorable, and at times he gets really stubborn, like when he wants to put both legs in the same hole of his underwear! He has his little set up he does very well, either for playdough or –his newest craze–painting. He’s so neat and tidy about it, there’s basically no mess afterwards! He goes to his little shelf, takes out the extra tablecloth and spreads it on his spot of the table. Next comes the block of paper, his paint box and the brush. Last of all, he brings me his cup for water. When that’s all done, he sits there for up to 1/2 hr at a time slowly painting intricate little ‘pictures’. Not messy or wet like most 2-yr-olds, more neat, ha! After he’s done, he puts the whole thing away again. It’s adorable to watch. He’s too short to reach most things, including the table, so he has to go around by climbing on a chair to put whatever he wants on the table and then climb into his booster seat. He’s actually pretty good at finding ways to reach. When the girls close the door when they’re playing, he’ll go to the bathroom for his stool and open the door that way. He’s also at the imitation stage, where he just repeats everything I say…it’s cute! So, here we go into the twos, so far not too terrible, and with God’s help, much fun ahead!

Yes, our little guinea pig finally went to Heaven. I was worried about her weezing again yesterday and made a mental note to take her to the vet today. However, this morning she was gone. Jo quickly put her in a shoe box so the girls wouldn’t see her that way. CC cried a bit, but realised it’s probably better that she doesn’t suffer anymore. She’s been to the vet several times these last few months, we’ve been giving her special vitamines, extra care, but she was just getting weaker and weaker. LooLoo seems to miss her, but I’m already thinking of a friend for her. A surprize for the girls whenever the man I want to get it from has them in full age.

On a happier note, here’s an interesting story: On Christmas dinner with our friends, we got into the topic of tropical and rare fruits (rare around here, anyway), and we found out that Jas, our AM has never tasted mango. I joked that we would share with her the next time we get any from the market. Truth is, I’ve had mango maybe three times since coming back from India, and even then, there was one for many to share. However, when Jo got back from his next trip to the market, I was surprized when the girls came up to show me a mango he had gotten! And not only that, there were 9 of them! I made a mango sauce for our pancakes, gave Jas one to taste, one for our South African friends and I just ate the last one before it got too soft. The things the Lord does to make us happy!

Honestly, the reason I haven’t been blogging is because so much is happening, I don’t have time to write! I’ll try to recap the last few days.

I got into doing our ‘books’, which I’m sorry to say I was VERY behind on. I’ve made it my resolution to keep up with all the different things I’m responsible for, and so far so good. Thank God. So 2005 is safely logged away after 5 hours of checking, typing, checking again, filing away, checking again. God, help there not to be any mistakes! To be honest, I like this kind of thing from time to time, and I hope I can keep it up so that I won’t be behind again. It would have been more fun if I wouldn’t have had to figure out receipts from last May!

I tried to cut Jordan’s hair again. Managed to cut half (the front) tonight, will hopefully finish the rest tomorrow. He cried the whole time. He hates people touching his head, especially the hair–CC says it sounds like me! I was just tired of the whole ‘Austin Powers’ look he had going, but it’s too cold to just buzz it all off. That makes things considerably more complicated.

Oh, and Christmas is officially over as of last Tuesday. I sadly went through the whole house, gathering decorations, packing up the baubles from the trees, wrap up the lights and singing Christmas songs for the last time. Call me sentimental, just wish I could find some way to spruce up the house again…maybe I’ll do some projects with the girls, something to brighten the place. I was late packing it all up this year (usually done on the 6th, but we had visitors that day, so I put it off till I had time again), but now it’s time to move on to other things. The girls want to start practicing non Christmas dances again, etc.

Jordan and Cherise started on their reading program again after a month break. Cherise still remembers a lot, and I think it did them both good, as they’re intersted again in the whole thing.

Our dog, Lana had five adorable puppies. The girls are already getting attached to them, wanting to keep first two, then three. Oh dear. I hope they will be able to part with them when the time comes. One is brown with a black stripe down his back, and the others are black like Lana, one looks very much like she did, with white paws and a white patch on her neck. We’re seriously thinking of keeping a male one and finding another home for Lana. Will ahve to see…

You know how when you teach children to do something, they don’t like to ’show off ‘ for you in public in front of others? Well, I’ve had too many times where I would have liked the girls to do something I had taught them, only for them to stand there being shy or totally ignoring me. Jordan is the opposite. He is still in the ‘learning’ stages of being potty trained, and has an accident from time to time. However, the other day when we were at the old folks home, he made a big scene about needing to go potty. The ladies around were astounded at that, as here it’s not at all unusual for kids to be in diapers long after they turn 2, and here’s this little guy, not yet two wanting to go ‘potty’ in unfamiliar suroundings. I had my doubts until we found the bathroom, and he was completely dry! I was so proud of him. Maybe it’s cause I never try to ‘prove’ he can do stuff, so he feels confident on his own in his own time. Maybe it’s cause he’s a boy? Maybe his sign? I’ll never know, but it feels so good as a mother to see him progress and learn to do things on his own.

I shall try my best, now that ‘holidays’ are over to be more regular here again. The schedules been going back to normal these last few days, just needed to get back with the blogging.

The girls started school again. CC’s been very good, faithful to do her work, passing tests and all. I’m really proud of her for not making a scene about it. Their friends from ZG are visiting again, so that’s been fun for them. We went to the old folk’s home again today, though we left Cherise behind as she didn’t like it so much last time. She got to play with her friends and wrap Jay around her little finger instead, ha.

All in all, the New Year has been good so far. Hope to keep things hopping on here as well.