Spirited Mama

Living a SPIRITED life filled with wanderlust, emotions and everything in between

Tag: Dudie Page 1 of 2

To my first born. You ARE a good child!

By

On May 17, 2017

In emotions, happiness, Parenting

My first born… 7 years old already

Where is the time flying to???

You know that moment when you realise your baby isn’t a baby anymore….Dudie is 7 years old. 7!!! He used to call me mommy/mama now it’s just mom. Sometimes he even uses my first name, bless this child. He is so independent but yet still so dependent on mom. Where did the last 7 years go?

One minute I was looking at a 3.4kg chubby face whom I had just birthed and the next he is in Grade 2. Somedays I miss your incessant staring at me and in the same breath I look forward to watching you grow into a handsome young man. A man who will become the object of some woman’s affection yet you will always be the object of my heart and soul.

Your first cry made me cry

From the moment I heard your first cry, you literally came screaming into this world, I knew you were destined for great things. Your first cry made me cry. Of all the emotions I was experiencing, being hormonal and high on adrenaline as I just birthed my child drug free, I was ecstatic. Some things will be discovered later but for now, we support you in whatever you want to do. We want to give all the opportunities possible. We want you to explore, to live, to dream. To find your happiness. And wow, you have proven to be an all rounder…and we are SUPER proud of you. In any and everything you give it your best shot.

Your good shines through

Your friends look up to you. Some days I think you are the cool kid but you nonchalantly wave me off and just hang out with your friends. Adults comment on your excellent behaviour. I smile proudly and take the compliment whilst quietly thinking to myself “You aint seen this monkey when he loses his shit”. You are a good child and don’t you ever forget that. Some days you just fall by the wayside…just as many of us adults do. It’s life, it happens. You know how sometimes you tell me my face has an angry stare but I insist that I am fine. Well, that is mom falling by the wayside. Or when mom doesn’t seem her talkative self, yip that is mom falling by the wayside.

You are a good child

In essence, I want you to know that not everyone is good at everything all the time. So when you do fall by the wayside, cut yourself some slack and don’t be so hard on yourself. At the tender age of 7 years I see how hard you are on yourself. And I know you don’t want to disappoint us. Remember what we always say:

“Just try your best. You should be proud of yourself. Your best is good enough for us and should be for you too.” Spirited Mama

You are a good child. And I am blessed to call you my son. My love for you is fierce. And it burns like a roaring fire in my soul. I am sorry that it doesn’t always seem that way though.

I love you my child. Be fearless. Discover. Go on adventures. Go live YOUR best life.

Spirited Mama

x

P.S. Today was a typical day where the wheels fell off the bus. I got you up and going happy bedhead and all. Somewhere in between me calmly, I promise I was calm and there was no shouting, asking you to get done for the millionth time you lost your shit with me. You went off on a tangent and then I got the dreaded “you give Troll more attention than me”. OMG! Really? I will need to rethink this situation as I really don’t think it’s true but I will merit your concerns and address them. I do think we are going through a difficult patch as you are struggling to manage your emotions. And I do think Troll definitely  makes a huge impact on the situation right now. (Adulting and parenting is hard…🙈)

Last night was opening night for your Concert. As always, the moment you take the stage my tears roll. I am so proud of you, how confident you are, how much you pour your heart and sould into everything you do. When I offered you a sandwich, you politely declined because you didn’t want to ruin the makeup 😂😂😂

Currently in Spiritville

By

On December 1, 2016

In Christmas, Currently

Currently update:

Last night Dudie received a certificate at his prize giving…drum roll..for MERITORIOUS ACHIEVEMENT IN MATHEMATICS in Grade 1. Whoa! this kid only told us that we needed to attend and that he will be getting a certificate. No clue what for. Nada. He was mute about it. He is such a modest child. We are SUPER proud of him. Of course we had to celebrate and at his request for Sushi, we tried out the newly revamped Ocean Basket @MenlynPark. Wow, lovely. We will be back soon. We were a bit stuffed so we agreed that we could do a special dessert over the weekend.

The other night, I was getting so hot so I woke Dude in the wee hours of the morning to ask him to switch on the aircon. He happily obliged, switched the aircon on and went back to sleep. The next morning he says “WTF, why did you wake me to put the aircon on?” My response – The remote is on your side… He says he’s going to put a glass of water on my side and wake me during the night for a drink…

We are torn between slaving away behind the stove to cook Christmas lunch or whether to dine out this year. For us it is the preparation rather than the actual eating of the meal that is our festive spirit!

We only have 10 weeks left before we are a family of four.

Mom, Dad, Dudie and the resident alien. Need to give him a spirited name as he cannot be the resident alien forever.

Today is the 1st of December. Tonight we haul out the Christmas tree and transform our home into a festive place. We will be indulging in chocolate and of course Christmas carols. The countdown to Christmas has finally begun, even though I have not done any Christmas shopping. We have been very pre-occupied with the resident alien but even his nursery isn’t done. I haven’t bought everything that I need or want…

Oh, and I still haven’t packed our hospital bags.

My pet peeve for December – Dude wants to go away for an impromptu weekend. In December! He does this every year and every year I say well then YOU find a place to go to because people book a December getaway a year in advance. Any suggestions? Will have to be in Gauteng though as I don’t want to venture too far from my Doctor or hospital.

Here’s to 2016 Festivities!

Spirited Mama

 

Year end drain and winding down…

By

On November 30, 2016

In Christmas, Holidays

Can you feel the Year End drain?

SO many of us are feeling that year end drain. I know I am and I know my family is too. Gone are the days when Dudie couldn’t wait for Santa to bring him an alarm clock – you know cos he started big school in 2016 (grade 1) and this clock would help him get ready for school every day. Yeah right! This Mama, aka Santa, stepped in and blessed him with an alarm clock. For the record that ship has sailed as the novelty wore off so quickly. No matter how many alarms were set, if he was tired he just would NOT get up. Fuck the alarm clock and all. He will not get done. He will moan and be difficult with each and every task staring him in the face. Until I lose my shit – then we argue and then he says Mom you’re being rude….the joys of parenting.

Winding down for the year end

Whilst we face this year end drain and frantically trying to tie up loose ends, it is also the most wonderful time of the year. We are preparing for the festivities, for Christmas. The festive season is upon us. A time of joy, laughter, lazy days spent around the swimming pool…and lest we forget the final weeks before the resident alien arrives. This will be our last Christmas as a family of 3 because next year we will have another little boy joining our table.

My advice – cut yourself some slack. The kid made it through the year unscathed. And tonight we will shed a silent tear of pride as he owns that stage at his prize giving ceremony. We only have 3 days of grade 1 left. Go on have a drink or eat some cake cos I’m #30weekspregnant remember…10 more weeks…Somehow, I have a sneaky suspicion that the resident alien will arrive earlier. Let’s hope it’s not too early.

Happy festive prepping. We need to finish the baby nursery.

Spirited Mama

P.S. This morning conversation with Dudie

Dudie: Mom can you pray when you are dead?

Me: I don’t know, I’ve never been dead.

Stop and play with the bubblewrap

By

On November 11, 2016

In emotions, Parenting

Sometimes we need to STOP and play

Sometimes we get so busy and forget to just enjoy our present situations and be grateful for our blessings. Dudie and I are in a foul space. We are constantly bickering and quite frankly I’m not sure why. I am concerned that it may have something to do with the impending arrival of the resident alien, who is due in 13 weeks. Could it be a result of him not wanting to share my attention? Could it be that I am talking about the baby more and more?

Dude started painting the baby room, we had a slight mishap read here if you missed it, but thankfully that is now fixed. Soon we will no longer be 3 but 4 humans in the Spirited household.

Stop for some adjustments

As much as it is an adjustment for the adults, I cannot even begin to imagine how my 7yr old must feel. Suddenly, there will be a cute, cuddly and sweet smelling person in our family ALL the time. Suddenly, he needs to share his mom and dad with a sibling. It must be rough.

I am hoping that Dudie and the resident alien will become bosom friends and that they will share a love and connection so strong that nothing and no one can ever break it.

As for now, it is finally Friday. It feels like this week has taken forever. I am tired and my feet are swollen, #27weekspregnant .

I received a package the other day but I will share that news another day. My Dudie was way more excited for the bubblewrap in the box. Even the dog got into playing with the bubblewrap. Dude wanted to throw the bubblewrap away and Dudie protested. As pictured above even the dog went to lie on the bubblewrap to keep Dude from throwing it away.

It’s the small things, like watching Dudie and the dog, find their joy in playing with bubblewrap that fills my soul. I too have a love for bubblewrap. Sometimes I need to remind myself that I NEED to slow down, not because #Iampregnant but because I will miss out on the best patts of life if I continue to rush through it.

Happy Friday!

Spirited Mama

P.S. We had a freak storm last night and again at 1am this morning.

P.P.S I am taking the morning off to feed my unborn baby butter biscuits and lie in bed, whilst Dudie is at school.

Japanese teaches MANNERS before KNOWLEDGE

By

On November 10, 2016

In Parenting, Schooling

I saw this over on the Mumemtoes facebook page and it got me thinking.

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What we teach our children

Dudie is currently finishing off Grade 1. If I think about the beginning of this year , how my child came home one day in a flat spin because he is starting to write weekly tests. This was a MAJOR thing for Dudie. He was freaking out. Nowhere have we ever pressurized him about tests etc. Somehow someone must have told him that he should be worried about tests.

Side note – Both Dude and I study and still write exams. We never let our stress show or cause this child anxiety when it is our exam periods.

We have always encouraged the behaviour – YOUR BEST IS GOOD ENOUGH. Everyone is unique. Everyone differs intellectually. You can only give your best. And you should be happy with giving your best.

Manners before knowledge

Seeing this extract about MANNERS before KNOWLEDGE resonated with me. This is exactly how we try to teach and educate Dudie. And hopefully we can do so with the resident alien too.

In my opinion, even if you are a total genius if your manners suck – I WILL THINK THAT YOU ARE AN ARSEHOLE and quite possibly NOT associate with you. I think that some people are too focussed on the ACADEMIC side rather than raising a well-balanced, well-mannered individual. Dudie’s school is very strict on raising well-rounded individuals. It was one of the main deciding factors for choosing that school.

What is your take on this?

Spirited Mama

P.S. I can not believe that I am 27 weeks pregnant already. Freaking out a little as the time is nearing…

Fevers, time outs and oh yes I need a cow….

By

On January 11, 2013

In Parenting, Time out

FEVERS and when they frequently occur

Ok so ask any parent, kids ALWAYS get sick at night…. It’s Friday morning, I have slept maybe 2-4 hours, and this was interrupted sleep. When I got home Dudie was burning up.  Funny how my kid gets sick when he sees me. We grab some takeaways for Dinner and it actually seemed like the A/C in the car was Dudie best friend.

We arrive home. Bath Dudie in lukewarm water and administer Empaped. No other symptoms except fever…. Dudie ate and read me a story and dosed off to dreamland. We checked on him continuously and it seemed the fever had broke. We retired just before midnight, but alas I heard Dudie fussing.  He was burning up again. We sponge him down, administer Empaped and swop beds with Dude. Dudie came to lie in my bed.

I could use a time out

Goodness me, my kid is a bad, fussy, roll around, kick you, stick his fingers in an orifice type sleeper. He was literally burning me to the touch. At 5am I administered Neurofen. I took the day off to give Dudie some TLC. We’ve had milo cereal and this child of mine looks like a spring chicken. Nothing wrong. No pain. No fever. WTF?

I’m going to squeeze in an appointment with the Doctor as I would rather have a good checkup than deal with casualties on a weekend…. So for now, we’re watching Cars 2,for the gazillionth time, and trying to pass the time until Doctors rooms open.

I need a COW

Oh, about the cow, I love milk. Dude loves milk. Dudie loves milk. My family consumes a crap load of milk in one month….so if anyone has a cow that’s just not being used, could we borrow Daisy for a while? Please? Our milk habits will bankrupt me 🙂 seriously, I need to buy a cow, and learn to make cheese. We easily consume 2kg’s cheddar cheese a month.

Happy Friday Folks

Spirited Mama

P.S. if Dudie is ok after we see a doctor, we’re going shopping. I need a new swimming costume, IPad accessories, vitamins, and maybe some sandals.

P.P.S yesterday I booked a weekend break for the Spirited household. Next weekend we’re having some time out. Whoop whoop

Observations in my home

By

On December 6, 2012

In About me, Family, Habits, Random

I started this week on such a high, I was planning to just chillax… If you haven’t yet done so read about it here.

Sadly, that dream was shortlived!!!!! As I had back to back meetings and all kids of emergencies not long after I published that post… (Murphy!!!! Eff off)

So, today it occurred to me that certain things are happening, and in the throes of life we get so busy that things go unnoticed…. But as I’ve decided to make an effort to take in my environment, this is what I’ve observed:

1. Conversations take place whilst I’m in the lavatory! (Dude & Dudie always have something to tell me when I’m in the lavatory… I’m not kidding. I’ve mentioned this to them and Dudie cried crocodile tears cos I don’t want to leave the door open and he wants to see me. After Dude explained that it’s my decision to close the door and he should respect that, he now just comes to knock or randomly screams… Are you ok mamma?)

2. Dudie breaks every single crayon in half before he uses them. Even the brand new ones that just came out of the box… Sigh… I have no idea why he does this.

3. Dude is decluttering….. his stuff that’s standing around anyway so it makes sense… He feels that he can’t handle all the stuff being everywhere. But it is in fact him who put it there/left it there/or decided to not put it away…

4. These days we eat more vegetables than before.

5. We eat less junk food/snacks/take aways.

6. You can feel the holiday spirit! Whoop Whoop

7. Alcoholic beverages are increasing. ( After Dudie went to bed on Saturday, Dude & I had a mini shooter party at home 🙂 I did feel like crap when Dudie woke us on Sunday, 6:45am, to say “wake up guys. Let’s go to Church!” So we eventually got to church, very late, but we made it. And had a KFC drive thru breakfast on the way home.)

8. I’m constantly looking for deals/specials/shopping trips…. I feel like shopping ALL the time

9. I bought some Sloggi undies and man oh man it feels like liquid silk on my @$$. LOL. It really does wonders when you wear new undies. Well fr me, at least.

10. Dudie wrote a letter to Santa. Well I wrote it for him. He had a long list of really inexpensive gifts so I guess I’ll indulge him. (We wrote the letter after he had a meltdown in Makro over some stupid watergun thing. I do believe that we have more than enough of those but my child seems to think otherwise. So I suggested a letter to Santa. All smiles by the time we left Makro. ) Oh one of the items that Santa has to bring is Ferrero Rocher chocolates. My kid loves chocolate just like me 🙂

Have a great day. I’m counting the last working days…

Spirited Mama

Fruit is NOT his favourite

By

On June 25, 2012

In Food & drinks, Parenting

Fruit is not high on his list

FF = Fruit Fail!!!! (I’m coming up with new terminology daily)

I *heart* fruit and whilst I was preggars, I ate so much fruit until someone warned me about pregnancy related diabetes…  But I still *heart* fruit. Even now I’m munching on an apple. And I have a banana lined up for later.

I have a 2yr old who wants to die when I offer him fruit. I know for a fact that he eats it at school, so I’m not too stressed that he doesn’t eat it at home. But I’ve come across Fruit Pack. A fruit pureé that is package like a juice…… (I’m starting to smile). Just maybe I can pull this off and add to my “mommy bag of tricks”.

Fruit on the go

Fruit pack – fruit on the go

On Saturday, we skipped off to our Baby City for the usual:

Nappies (thanks to the Pampers bale packs), wetwipes, bubblewash and Fruit Pack.  I decided to get the apple and pear. I think you need to come up with a variety pack so that Dudie can experiment with all the flavours. Well, I showed it to the Dudie. His face lights up and he takes his first gulp. I hold my breath as I can see him swirling that pureé in his mouth and it looks like he’s about to spit it out. But alas, he swallows and say, mmmmmm.

Success! I have now decided that I will be doing fruit packs in his treat box. And this is what today looked like:

P.S. If anyone working for Fruit Pack reads this, please do a variety pack too.

P.P.S Dudie gets all meals and snacks at school but I still pack a treat box everyday. And I love the fact that he looks forward to his treats.

P.P.P.S When will this child just stop using nappies already? He says when he wants to use the loo and then happily comments “see nothing in nappy”. WTF?

Spirited Mama

Update on the frog…

By

On May 9, 2012

In Dudie, Parenting

Frog started swimming lessons

So yesterday we started with swimming lessons for Dudie. Wow! Wow! Wow. Oh My Gloria! Dudie went from level 1 to level 2 in his first lesson!  <Can you see/feel how proud I am?>

The school is pretty strict on how they teach the kids.

  1. Parents are not allowed in the pool room ‘cos we distract our kids. <Bitter pill to swallow, but it’s true.  We are allowed to watch them through the viewing panes in reception.>
  2. They follow school terms and once during every term they have a parent’s week when we’re allowed in the pool room. Oh my, I can’t wait for that week.
  3. They also have an evaluation week, termly.

I planned this whole trip to the tee. I even packed his swimming bag the night before. <Yes, I have bags for everything. I even had a back up nappy bag, with set of clothes and all, in his room. Just in case we had to dash out in an emergency with no time to pack a nappy bag J. >

<Can you spot the OCD?>

Anyhoo, I get home 17:15, the trip to the swimming school is only a 10min drive and we only start the lesson at 6pm. So I’m chilled, except for the fact that the entire neighbourhood has no electricity. Traffic lights are out and the road is now a war zone! I’m so blessed to have a husband that gets involved with his son. <Bless your soul, Dude> So Dude gets Dudie a snack and I change Dudie into his swimming costume so that when we get to the school he’s ready. And I can just throw him into the pool. Hehehe. I didn’t mean that literally.

So we arrive at the gate, we drove a moerse ompad (detour for non Afrikaans readers) to get there to avoid all the traffic, with 1 minute to spare. Then we’re told that our instructor is writing exams so we have a replacement coach, a male. Dudie was a bit antsy but took to the coach within  a few minutes. At once stage they were out of my sight but then I saw them blowing bubbles and Dudie doing the monkey crawl unaided. Whoa!!!!

Now the next lesson is on Thursday, and we’ve decided to try the female coach too. We will then decide on a coach or maybe just use both. As both Dude & I feel that it would add diversity to his learning.

He woke up this morning asking when he’s going swimming?

Spirited Mama

P.S. We have a swimming pool but it’s not heated. And no, the solar heated pools are not warm enough for me during winter. It needs to be a proper heated pool. If anyone out there wants to heat our swimming pool, please feel free. I’ll throw in a braai and drinks on the house…

P.P.S When I was changing Dudie in the locker rooms, a young woman just got out the shower “full monty – full frontal” and came to sit on the bench to cream herself. Now, my child is 2 and the only naked woman he has ever seen is me. I could see the shock on my boy’s face. I felt uncomfortable for him, but I did not show him how I felt. I carried on as if nothing happened. Still not comfortable with that! Maybe it’s because of my upbringing. And yes, I still have issues concerning sexuality.

P.P.S. We drove around looking for a place to eat as I didn’t want to sit in the dark. Well, we eventually settled on getting Pizza. We got home, Dude made a fire in our fireplace, and we had Pizza and Champagne! Yes, Champagne. That’s how I roll. We had a romantic dinner with a Dudie who was so happy about his swimming lesson he couldn’t stop talking about it.

A frog or Not…swimming lessons starting soon

By

On May 7, 2012

In About me, Dudie, Kids stuff

So, tomorrow Dudie starts swimming lessons… <Dudie is the frog ‘cos he is as happy as a fish in water.>

Do I have a frog or not?

Yay, for the fact that I won’t have a mini heart attack everytime Dudie wants to play outside close to the pool but NAY on the price tag of Little Swimmers! Oh my Gloria, why should swimming nappies be so expensive? At home we just go “All Natural” but I don’t think that the Swimming Instructor/ other parents/ swimmers will appreciate the view…

My Dude seems to think that we can recycle the swimmer for at least 2 uses but Dudie pees in that swimmers as soon as I pull it up over his behind! Now, I refuse to recycle a swimmer let alone one that was pee’d in. Also, is it just me but is it only Huggies that are genius with swimmers?

Yesterday, we went in search of a swimming cap for Dudie. Mofo, what a mission. It doesn’t look like anyone stocks kiddie swimming caps anymore. Or I just missed them. After opening and fitting numerous caps, we eventually settled on one but I think that it’s not really made for him.

Ready to swim

With that we’re ready for tomorrow:

Swimming cap

Costume 

Little Swimmer (unused)

Towel

One very eager beaver

One very nervous mommy

Can you swim?

My Dude can swim. Me – well I’m water safe. Was thinking that maybe I’ll enroll myself too and hopefully they can do Stroke correction with me. My freestyle looks more like I’m drowning. HAHAHA. But at least I can float …

Spirited Mama

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