Spirited Mama

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

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What will you be when you grow up?

By

On June 8, 2012

In Dudie, Holidays, Parenting

I have no desired career path for my son. I want him to be whatever he wants to be…

<It’s very weird how parents live out their dreams through their kids. What about that kid’s lie/choices? >

Dear Parent:

YOU had your chance, now back off!

Sincerely

Your loving child

 

All I know is that my Dude & I agree that we want to expose the Dudie to everything we possibly can. From musical instruments to cooking utensils. From Spaceships and aeroplanes to cars and bikes. And I can go on about this forever but basically we decided “Unlimited Exposure” for the Dudie. And hopefully somewhere along the line he’ll find his passion!  

Your Life! Your Choices!

On a different note:

We’re off to Cape Town for the weekend!  We’ll be soaking up some sea breezes and mountain air. Eating seafood at Mariner’s Wharf, this is non-negotiable on every trip J  And taking in babies galore. *Weather.SA* says that it’s going to be sunny skies in Cape Town this weekend. It’s going to be cold; I think the max temp is 14 degrees. Yikes! But there’s no rain forecasted. I’m crossing thumbs and toes… We’ll be creating memories  

Happy Friday Folks!

Happiness is

By

On June 6, 2012

In emotions, Family, LOVE, Parenting

Do you believe in fate/destiny? Are you more the “factual” type. Or you don’t believe anything if you can’t see/touch it?

Do you know how hard it is to see the silver lining/positive in any and every situation ALL the time? <This is my greatest challenge as I naturally worry about EVERYTHING! But I’m trying and it’s been a few weeks now. I can honestly say that I feel better. We live better. We seem happier in general….>

My child has brought out some childlike qualities in me, again. And I’m loving it! He reminds me to just live… Just be happy.

Enjoy the moment! Create the memories….

My hope is that when I cease to exist, my child will remember our moments together….

And with that I leave you with this quote I found on P.Int.erest.

P.S. I have no idea who to credit for this, and I’m not in the mood to do a detailed search… So if this was yours – Cheers to you!

 

Weekly Bucket List (4 – 10 June)

By

On June 5, 2012

In Bucket List

I have decided that there will be no list for this week. I have a THEME instead!

“CELEBRATE”

I’m going to deliberately find something to celebrate daily! Fingers crossed that I can pull this off.

In case you missed it, this is what I done for this week until now:

Monday: Played with Balloons and party hats. We even had supper with our hats on. A celebration! Everyday should be celebrated.

Tuesday: Bought a Spirited Package for my Dude. (Kitkat, Samoosas, Stoney – all stuff that he likes and dropped it off at his workplace this morning.)

<I was stuck in traffic and by the sound of it my Dude needed some cheering up at work! It made my heart leap for joy that I can give him some happy for the day(No there’s nothing wrong with that sentence. I wanted to give him happy)

Let me get some work done. I’m snowed under at the moment but I just couldn’t focus as I just needed to update my blog. Hehehehe. Let me focus…..

P.S. As we speak, my Dude is going to book tickets to Cape Town!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! For this weekend!

Updates….

By

On June 5, 2012

In Bucket List

Ok let’s update my weekly bucket list. This was last weeks list, and although I got off to a good start; “Life happened when I was making other plans”. But I think I managed…

1. Make cup-a-cake (Do you know that you can make a single serving in a coffee mug and add custard/ice-cream/whatever you want to it?) Done with custard! Delicious!

2. Share Breakfast with Dude (Maybe I’ll surprise him at work?) This didn’t materialise last week, although I made him breakfast foods on Saturday afternoon. Does that count?

3. Have a good Cuddle with Dudie Done – Friday night , Saturday & Sunday

4. Dance Done – Read all about it here

5. Share a bath with Dudie…(We haven’t done this in a while) Done. But On Monday, 4 June with Party hats and balloons – that’s how we roll.

6. Eat Ice-cream infront of the fireplace (it’s getting cold now so it’s time for fireplaces to be lit…) Done. Dude bought avalanches from KFC on Friday and we sat at the fireplace enjoying yummy ice-cream. This is what we had:

 

 

 

7. Print “Dad & Son” photo for his Father’s Day frame (I bought the frame in January already!) Done. Saturday. Last night I put the picture in the frame – WOW! It looks stunning. I wanted to give it to him this morning. I’ll probably give him his Father’s day gifts soon. I’m too excited to wait!

8. Attempt some craft project (I have a rough idea of what I want to do) Done, I surprised myself! I stole borrowed the idea from Marcia’s post at 1, 2, 3, blog It’s not that I don not like white backgrounds, I just feel that there’s so much colour in the world, Why not use it? What do you think???

 9. Read/Read/Read (This weekend I got such great books for the Dudie. I love how he loves books! Just like me) – Work in progress. Currently reading

 

Very interesting. I’m savouring this one! Loving it!

10. Camp out in Dudie’s room (Tent/sleeping bags, etc) Somewhat done. We “camped” in sleeping bags in the lounge on Friday but moved to the beds as it’s just too cold. And I need to hire a leprechaun to keep the fire going whilst we sleep.

 

So whilst I think about what my list is for this week, I have already done the following:

Monday: Played with Balloons and party hats. We even had supper with our hats on. A celebration! Everyday should be celebrated.

Tuesday: Bought a Spirited Package for my Dude. (Kitkat, Samoosas, Stoney – all stuff that he likes and dropped it off at his workplace this morning.)

<I was stuck in traffic and by the sound of it my Dude needed some cheering up at work! It made my heart leap for joy that I can give him some happy for the day(No there’s nothing wrong with that sentence. I wanted to give him happy)

That’s all folks!

Me and Mrs Jones….

By

On May 29, 2012

In emotions, LOVE, Marriage, Parenting

Dude and I loved love dancing. Albeit he’s the better dancer, I still think I rock!

<A few years ago we were invited to an open day at a dance school. We had so much fun! The instructors told bith Dude and I that we need to be more stiff??? Apparently we move our hips to much? Well, my hips don’t lie!!!!>

Dudie has always liked music. And just like his mom, he enjoys a wide variety. Different genres. We even have Dude enjoying genres other than his norm.

I got home last night, granted I just needed to touch up dinner, as I had cooked on Sunday evening already. Within 5 minutes of me being there, the Dudie puts on some music. 2yr old knows exactly how to work the CD/DVD player.>  He, Dudie, chose the CD and the very first song to play is: Me & Mrs Jones… My Dude was within 2 metres of me, I give my Dude a bear hug and we slow dance in the kitchen…. We progressed through the kitchen to the living room, where Dudie was leaning against the couch. Dudie gets extremely shy when his Dad shows any affection towards me.

We invite Dudie to join in our dance but he point-blank refuses. But he did end up dancing with mommy, all by himself. See neither one of my boys wants to share me with the other. 🙂

Dudie and I ended up dancing for 20 minutes. He was so impressed with his Mommy’s dancing skills, albeit it was spinning and twirling etc… Those are the memories I want my child to have of me.
And again I embedded the smiling face of my son in my memory box…

P.S. I am well aware that as I age my metabolism slows down. I am NOT a gym person. You will NOt get me to sign up for Gym membership. I don’t care about your stupid specials. I believe that if i just get dancing again, maybe I’ll shed some kilos??? Dudie has me dancing for 20 – 30 minutes almost everyday now! I’m well aware of how unfit I am but I’ll get there….

P.P.S If you haven’t seen/bought it already you need to get Happy Feet 2. The soundtrack is amazing. We copy the dance in the intro and by the time the routine is done, I need to wipe the sweat…

 Watch the trailer here. How can your spirits not be lifted after that? Bridge of Light is one of my all time favourites to sing to Dudie…<It also helps him to vent his anger/frustrations cos he understands somehow what little Eric is going through>

 

My weekly Bucket List (28 May – 3 June)

By

On May 28, 2012

In Bucket List

I mentioned before that I wanted to do a Bucket List but I wanted to break mine into sizable chunks…

Here goes this weeks list:

1. Make cup-a-cake (Do you know that you can make a single serving in a coffee mug and add custard/ice-cream/whatever you want to it?)

2. Share Breakfast with Dude (Maybe I’ll surprise him at work?)

3. Have a good Cuddle with Dudie

4. Dance

5. Share a bath with Dudie…(We haven’t done this in a while)

6. Eat Ice-cream infront of the fireplace (it’s getting cold now so it’s time for fireplaces to be lit…)

7. Print “Dad & Son” photo for his Father’s Day frame (I bought the frame in January already!)

8. Attempt some craft project (I have a rough idea of what I want to do)

9. Read/Read/Read (This weekend I got such great books for the Dudie. I love how he loves books! Just like me)

10. Camp out in Dudie’s room (Tent/sleeping bags, etc)

So let’s see how I do this week. It’s so exciting to have all these things to look forward to. I always have so much to look forward to but somehow time flies by and before I even realise it the week is done. And I haven’t done half the things I wanted to. At least with the weekly lists, I can hold myself accountable.

I am really trying to LIVE. LAUGH. LOVE

To Infinity and Beyond…

By

On May 22, 2012

In emotions, LOVE, Parenting

For a while I’ve been toying with the idea of doing a “Bucket List”. I’m a professional procrastinator… So after A LOT of consideration, and reading the last post from Kelle Hampton’s Blog “Enjoying the Small Things” I decided to break it down into smaller chunks. Rather than having a long list and weekly list seems more doable.

I’ve made a conscious decision to try and see the positive in each situation. <IF you read my first post, it seems all doom and gloom. And let’s not forget the issues that I have with my Mom. That’ll probably never change. But I’ve made peace with it. And I choose to see the positive! I choose HAPPY! I choose LIFE!>

I have a son and for what it’s worth I will try my very best not to let him experience the hurt/sadness/disappointment/trauma that I faced growing up. I consciously choose to do thing s for him and with him. I want to create happy memories for him. <Now, I’m not saying that growing up was all bad but I remember mostly negative things – Maybe this is all my brain processed???And I’ve blocked out the rest?>

I try to soak up my son every chance I get.  I want to remember him. I want him to remember me. And our moments together. <I feel that I need to find a way to incorporate Dude as we have kinda left him out of many of our bonding sessions. But Dude has his own sessions with Dudie.>

Life is too short to be stressing about things that are beyond my control. <On Mother’s day my dude told me How he noticed the difference in me. A positive shift in my being… That was the nicest thing that he could have told me as I felt happier, was more relaxed but couldn’t pin it for some reason. And then it struck me… I a while ago I told myself that I need to enjoy the “Here and Now” and just enjoy the small things. Those are the things that matter!>

This morning at 12:05 am Dudie came to sleep in our bed. We were uncomfortable and cold, as Dudie doesn’t like to be covered but we didn’t care. We bonded as a family. So with stiff bodies we rose to this beautiful day. Amongst our morning chaos and Dudie trying to snuggle with Dude so that I can’t take him to school, we still managed to leave the house 15minutes earlier than usual! I still have no idea how we did that! So as I pull out the driveway with an unhappy 2yr old telling me that he doesn’t want to go to school anymore and that Mommy must take care of him… My heart broke. Am I doing my child an injustice by working full time? I am an independent woman. I need want need to work. Maybe I just need to find a JOB that only requires my attention for a few hours… But how? I had all these thoughts racing through my head… And then I decided, I’ve changed our world by enjoying the small things and by creating time for us. Let  me not stop now… So I did it.

We went to McDonalds drive thru and ordered a Sausage McMuffin to share… Dudie had his Milo and I had my coffee and off we went to school. The look on my child’s face when we got out food from the drive thru was unbelievable. You’d swear someone handed me a bag of diamonds or cash!!! We arrived at school. I parked in the bay, looked at my watch and decided fck this, I’ll leave when Dudie is done eating. I’ll get to work when I get there. We sat in his classroom, on little red chairs at the green table. Drinking our coffee and sharing a McMuffin. All whilst Dudie pointed out the pictures and objects on the wall. That right there was where my heart burst with love and joy. That was Priceless!!!!!

 P.S. I was going to do a Bucket List post but I got carried away here. So I’ll do the list in the next post…

 

Ciao

Blowing bubbles

By

On May 18, 2012

In Dudie, emotions, Parenting

So update on the frog and it’s going swimmingly. Remember he has two different instructors, the guy on Tuesdays and the girl on Thursdays… Well, it’s really great to see how this frog is progressing. If you want to, you can read about the frog here.

Last nite we had the girl instructor and albeit she’s happy with his progress and all that, she feels that the Dudie needs to practice blowing bubbles at home. I responded with “ But he does. And he’s so proud of himself. And shows off this skill in the bath and all” Well, she said maybe he’s just shy around her…

This left me thinking;

Do I just let him take lessons with the guy? They seem to get on very well. Kindred spirits and all. Or do I try just once more with the girl?

I think I’ll try once more. But then make my final decision. <Even the Dude feels we need to try once more>

We got home a little earlier than usual; our lesson was moved up as someone didn’t pitch. We ate left over Lasagne and shared some Nesquick… I gave him his bath and we polished brushed his teeth.  We then proceeded to his room where I tried to dress him but tonight this task was not smooth sailing… Dudie kept jumping up and down, trying to wiggle off the bed, anything to just not get dressed… The air was filled with laughter… And Dude making home videos. Then Dudie asked me to lie there with him. I soaked you up, albeit my tolerance level was low and my patience running out. I tried to focus on the “happy”. I filed your smiling happy face in my memory box, forever to treasure…

We played hide and seek under the covers and eventually we just fell asleep. Well not before you poked my nose, and pulled my ears and played with my hair and opening my eyes and telling me “Wake up, Mamma…” You haven’t called me Mamma in forever. And I loved it.

I need to remember to focus on the “happy”, the “here and now”….

Xoxoxox

P.S. My brother is almost ten years younger than me. He had a nesquick addiction, like I think I have and Dudie is developing… My brother uses to call Nesquick,… BUNNY! He always wanted BUNNY!

When you’re kid starts disciplining you…

By

On May 15, 2012

In Dudie, Parenting

How do you discipline your child?

I was at my wits ends a while ago with disciplining Dudie. I am not a fan of smacking but once in a while a good smack on the bum does the trick. This might work for some kids NOT for DudiE. He thinks that a smack on the bum is hilarious. So I’ve resorted to the naughty thinking chair. In a corner, still within my sight but no TV/Games/Snacks/toys/anything that’s fun. He sits there for 2 minutes, then I go and give him “the Talk” about what he did and how it’s wrong, etc

I’m always dishing out time-outs. I even did it in a restaurant. Just took him to the baby room and that was that. Well, after time-out, we had such a nice time in the restaurant.

<I really don’t give a rat’s ass about the stares or the onlookers gossiping about my parenting habits. It’s my child and it works for us>

Does your partner discipline your child?

Dude was in awe of how well mannered the Dudie became. Then one day, I get home from work and Dudie breaks down in tears telling me something about music and how upset he is with Daddy Dude. Turns out, Dudie was in the wrong, Daddy Dude put Dudie in time-out and Dudie couldn’t comprehend the fact that Daddy can also discipline him. They are best friends like that… And now what…

Well, Dudie has realised that both Mom & Dad can discipline him and he’s cool with that. But it’s not always moonshine and roses…

When your child disciplines you

Yesterday I started cooking dinner and out of nowhere Dudie pulls up the chair (his small chair) and says “Mommy! Sit down. Blah blah Yada yada” Basically, he put me in time-out. OMG!!! Dude was having such a laugh but I was not impressed ‘cos I need to finish the food etc. I realised that I obviously upset this little man but I still have no idea what I did wrong.  After a few seconds Dudie came to stand in front of me and I said that I’m ready to apologise. SO, I apologized, and we hugged and I was granted permission to get up from the chair.

Not even 5mins later, Daddy Dude was banished to the chair. But Dude didn’t follow protocol and just got up after a while and walked off. Dudie scolded him and proceeded to tell him that he (Daddy dude) needs to sit on the chair. I explained that he needs to let Dudie know that he’s ready to apologise. He did and he too was granted permission to leave the chair.

This child of mine is as cute as a button. When time-out is over he happily puts the chair back in its rightful place.

Spirited Mama

 

And 2012 is the year that our child disciplines us…of course we realise that we are the adults and he is the child. At this stage we are engaging in role play to model desired behaviour in our child.

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.

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