Oh my children,

how I pray fiercely for you!  Every day.  For so many things.

First and foremost, that God has given you both to me.  That you are mine to love and cherish and raise as children of God.  I pray for your health of course, and your bodies, that you will both grow into strapping, strong young lads!  I pray for your minds, that you will be raised knowing right from wrong, being kind and caring to all those around you and that you will always consider others in everything that you do.  I pray for your hearts, that you will know God.  That you will be shining examples of what people who know HIM are like.  That everybody you come across will see HIS love in you, and that you will learn to love as you grow.  That hate will not be part of who you are, or even for one minute cross your minds.  Oh the list of things in my prayers for you…I could go on forever and a day, but one thing close to my heart this morning is my prayer for YOU as people in this world.  Right now, it’s more specifically at school and with your friends in the complex that we live in.

I pray that other children will like you.  Like you for who you are and not put you down because children can be unkind!  And at your tender ages, a small comment that mum and dad consider silly, may not seem as silly to you.  I see it with both of you…if another child says something ugly, it hurts you so deeply.  It could be as simple as, your takkies aren’t nice (Riley, I’m not sure if you made this up yesterday when I said how nice your shoes are at the end of the day, but judging from your reaction, I don’t think you did – I think the kids did say something ugly about your shoes – and my heart ached for you!), or that your PE bag for babies.  It could just be that they don’t want to play with you or even meaner, when they tell others that nobody should play with you because of whatever silly reason.

Boys, it’ll be like that for the rest of your lives.  Even as adults, there are ugly people!  They say mean and hurtful things, they make others upset either on purpose or without considering the other person’s feelings at all.  And we’re not saints…daddy and I do it, even sometimes to each other, as ugly as it is 😦  I pray that you will be confident in your own selves.  That you will not feel the need for others to validate you.  That you will live by the morals and values taught to you by the village that you are raised by, and that those won’t sway no matter what.  Know that you are loved and that you don’t have to always be liked by everybody!  I know it’s difficult to accept this as a child, but take it now from your mama.  As you grow older, you’ll learn this yourselves…

I love you both so dearly xxx

 

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Letting go

Those of you who know me will know just how much of a control freak I am.  I like to set goals (even if they’re in my own little head space that nobody is even aware of), and I WILL achieve them, come hell or high water.  In fact, the hubster often says that these goals are going to be the death of me not because I am so obsessed with achieving them, but in his opinion, I set such high goals and expectations of myself, that it’s virtually impossible for anybody to achieve them i.e. they’re unrealistic!  Once I set my mind to it though…I’m focused.  Like the jogging that I’ve taken up – it’s the 11th week now (but who’s counting, hahahaha).  I’ve been running three times a week and exercising on top of that – squats, lunges, sit-ups etc.  I go after work twice a week and once on the weekend.  If I can squeeze in another run in the week, I do.  But then this past weekend, I didn’t go.  Saturday ran away with me as did Sunday and when I did get the gap, I was so exhausted, I just couldn’t go!  He was like – WHO CARES???  Ease up on yourself.  If you don’t feeling like going, don’t go.  But it matters to me guys, it matters to me!  And although nobody is there holding me accountable, I hate letting myself down.  Anyway, I digress, as usual!!  My point is, I’m a self proclaimed control freak and letting go, even if it means giving myself a little break, is hard work.  But in the last few weeks, I’ve at least managed to slowly let go of something that I’ve held on to for soooo long…

COOKING! 

I love cooking.  I love being in the kitchen, trying new things out and even cooking old time favourites but most of all, I.LOVE.MY.OWN.FOOD!  I really do.  I can eat a meal that I’ve made and comment on how amazing my food is all by myself, without needing confirmation from anybody.  Food is definitely my favourite thing in the whole wide world!!

With both boys being at school for most of the day, our nanny P obviously has oodles and oodles of time because guys, we DO NOT live in a mansion!!  Even with both boys around, she manages to clean the house in like a day.  So can you imagine what it’s like when she’s alone at home?!?!  I’m sure she probably has the other domestics over for tea just about every day (it explains where my sugar is going to 😉 ) and I wouldn’t be surprised if she catches a snooze midday well, just because!

Anyway, I decided at the beginning of the year that because she has so much time, she can start helping me out in the kitchen.  She was keen, I was keen, and so the instructions began.  Just cooking my rice, pasta and popping things into the oven was already saving me time and it still meant that I could cook the food myself (after the kids went to bed the night before the meal, I would stay up and cook for the next day sometimes even till after 9/10pm!!).  Even though it was something so small, it really was making a difference for me.  Then a few months ago, I decided to start showing her how I was cooking my meals – from start to finish.  So I would make a meal but have her next to me in the kitchen the whole time, and explain step by step what to do. I would then go through the steps and all the ingredients again and make sure she followed everything.  The next time that I wanted to make the dish, I would walk her through everything the day before, then write down all the ingredients and group them together the day before – the sauces, spices etc.  And then leave her to it.

Long story short, in the last two weeks, she has cooked THREE meals from scratch for me and they have tasted exactly like mine!  So not only am I now saving the time, but I’m still getting to eat food that tastes just the way I like it.  P is loving it – honestly, it’s like she’s on Masterchef.  She’s super proud of herself and also enjoys the food that she cooks as much as we do.  The hubster is super impressed and happy that I am going this route mostly because it just gives me a bit of a breather!  I mean, I can now come home and go for a run without having to rush home and cook before the sweat has even stopped rolling down my face, hehe.

Yes guys, I’m learning to let go!  And the benefits I’m seeing now already in these early stages are amazing!!!  🙂 🙂 🙂

 

Good parenting – tick

This morning, I woke up to the sound of the boys chatting together in their bedroom.  The hubster and I lay quietly just listening.  Riley climbed up to Ethan’s bed, and then the two of them lay and just spent a bit of time together all on their own.  Ethan told me that when Riley came up, the first thing they did was pray together.  They prayed for the people on the street who have no food and no roofs over their heads.

It’s at times like this when I know I’m doing this parenting thing right!

Have a good Friday y’all xxx

 

Kiddies…fun and games

Sometimes it’s so tough being a parent and being responsible for your children!  You mums out there…I’m sure there have been times when your child has wondered off – even for just a few minutes.  Walked away from you just to check something out or call their sibling or whatever.  It can’t just be…or is it?!?!  I hope not!!  It’s happened to me very few times thankfully, but in this day and age, people are really horrible and kids go missing and just don’t come back.  So, unlike lots of the mums I know (no judgement!, just saying), I am generally quite paranoid when being out with my kids.  I constantly check up on my kids and make sure that I know where they are.

Ethan is quite an independent child, also older than Riley so I guess more grown up, and when we’re out, I don’t really need to worry about him.  Also, he knows and fully understands “stranger danger” and he knows my cellphone number so he knows to ask somebody to call me if he’s ever lost.  I’ve briefed him on what to do if anybody calls him to come to them, or tries to take him or wants to feed him etc.  I’ve done the same with Riley, but as he’s only 3 and a half, I don’t think he quite gets the seriousness of being taken by a stranger, so of course, I keep an extra eye on him if we’re out.

On Saturday, we went to Papachinos in Stoneridge.  For those of you who haven’t been, it’s A.MA.ZING!!  There’s even a cricket pitch and a little soccer field.  The area for the kids to play in is really great.  Lots of space and lots of things to climb up, under and through.  It’s every kid’s dream come true 🙂 🙂 🙂  Ethan and Riley have been there twice before so know the layout quite well.

So we had a party in the morning and Mr Ri played quite a bit with the birthday boy, but they stuck more to the smaller kids/indoor area which was pretty close to where we were, so I felt comfortable with the two of them together.  Also the hubster was there so he too was checking on him.  After the party, we stayed at the same venue where I met with a few ladies from Ethan’s old grade R class.  Riley had the option to go home with dad but totally refused (of course!).  I was comfortable with him staying and by this time, boy child was so familiar with the venue that he was running around entertaining himself all on his lonesome.

Anyhoo, I was sitting with one of the mothers chatting when I decided to do my patrolling of the area to check on Riley.  Long story short, I searched the area three times, yes, THREE TIMES!!!  I had Ethan looking, one of the managers and two of the waitresses.  I was honestly convinced that my child was gone despite the fact that my brain was shouting he couldn’t have left this place, he’s here somewhere.  I searched the whole restaurant, checked the bathrooms, the waiting rooms, everything.  By this stage Ethan had carried on on his merry way, totally oblivious to the fact that my legs were like jelly, my heart rate was racing ahead in total panic, and I was so flustered that I had to even remove my jacket.  I know, I know, what made me think that removing my jacket would improve the situation?!?!  Hahahaha.  Like when you’re trying to follow directions in the car and you automatically turn the radio down…for what!  I think that on the outside, I was still pretty composed, but the lady I was with could see the panic on my face, so she also got up and started looking.  All I was thinking was – HOW THE HELL AM I GOING TO TELL MY HUSBAND THAT I LOST THIS CHILD???!!!!

On round four of looking around, and now even starting to contemplate what my next move was going to be, my friend shouted over to me and when I turned around, there was little Riley walking hand in hand with her, not a care in the world.  I cannot explain the sheer relief.  I almost buckled to the floor and cried out loud.  My baby was okay!

Turns out that he was playing hide and seek with a friend and had managed to creep under the steering wheel of the big red bus.  I of course hadn’t seen him.

Thank God he was fine…but that stress of losing a child!  Phew.  I’m even having increased heart palpitations typing the story out now…

Needless to say, I made sure that I gave both my kiddy winkles extra squeezes yesterday morning when they climbed into bed to wish me a happy mother’s day, and I gave Riley some extra love, I was so certain I had lost him just the day before 😦

Anyway, all’s well that ends well 🙂  I hope that all you mums were spoilt rotten by your families xxx

 

Let’s talk about school uniform

In the second week of this school year, Ethan lost his PE bag.  A PE bag that had every strap labelled with his name and every item in it (school swimming costume, school swimming cap, goggles and a towel) labelled very clearly!  To this day, we haven’t found the bag.  We decided not to buy another PE bag (it costs in the region of R200), and we gave him one of those small bags that you can pull the strings closed to close it, that he had received driving back from holiday in December at one of the petrol stops – it’s a Paw Patrol bag.  He was fine with it.  We didn’t have to fork out money for a bag, problem solved.

Two weeks later, we had a “scare” (this uniform problem is real y’all!) when he got home from school and realised he had left his PE bag (the Paw Patrol bag) at school after PE.  His school SHOES were in it!  I’m not sure whether you know how much school shoes cost, but…I’ll leave it there.  The next morning, we went to his class together and his PE bag was fortunately inside but we couldn’t get in to check whether the shoes were there as the class was locked…they were…problem avoided.

Last week Thursday, Ethan went to play in a soccer match at another school.  They took the school bus.  I told him in the morning to take his soccer stuff with him in the bus as we were taking him straight home from soccer.  His dad took him home, I was on a work course.  At 3pm, I saw 5 please call me’s from our nanny.  I thought somebody was dying at home – okay, I’m over exaggerating on the somebody dying, but FIVE????!!!!!  When I called home, P wanted to tell me that…Ethan came home without his school blazer.  Ethan says he left it in the school bus, we are yet to find it.  Seeing as it’s labelled and it was left in the school bus, I’m thinking it will pop up, but his PE bag and goodies inside were also labelled, and months later…nothing!  Anyway, we live in hope, hahahaha.

Then this morning, while we were getting ready for school, Ethan asked me whether I could go with him to class this morning.  Odd coming from him, a child who is quite independent, and generally walks to class alone.  So I asked him why…he said that the kids make fun of his Paw Patrol bag and so he wants me to carry it for him.  My heart broke.

We don’t have any other bag that’s small enough for him to carry his soccer kit to school in.

I’m now torn between whether letting him “toughen up” and just deal with this, or just spending the money and buying him a new bag.  The last thing I want is for my child to be teased…but also, just throwing money around when he lost the bag in the first place…I’m not so sure???  Also, he’s only 6…arrggghhh.

When I bumped into one of the dads this morning, I mentioned the missing blazer, he said they’re on blazer number 2 and then he literally whispered…we bought it second hand…as if he was too embarrassed to say it out loud.

Do you buy second hand school items?

Do you think spending the cash when you have it on new items is okay or out of principal, will you not do it? 

Hi I’m Jodie…

…and I’m PETRIFIED OF GECKOS!!!!  For those of you who know me well, you have probably heard me say this time and time again.  Yes, I know geckos can do absolutely nothing to you and so there’s nothing to fear, but still!  Growing up in Durban where these things are literally all over the show…falling when you walk under them, falling into your bath water, into the water where the dishcloths are soaking in Jik…the list goes on.  I have been traumatised by these things and they give me the absolute heebie jeebies!!!!!!!  Now that you know this, let me fill you in on my night last night, or rather…let me entertain you 🙂 🙂 🙂

So the hubster coaches soccer on Tuesdays and went straight there from work yesterday evening.  He usually gets back just after 8:30, at which time, the kids are already in bed and fast asleep.  So last night, he comes in and he’s like, I’m rushing to watch the Liverpool game at the pub with the guys.  No problem right?!  I heard “ME TIME”.  We chatted briefly about our days while he had a shower, and then he left.  So I settled into bed with a cup of tea to catch up some series.  I switched the tv and the lights off just after 10pm.

When the hubster is not there (even if it’s just for a few hours of the night), I usually sleep very restlessly.  Sleep, on a normal night, is not my friend at all, but when he’s not there, it’s 100times worse.  So I dozed in and out of sleep just waiting for him to get home.

Around 1am, Ethan starts calling for me saying that his eyes are burning.  So I walk to the room, see that he’s talking in his sleep obviously having a dream.  I shush him and walk back out.  Back in our room, I have a wee and get back into bed.  About 10minutes later, he’s calling mum, mum, mum again.  So I get up, walk to my bedroom door and for some reason, I look down the passage…A MASSIVE GECKO ON THE FLOOR.  I was literally paralysed with fear.  Fortunately, Ethan fell asleep and stopped calling but the gecko was facing our room, so I walked back into the room and shut the door thinking there’s no way this thing is getting into my room.  Then I realised that the other options for the gecko would only be the kids’ room (where I walk into every morning to wake Ethan up), the bathroom (where I shower in the morning) and the spare room (where Ethan gets changed).  So once again, I get up and close ALL the doors!

Then I send the hubster an sms saying something along the lines of – there’s a massive lizard in the passage and I don’t know what to do.  I’m sure he was like – this is a unique way to try and get me home!! 

It’s 1:45am by this time.  When I got up to close the other doors though, I saw the lizard was facing the lounge area instead of facing our bedroom, so I was less phased but still freaked out.  I literally laid awake until the hubster came in after 2am.  The first thing I asked him was – did you see the lizard.  His response: what are you on about????  Haha.  And within two seconds, he was asleep!

Anyway, I slept terribly until my alarm went off at 5:30am.  Then I got out of bed, grabbed my slippers (I moved my slippers and work shoes plus Ethan’s shoes on top of the bed ‘cos I didn’t want to chance the lizard walking into them during the early hours of the morning) and tiptoed room by room creeping around checking for the lizard.  I switched the light on in each room, checked the floor, checked the walls and checked the ceiling.  When I got into the bathroom, I even checked the shower…all four corners!  I checked under the sink, under and around the toilet, under the shower mat…my checking literally added 10minutes to my morning routine, but it was totally worth it.  It was totally for my sanity and allowed me to get done as usual thereafter.

Did I find the gecko…NO, absolutely not, no sign of it whatsoever!!  It’s as if I totally imagined it.  But not finding it is even worse than if I had found it.  At least then I could have begged the hubster to get rid of it (with a broom, like my dad does to this day for his all of 35year old daughter when we’re visiting them in Durban :-)).  Now, I don’t know where the hell it is!… 😦

I mean, I know it’s somewhere in our house but WHERE???!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

One about the boys

My babies are growing up so well!  How even do you manage to contain feelings when you see how wonderfully your kids are growing?!

So a quick one…

Ethan was selected yesterday to play for the U8 soccer team at school in a match against an opposing school this week Thursday.  He is so over the moon!  He got a special letter to say that he’s part of the team, and they will be travelling by bus to the other school.  Highlight of the week for us all 🙂  I really hope that I get to go and watch him!  I’m not too excited about the special soccer socks I have to buy (R70!)…haha.  The joys.  But I cannot wait for him to be take part in his first school match.  Then on the merit side – the first “level” for the merits is 75points.  When the kids get to 75points, they get a letter from the principal.  Yesterday morning, he had 65points, so on the way to school, I told him that he must push extra hard for the additional 10points, only two merits.  Boy child went to school yesterday – BOOM, merits achieved.  75points attained!!  I couldn’t be prouder, he is really excelling at school shame.

Then yesterday, I called the pre-primary school to set up time with Riley’s teacher.  Riley has been complaining about going to school for the longest of times.  Every morning without fail, he moans that he doesn’t want to go, he wants to stay at home with P.  We’ve put it down to him just wanting his way and being lazy.  Then yesterday morning, I had this gnawing feeling that perhaps there’s something more, and I’m not pursuing it.  So after work, I went to the school and had a meeting with both his teacher [as a side:  when we were leaving, she came to me and said “oh, I wanted to tell you that I’m also expecting”…ummm, does she think I’m expecting too?!?! ] and the principal.  They set my mind at ease and assured me that he’s absolutely fine at school.  He is the youngest in his class by far – apparently half the class repeated the year! so some kids are already turning 5 this year whereas Riley is only turning 4 in December.  He apparently is very bright but is slower than most of the kids in the class resulting in him often either not finishing, or finishing only after everybody else.  They both said that this could be knocking his confidence making him not want to come to school.  Also, apparently the jump from last year’s class to this year’s is quite steep in that this year, they are actually doing work, not just playing.  They say that this can cause lots of unease and unhappiness in kids, especially the younger kids.  But they still insist that he’s very bright and is doing well, they think this will “even out” over the next few months.  I was warned by the principal though that I cannot compare the kids and that Riley has very big shoes to fill in his big brother Ethan who was top of his class last year, even though he was the youngest!!  Socially, they say Riley is winning, hahahaha.  Apparently all the kids want to play with him and he dominates the play ground!  Which could explain why a random kid came up to me yesterday and said “hello Riley’s mum” 🙂  In the car on the way home, I told Riley how his teacher said he did so so well and how proud we are of him.  I promised him a reward this weekend for all his hard work…he wants TWO TOYS – a Coco puzzle (from the movie Coco) and Lego (like Ethan got when he got a good report at the end of term 1).  Of course, Ethan is like – you can’t get small Lego like me though, you’re younger so you need bigger blocks!  Ever the pragmatist 😉

So so proud of these boys ❤ ❤ ❤

 

 

Mr Emotional

My dad hates it when I say this…and I think I’ve said it before on this blog but I just have to say it again…ETHAN IS AN EMOTIONAL CHILD!  I think that the reason my dad hates it is because it’s perhaps boxing him you know.  But it’s not that guys, it’s just that this dude is sooooooo in touch with his feelings.  Without a doubt, his love language is words of affirmation.  The funny thing is though, it’s not just that he loves to hear these words said to him – it’s what it does to him inside that I find so strange, especially since he’s only at the tender age of 6 turning 7.

Point in case…on Monday night, I dished supper for the three of us (the hubster had a meeting so wasn’t there at the time), and then Riley asked for Coke in his “cheers cup” (their plastic wine/champagne cup that nana bought for them to cheers together with the adults).  I proceeded to pour both of them Coke in their cups, and then I poured myself a little bit in my own champagne glass.  Before we sat down to eat, I said I wanted to do a small toast to the holidays being the last night before school started again.  I knelt down beside them, all with our glasses in hand, and I proceeded to say how nice the holidays were and asked them whether they had fun and felt special when we did the activities that we arranged for them like the drive-in and the train ride…we didn’t do anything else on the “to-do” list because well, us adults just couldn’t muster the energy and we also wanted to get some rest in ourselves over the long weekend!!…and then I told them how well behaved they had been over the holidays and how when they are well behaved and act grown-up, it’s easy for mum and dad to want to treat and spoil them.  That was the sum total of my toast speech.

Guys, Ethan walked to me and pulled me in a bear hug, then he (with big crocodile tears in his eyes) proceeded to thank me for the holidays and for all the things that we do for them all the time.  It took me quite a while to calm him down.  When I asked a bit later what he felt inside like when he got teary, he couldn’t really explain it.  Of course Riley was right there chirping why are you crying Ethan, totally unable to understand it at all because for him, well, tears mean sadness I guess?!  Or more specifically, you’re in trouble and have either been shouted at or given a hiding!  Hehe.

I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this already, but when he watched our wedding video a few weeks ago, at the vow part (I pretty much fast forwarded all the talking and just showed them snippets but thought it sweet to show them mum and dad being pronounced husband and wife and kissing!), this child started crying and literally cried uncontrollably so much to the point that I had to take him out of the room into our bedroom to try and calm him down.  Needless to say, that was the end of the video for them.

He has also cried on many occasions when going to bed – if I pray to God for the wonderful kids they are, or I thank God that He’s watching over them and raising them into being such strapping young lads, it brings tears to his eyes.

If we have a family hug (Riley loves this!!!) and then I tell them how amazing mum and dad think they are – queue.tears!

If I mention how impressed I was with their behaviour when we are in church or when Ethan sings all the songs loudly (he’s at that stage where he’s obsessed with reading anything and everything and piecing the words together for church songs whose tunes he already knows is his forte!!), tears.

There are so often tears from him!!  Tears for no reason whatsoever, just emotional tears and that’s exactly why I call this child emotional.  I’m not by any means trying to label him, but I honestly don’t know of any other kids at this age who are like this.  And as much as I sometimes find it slightly annoying (especially when it happens at bedtime!!!!!), it’s one of the things that I absolutely love about him…

I love that he feels aaalllllll the feels ❤ 

The dangers of medication…

Last night at the dinner table, Ethan asked me a strange question.  I cannot actually remember what it was – something about shells and how they are formed – very random!  I remember saying that if he wants to know, we can Google it later because I don’t know either.  At that moment, I thought, how much harder are these questions going to get and is Google acceptable as the “go-to” place to look up things for little kids?!?!?!

Anyway, we Skyped nana and grandpa for him to say his speech that he needed to prepare for the speech festival that starts today at school, then they jumped into the bath, I read them a book, and they went to bed.  That was about 7:20pm.  I then proceeded to make myself a cup of tea and switch on the tv (the hubster was at a meeting and coming home later)…a little while later, I jumped into the shower to do my hair…not before taking a sleeping tablet.

You see, I’ve really been sleeping so badly.  I’m generally a bad sleeper – it’s not even a “post kids” thing – even in varsity, I clearly recall sleeping so badly to the point where there were nights when I literally wanted to pull my eyeballs out because I was soooooo tired, yet I just could not sleep 😦

Every now and again, I’ll resort to sleeping tabs just to give my body a proper rest but the over the counter ones seems to do absolutely sweet boggerall, so on Friday, I went to the pharmacy and got strong meds (prescription ones with no prescription, I LOVE MY PHARMACIST, hehehehehe).  My mum suggested I take half just because I don’t know how they’ll affect me and so on Friday, Saturday AND Sunday night, I took just half.  I had bad sleeps all three nights because my kids and husband haven’t been well.  My parents, over Skype last night, then suggested that I take a full one because obviously the half isn’t working.  So well…back to last night…I TOOK A FULL ONE.

After my cup of tea, I jumped into the shower to wash my hair.  When I got out, the hubster had come home and I told him I’m already feeling drowsy – he said he could see!  Guys, I don’t even know HOW I blow dried my hair.  I did a decent job and it didn’t take too long but every.single.thing thereafter is a blur.  I sent a friend a message of congratulations on FB on recent good news – I only realized this morning when I wanted to message her to say congrats that I in fact sent the message last night…I opened up FB and lo and behold, there was already a reply from her!  From a message that I cannot even vaguely recall sending.  I don’t remember whether I said night to my husband or not, whether I switched the tv off.  I slept with my gown on!!!  Something I would definitely not do normally as I am a very warm body.

I did wake up during the night – once when Riley was coughing but the hubster was still awake so he sorted him out.  And then during the very early hours of this morning, when the hubster was coughing up a storm in his sleep, I also woke up.  But otherwise I slept, actually all the way until my alarm rang (also a very rare occurrence).  When it rang, I felt like I was in a movie – I had no idea what the noise was and I was completely confused as to where I was, what day it was, or what I was supposed to be doing.

On the plus side, I do feel more rested today.  But guys, how dangerous are these meds????  This is the first time I’ve ever felt like this after taking a sleeping tab – quite clearly I shouldn’t be taking this one…

My darling Riley

I sometimes forget just how big you are getting!  We tend to look mostly at entertaining Ethan with “big boy” stuff and you, being the second child, tend to tag along because, well…you’re the baby 🙂  But this weekend, I realised just how much you’ve grown over the last few months and upon your insistence, I decided to take you all on your own to watch a movie yesterday evening.  The excitement in your eyes, realising that you and mum were going out alone…it was priceless.  I wish I could have captured that joy in a bottle.  You left your friend to have a quick bath and get changed into your going out clothes, and jumped into the car filled with anticipation for mum and small brother’s big date.

It took a while to book our tickets and to get our snacks (mum forgot that it was a public holiday and school holidays!!!) and you were quite busy running around checking things out.  But for the most part, you listened and stayed close to mum.  You wanted us to share snacks but to have our own cokes.  And I gave you exactly what you wanted – afterall, the outing was all for you!  Walking into the movies, you started crying, afraid of the dark passage and I pulled you aside and had a chat with you about how it was just the passage and it was dark because the movie had started, but once we walked through the passage, it would be fine and you trusted me.  You listened to my reasoning, you heard me, and a few steps later, you saw the screen and your face lit up.

I asked you during the movie if you wanted to sit on my lap and you were adamant that you didn’t want to.  You told me that you’re a big boy now and you didn’t need to sit on my lap.  You sat absolutely still during the entire movie, totally engrossed.  In fact, I had to literally put the snacks into your mouth because you wanted them – you even asked for them – but you just couldn’t take your eyes off the screen to attend to them.

When the movie ended, you were excited to go home and tell Ethan and dad about the movie.  We walked around the mall a bit, and you thoroughly enjoyed the evening out.  I realised yesterday that I need to start paying more attention to you, listening to you and letting you grow as a person too.  Yes, we’re still going through the threenager phase and yes, there are days where I remember just how little you are, but my boy, you are also so grown already and I don’t know where the time has flown.

Mum loved spending the time with you and I hope that there are many more of these precious times for us to share – I love you my angel ❤ ❤ ❤