Barney wins hand down – ! Ok I had some issues with Barney songs and the watching of Barney for the last few years. After an episode or 2 of the teletubbies I have welcomed back Barney with a blast! Really  not sure how 4 slurring over weight fur balls can be called entertaining. They are annoying, weak and a complete irritation.

Barney Barney – we all love you!

Ok so as a parent we are going to see the milestones and enjoy alot of them for sure. As I have said before there are great milestones and no matter how your child keeps growing up you seem to come up against these milestones and moments in their lives that mark a change. Competitiveness comes and goes in all ages and generally it can be childish fun or some serious times too. With 2 boys we hit a power milestone this week where Kyle the 3 year old bliksem his brother and declared himself the stronger brother. See Skye is the peacemaker, thoughtful, sweet child so he really is an easy target and the 18 month age gap has been decimated by power. Power starts at a young age, see it is a manly thing to stand up – survival of the fittest – see it starts even earlier in other animal kinds and I am sure it can be noticed in younger babies too, however this is more than the will to live this is taking on the sense of power. Interesting – thought I would share it with you – Hold on this is gonna be one helluva ride!

9 Sleeps….
When my husband had to go away on business last week, I thought, “How difficult could it be. It’s only 9 sleeps.”
Being as independent as i am we would be just fine since I do almost everything anyway. Well, supposedly not! ‘9 Sleeps’ has been very hard work. I quite conveniently forgot that:
- He cooks almost every day ( so much so that I have now got to ask for a turn to show-off my own cooking skills);
- He shares with the dropping and fetching from school;
- He sorts the kids out in the morning i.e. he is our drill sergeant so we can get to school on time. No dawdling allowed or coffee and tea in bed 
- He makes us our tea and coffee EVERY morning;
- He takes the dog out and feeds him every morning:
- He is the ‘fun master’ in our house! He can get a smile out of anyone even at the most inappropriate moments;
- And he does the daily/weekly shopping to make sure that we have stuff for lunch and dinner!
Whew!!! And probably a whole lot more. It’s no wonder I am so tired this week. It’s been a long ‘9 sleeps’.
After 14 years of marriage, 2 kids, 1 dog, a goldfish and many hamsters it’s pretty easy to start taking each other for granted. We often forget how well we work together and moments apart like this make us realise that we have become such a ‘well-oiled machine’ that a momentary break in the system can affect the entire output. We are a great team together and we can’t wait for our Captain to come back!
I love my independence…but it means nothing without the support of my husband. It’s the best of both worlds!

Projeni Pather

Just wanted to share “1st times”. You see while I am watching my boys grow up I have come to the realisation that 1st times are awesome. When the little guys were babies it was their first step, their first bath, their first sleep over with the grand parents or aunts/ uncles, the list goes on. Well you know what it does not stop – see have family that are sending their kids over seas for the 1st time on their own. Is that not brilliant! There is really so much fun and excitement to be had with your family I am loving it (Sorry Mcdonalds – I did spell it differently so no need for trademark letters) So we have 1st bike rides on their own, 1st day at school, 1st sleep over @ a friend the list careers on down the path of life and I think it is brilliant! I am really excited with the future with my family and my 1 boys.

Enjoy your 1st – see you have done it all already now you get to share the excitement of it all again with your kids!!! yayayay

The Tooth Fairy Journals

When my daughter’s first tooth fell out there was great excitement about the arrival of the tooth fairy, from everyone in our home including myself. Little did I realise what a journey this would be. So not only does our tooth fairy leave you a little present or money (if she is not feeling very creative) but she leaves you a little note. And when my daughter was able to write her own notes she too started leaving notes for the tooth fairy in anticipation of her response.
So now when the tooth fairy (AKA: Mum in PJs) is due to arrive, she cannot just write any note but has to write in response to my daughter’s letter, which is often well after 10pm to ensure that all is clear. This requires the skill of a bank robber, who steals into her room to obtain the treasured tooth and note… and sometimes little trinkets. Then move stealthily back to my bathroom, where I can switch on the light without disturbing my sleeping husband, to read the note. I then proceed to gather the foreign notepaper (so that my daughter will not see that it comes from my desk) and carefully write a letter from the tooth fairy….in handwriting that does not look like my own.
We have lost 7 teeth already so by now I have mastered this art. But how do you respond when her note goes like this:

Dear Tooth Fairy (BFF – Best friends Forever)
Will you be my best friend? Please tick here (little tick boxes inserted for YES or NO)
Please will you come for tea in the afternoon? Please tick here. YES or NO
Please will you make my wishes come true? Tick here. YES or NO.
Love from Mikara

The Tooth fairy’s response:

Dear Mikara
Thank you for another shiny tooth. Yes I am still your best friend. Sorry I can’t come to tea as I sleep in the daytime and collect teeth at night. And all your wishes should come true if you keep on being good, helping others, being kind and listening to your mum and dad. Spend your money wisely.
Keep Brushing 
Love
Your Tooth fairy

Or

Dear Tooth fairy (BFF)
Please can you give me some magic? Tick here. YES or NO.
Please wake me up, cause all I want is to see you. Plees…pleese….pleese…..pleese pleees
Love from Mikara

After much pondering and nudging my sleeping husband to help (to no avail), The Tooth fairy’s response:
Dear Mikara
I am glad to visit you again my dear friend. Thanks you for another shiny tooth. I would love to wake you up to meet you but if I do I would lose my magic I would never be able to be a tooth fairy again. Just close your eyes and imagine. I have rainbow coloured wings, sparkling brown hair, twinkly black eyes and an indigo coloured dress made from the finest silk. My hair sits on my shoulders with a chain of flowers as my crown. My magical silver shoes carry me everywhere and my silver wand helps me take your tooth away and leaves your reward.
Now you can draw a picture of me so you will always remember my rosy cheeks, my stumpy nose and my big smile.
Love from, Your Tooth fairy.
PS. Enjoy the book. I know you can read now. Make sure you share some stickers with your brother and teach him too.

As tired as I am when I have to write these notes, I must admit that I truly enjoy making this experience magical. So, the tooth fairy shall continue to live in my house for as long as I can keep the magic going.

In an attempt to amuse my 9-month-old daughter, I discovered that my baby is terrified of remote control cars! I have never seen someone freak out so much at the sight of a Ferrari zooming in their direction before

And today we discovered that there is something else my babe is scared of….cats! We went for a playdate to visit darling little Amy. We were welcomed by two kitties and you should have seen Miss H react – she was petrified! This poor child hung onto me for dear life. She refused to be left on the floor incase a furry friend strolled her way. When she finally decided it was safe to be at floor level, she screamed blue murder when she mistook poor Amy crawling towards her for a kitty!

sigh…my poor little scaredy CAT

Well on the surface lets face it who are we to judge – this is true however on certain instance in being parents just don’t. Reason being is that often there can be a more to the story than meets the eye. This time what I am specifically referring to is do not judge the parents by how their kids are dressed.  You see my 4 year old has a pair of batman slips that are a few seasons past their sell by date, he loves wearing them and at times it is not worth the battle of wills at 6 in the morning so he has warn them to school a few times. Added to this is his crazy and experimental dress sense where weird and wonderful colors are thrown together – not to mention his strange and interesting use of how many way he can find to wear a tshirt.  Yup if you have ever take your child to school in their pajamas then you know exactly where I am coming from. If your kids have never been to school in the pajamas then well done! I am however sure that you time will come.

“Mommy,” three year old M says, then touches my breasts lightly. “Why you got this?”
I stare down at him, speechless.
He looks down at his own chest. “Where’s my big ones?”
I vary between starting to laugh and starting to panic. What on earth am I going to say?
Then he sees his shirt. “Look. My shirt’s dirty.”
I hold my breath, but this is the end of the conversation. He spins away and demands ‘Monster Mike’.
Saved once again by the natural ADD of a three year old. Thank goodness.

But it gets me thinking. I’ve never thought about what kind of answers I could give to these kinds of questions.

Of course, with hindsight, the answers are always easy. But asked out of the blue, on a coincidentally blue-skied South African afternoon, well… The mind boggles.

At least, mine does.

There are also other challenges like:
“Mommy, where’s your willy?”
“Did you poo, mommy?” (always asked in a crowded area at Full volume, asked whether I left the table to get food / sauce or whatever)
“Here, mommy, eat it. Eat it, it’s nice!” (after digging something green out of his nose)
“Yum, yum!” (after EATING said green monstrosity)
“I got a willy!” (again, always in a crowded area at Full volume… and with heaps of pride! Often followed by “na-nana-nah-na!”)
“He’s brown, mommy. I not brown.” (very true, but hard when thinking people might think your poor child racist when he’s just learning his colours…)

Do your kids leave you speechless?

I am almost 32 weeks pregnant and I’ve noticed the general pregnant conversation while talking to one of our producers the other day. It goes something like this:

Pregnant Fairy 1: When are you due?

Pregnant Fairy 2: Mid January. And you?

Pregnant Fairy 1: End of February.  Do you know if it’s a boy or a girl?

Pregnant Fairy 2: It’s a boy….again. What are you having?

Pregnancy Fairy 1: A girl

Pregnant pause – excuse the pun

Pregnant Fairy 2: Do you have any names yet?

Pregnant Fairy 1: Yes we’re thinking either Lola or Peaches

Another pregnant pause while Pregnant Fairy 2 thinks of a diplomatic response.

Pregnant Fairy 2: Oh! *thinks, “Good grief, my dog’s name is Lola”.*

Pregnant Fairy 1:  Do you have any names yet?

Pregnant Fairy 2: No, but we are working on it. *thinks ”and we are seriously considering NORMAL names”*

Pregnant Fairy 1: Are you going for normal birth or caesarean?

Pregnant Fairy 2: Caesarean

Pregnant Fairy 1: I’m going for a normal birth..actually natural, no drugs!

Conversation runs dry.

The end.

Having an almost 2 year old toddler running around is probably one of the most amazing things in life. So often, we underestimate their ability of understanding and their memory.

About 2 weeks ago, my toddler pulled a mug of hot coffee off the counter with braai tongs and he got scalded with the coffee. Immediately I put his feet, which got splattered most, under the cold water in the basin in the nearest bathroom and said to him the coffee was “shoo-shoo” and that he must be careful. (Well, it was really my fault that he pulled the coffee down..BAD mommy!) This morning after his morning outside play before school, I quickly rinsed off his feet under the running water in the same bathroom. I was amazed when he said to me “coffee, shoo-shoo”. Seriously?? I thought he would have forgotten about the incident by the very next day.
It amazes me what sticks to their little minds when they hear something or have experienced something just once.

So I guess growing up is a “sticky business” after all.