Life's ups and downs...

Something that I haven't really blogged much about, because I needed to get my head around it and I needed to get all my facts straight first, is Jake's schooling.  Jake has always loved school, he's always done well and he's a pretty sociable child, so enjoys the time with his friends.  So, it's come as a bit of a shock to me that he's not doing as well as I thought he was...

I only realised to what extent he was battling, when he brought his books home from school a couple of weeks ago and I saw how many of his tasks he is not managing to complete in class.  Like I said, it came as a shock, because my child is brilliantly perfect, of course.  He did really well last year and scored above average on his reports throughout the year.  So, I was totally blind-sided, after having seen his teacher, when I was given a note saying that they wanted him to go for a remedial assessment.  Remedial?  No ways - my child is perfect, remember?  He went for the assessment and I met with his class and remedial teachers this morning to discuss the results.

Turns out that my child's not perfect, that he does have problems.  Especially with visual spatial integration, which is basically his perception of spatial relationships between objects in his field of vision.  This affects reading, writing, maths, copying, puzzles, problem-solving and understanding of how to tie it all up together.  He also has fine motor co-ordination problems, which can be linked to the visual spatial problems, which is why his handwriting is such a mess. The teachers both agree that his intellectual ability is above where it should be, which would explain his frustrations in class at not being able to do the things his friends are able to do so easily.
So, the hard work begins from here, he has to go for Occupational Therapy and he will be starting up with remedial classes (they fall within school time) as soon as they have a gap for him.  He is also spending time doing homework twice a week with his Auntie Tam, who's also a remedial teacher. 

He is lucky that he has the wonderful teacher that he has this year.  She has been kind enough to pay close enough attention to him and to realise that he's not keeping up with the pace.  He is blessed to be at a school (public, not private), that has excellent remedial facilities in place and that they are able to help him find his feet again.  He is blessed to have a wonderful auntie who is excited to be able to help him and who has been spending hours researching games and exercises that she can use to help him.  He is so blessed in so many ways and instead of being upset about all of this, I'm so pleased that I am in a position to be able to help him when he needs it.  I am excited to get started on all of this with him and I am excited about getting him excited about learning and about school again.  That's the most important thing for me, not that he excels, just that he enjoys school.

It's hard enough accepting that I'm not perfect, but it's even more difficult to have someone telling you that your child's not as perfect.  I just have to keep focused on the blessings in our lives and how wonderful it is knowing that we have the most amazing support systems to help us deal with life's little problems.

Love,
Sue X

PS.  You can read more about  visual spatial problems here, if you're interested...

I am blessed...

Well, Monday is here. I wished for it on Friday and I am relieved that today is that day.  The weekend was tough on so many levels and I'm still not sure how I managed to get through it all, but I did.  I don't want to go on and on about it, you all know what I had to deal with this weekend and it was about as tough as I expected. 

Letting Jake go off to do his Junior Argus and knowing I wasn't going to be there to cheer him on was heartbreaking.  He rode like a little star though and had all 4 of his grandparents there to encourage him on his way.  He and his Auntie Tam took a little tumble too, so it was tough for him on the road, but he finished and I am super proud of him.  He is so thrilled with his medal and is super proud of himself too. 

The weddings went better than I expected and I managed to enjoy both.  The first was tough but lovely none-the-less.  I am learning more and more how to distract my brain when things are tough and you have no idea how absolutely fascinating bamboo actually is.  Anyway, we sat out in the sunshine, drinking ice cold cool drinks through the ceremony and stuffed ourselves on a scrumptious buffet-style picnic for lunch.  It was more than delicious.  I didn't know too many people at the wedding, so met a lot of new faces, many who have known Danie for years.  It was nice to finally be able to put faces to names I've heard so much about.

The second wedding was quaint and cosy and so special.  I met the couple through Danie and they're really lovely, down-to-earth friends.  They have a gorgeous little girl, Lily, so it was high time that they got married.  They were both so relaxed and happy and it was lovely to be there to share it with them.  We knew many of the other guests, so it was tons of fun and by that stage I was very relaxed and really enjoyed my glass of wine during the emotional speeches.

Anyway, like I said, it's Monday.  I'm physically drained and so exhausted today that I wish it was a public holiday, so I will be in bed super early again tonight.

Thank you to everyone who loves me, to those who sent messages to say they care and for those who said little prayers for me.  Thanks to my mom who covered me with cucumber to try fix the swollen, hot rash that I developed on Saturday morning (allergic reaction to stress-relieving meds).  And a very big, very special thank you to my Danie for putting up with me and all my issues and for holding my hand when I needed you most.  I don't think you really knew what to expect, but you were so supportive and lovely and I am so blessed in so many ways.  Thank you, I love you. 

Love,
Sue X

A jolly time...

So, the weekend is here.  It's probably the one that I've been least looking forward to this year.  Besides being an exceptionally busy one, it also marks 11 years since Jacques and I started our "lives together".  It's a day that is filled with so many happy memories of such a special time, that it's always going to be a little black cloud on my calendar. 
So, it's particularly difficult to be going 2 weddings of friends, one couple good friends, the other not so much.  The first wedding is right near my old home on the farm where Jacques used to work, so it is going to be extremely difficult.  The second wedding is a bit out of the way and I'm just hoping we don't have to pass Miller's Point (the slipway where Jacques died) on our way through to Scarborough.  Unfortunately, I don't really know too many people at the first wedding (lunch time), so I need to try keep myself controlled as best as possible.  It'd be so different if it was my own friends and family who know my circumstances.  But crying at a stranger's wedding is not so cool.  I am quite good at distracting my mind, so hopefully that'll work in my favour tomorrow.

Sadly, I'm also missing Jake do his Junior Argus (10km) tomorrow and I'm feeling quite sad about that.  He is very excited though and I'm sure he will be bursting to be able to show off his newest medal by the end of it all. 

Added to that, I got a VERY childish letter shoved into my car window this morning when I dropped Jake off at school, from someone I actually know.  Some of you will have read said letter on twitter or on BBM.  SO embarrassing for them.  I'm not going to waste my breath writing about it, I will just say that if your house is on the same road as a school, with a pathway built onto the roadside, you have the potential for parents to park their car on the PUBLIC ground that is the pavement.  OK?  Seriously, get something else to worry about, my life is too busy and stressful without this.

So, as you can see, I'm pretty much an emotional basket case at the moment. My little helpers don't seem to be helping at all, neither do my rescue drops and I am looking forward to Monday for the first time ever.   I guess I still need to learn how to paste that smile on my face and just get on with it.  Bring on the champagne.

Hopefully everyone else has a great weekend planned.
Sue X

Smokey...

 Yesterday saw Jake and I going off to investigate the thick smoke billowing up into the sky near our local high school (in the background of the picture above).  We followed the trail and were on the scene before the fire brigade.  Needless to say, it was any boy's dream - you show me the 7 year old that doesn't want to be a fireman/policeman.  We watched for a while and decided to head home to fetch my camera and watch the action.

The fire was burning in the nature reserve, protected for being the only place for a specific orchid to grow.  I've never seen the orchid, but I guess it's pretty special.  Jake's adamant now that we need to find it and photograph it, so watch this space, if I find it, you'll be the first to know...

 It's not so easy taking photos of a moving fire through a wire fence from inside a car, but just a few to show how big the flames actually were...

 My dad was mowing my lawns for me yesterday, so he came with us to watch the drama unfold.  He was roped in to help open a tap for one of the volunteer firefighters...

 This is the guy he helped...

 There were more than 3 firefighters, they were all off in the bush doing their thing.  These guys came to work near us, so it was fun for Jake to see how much hot, hard work they need to do...

 Jake did wonder (aloud) what would happen if this guy decided to turn the hose on him...

 A super stoked boy...

 The water started to do the trick and the fire started to smoulder, but was still raging a little further on...

Jake was even more impressed when his new found hero came over to chat to him.  Seriously, I don't think he could've been prouder if a Springbok rugby player came over to say hi... 

 I overheard him asking Jake for his name and then ask Jake to please look after this little guy...

 In amongst the smouldering ashes, they'd picked up a little tortoise.  Jake was beyond ecstatic and totally thrilled with his new pet.  In amongst all the destruction of the fire, how sweet that these big men could take the time to save a little tortoise...

 We'll call her Smokey, because she was saved from a fire and we'll keep her in a box filled with grass (because my dad was mowing the lawn) and feed her tomatoes and hibiscus flowers (they like them).  And she is so pretty...

 Jake cleaned her off, her shell was muddy from the ash and water.  He used toilet paper that he left on my lounge floor.  She was very friendly, or maybe to small to bite him, but she was sweet and he fell in love in a heartbeat...

 Pretty shell...

 Letting her free in the front garden for a little stroll....

 Unfortunately, we just couldn't keep Smokey.  We have a dog, Duracell, who'd eat her in no time and her rightful place is either in a safe garden, or back in the wild.  My parent's neighbours have a gate going into the field where she was found, a little further away from the fire.  We tried to go out to set her free, but the neighbours also fell in love with her and have decided to keep her in their garden.  They have a big, very natural garden, so she'll be very happy there and Jake'll be able to go visit as often as he likes.  If he can find her.

On my way to work this morning, I took a drive past the scene of the fire.  It's so bleek, but the animals (grey heron below) are still there and hopefully there'll be lots of new plants in the not too distant future... 

 A lesson was learnt by Jake, as we watched the fire engulf plants, listening to seeds pop open - no smoking (especially in the bushes), no littering and always, always look after animals.

Sue X

What a week...

It feels as though I haven't stopped rushing once this entire week.  Jake's schedule is keeping me pretty busy at the moment.  He's got extra lessons with his auntie twice a week, swimming twice a week and cricket once a week.  In between, we need to find time for homework and shopping and cooking.  As far as work goes, we've had our financial year end this week and every one needs everything urgently.  Thankfully, I only have a half day job.  So, life has been insane both at home and at work and I am exhausted.  Thank goodness it's Friday today, but our weekend doesn't hold much time for rest.  I have a kitchen tea tomorrow, Danie a bachelor's party and then we're off to watch the rugby at Newlands.  Sunday Jake has a birthday party from 3-6pm (it's might just actually kill me).

Breaking news is that Danie's had a jetty built at his house, which Jake absolutely loves.  I can't keep this boy inside when we're at Danie's house, he just wants to fish and fish.  I have all my fingers crossed that he'll eventually catch something of a decent size that we can actually cook it (boys have to clean it though), but for now he's learning a lot by practising his casting and doesn't seem to mind too much that he's not catching anything.  He was up at 6am last Saturday morning to spend time on the water's edge...

The jetty covers the entire front of the lawn, so it's pretty big.  We just need to get a pretty little table that we can take down to have snacks and drinks at hand for lazy evenings...

Jake's also been working on cubs badges again, so hopefully he'll have another one or two to add to the 4 he's already got.  We've been working on his cooking badge and as part of it, he has to make a sweet.  As in fudge, or something along those lines.  We found a recipe for gummy bears, so decided to make them.  They're pretty easy, although a little messy, but heaps of fun for the kids.  Basically, you put 3/4 a cup of cold water in a pan, pour in 2 sachets of unflavoured gelatin (we used 2, because 1 was too soft for us), pour in a packet of flavoured jelly and leave it to soak for about 10 minutes...

 

 It'll end up looking like this...

 

 Next, you heat it up, stirring it until all the gelatin has dissolved.   The liquid will go clear...

 Put it into some kind of pouring device and pour into bear shaped chocolate moulds.  We had to go buy one and also got stars, dinosaurs and fish moulds...

 If you're eager, pop them into the fridge to set.  Takes about 5 minutes.  Then just peel the sweeties out of the moulds.  We didn't use any grease or power to dust the moulds and the sweets came out easily.  We did dust them with cornflour, because they were a little sticky.  You could use castor sugar or icing sugar too...

 Jake loved it and was thrilled with being able to make his own sweets, whatever shape he chose...

  

We ended up making 3 batches and they were gone by the next day.  We need to play around a little, but I'm pretty sure you could use fruit juice instead of the water and just add an extra packet of gelatin.  It was fun and pretty low effort.  A nice one for a rainy day... 

 I still don't have PhotoShop, so my pictures aren't great, but you'll get the idea.

Enjoy the weekend, I'm so relieved it's finally here, but by the end of it, I'm sure I'll be equally relieved to see Monday.

Take care!

Love Sue XXX

The things on my Table...

Jake is a bit of a hoarder.  Come to think of it, I might be a bit too.  I think I was far worse when I was a kid than I am now.  I hate things lying around; I like clean tidy surfaces.  It doesn't happen often, but I like it when I get the house organised and neat.  There's something very satisfying about walking into a clean house.

My garden, on the other hand, is a complete mess.  I wish I knew where to begin, or how to do the things that need to be done.  Jake and I have decided that we're going to start working on it little bit by little bit and maybe one day we'll have something that we can sit in and enjoy for hours.  In the mean time, we have our stoep or little patio if you prefer.  There's a plastic table and chairs set out there, althoug the table is so full of clutter, you can hardly see the table for all the junk.  It's generally Jake's place for dumping things that he's not allowed to keep inside.  And mine, for that matter.  One day, it will be clean and tidy and we will be able to sit outdoors and enjoy our dinner on warm summer evenings.  One day.

For now though, it makes for quite interesting photos.  So, these are some of the things that you're likely to find on my garden table at this very moment.

Shells... these are strung together on wire in the shape of a heart.  I'm planning to hang this on the wall outside.  My mom and dad bought this for me somewhere up the West Coast.  Simple and sweet and I love them... 

My orchids are doing really well out on the stoep too.  I had three stems of blooms on this one this year.  My other one seemed to be dying off at one point and the leaves turned dark purple, but it seems to have revived itself and I have all my fingers crossed that if blossoms again next year.  I love my orchids, they make me happy... 

*** Thank you to anonymous for correcting me... my flowers are fucshias, not freesias.  I do actually know what freesias are, they smell gorgeous, but apparently just suffered minor-freesia-amnesia while typing this post...***

 Just before Christmas time (shocking), I bought 4 little freesia seedlings.  I had no idea what their flowers would look like, simply picked 4 with different names.  The first has blossomed and it's GORGEOUS.  We have the sand and hanging baskets to replant them, but just haven't had the time.  They grow nicely on our stoep anyway...

 The flower on the right dropped off shortly after I took these photos...

A shark's jaw.  This once belonged to a ±6m long Mako shark and I've been to shy to post pictures of it, in fear of offending someone.  I work for a marine electronics company though.  We sell electronics to fishing companies and one of these companies has shark fishing rights.  Our sales guy managed to get this jaw for Jake.  It was partially cleaned and we've done a lot more work on it.  We just need to dust it off now and give it a coat of lacquer and it'll be done.  With all it's teeth in tact, this is one of Jake's most prized possessions, along with a small crocodile skull that he bought with his own money while we were in the Kruger last year.  He can't wait to take it to school to show it off again (he took it in last year when it was still a bit smelly, it's much better now)...

 Beans.  Jake de-shelled some beans he grew at my parents house and left the beans outside on the table.  When I water the orchids and freesias, the water runs out from the bottom of the pots and collects in the middle of the table.  The beans were starting to wrinkle in these pictures (taken on Tuesday) and have since split open to produce little roots.  Jake is thrilled...

 Almonds.  Jake stole these nuts from my mom's cupboard a couple of weeks ago.  He's had great fun trying to get inside the shells to eat the nuts.  So much easier to buy them de-shelled, but it keeps him busy.  And they make pretty pictures...

 Venus Fly Trap.  This little plant has been incredibly successful on our stoep.  We've had a few in the past (Jake requested his first for Christmas when he was just 3, but called a "penis fly trap" back in those days), but they've never done very well indoors and all died within a couple of months.  Jake got this from a friend for his birthday last year and it's growing beautifully.  Jake does catch flies to feed it from time to time, when he feels like it's not doing it's job properly...

 Leftover dinner... 

Hanging baskets.  These have been sitting on the table since I bought the freesias in December.  Disgusting, I might have to pot these today, just so I feel better.  After cricket, homework, swimming, shopping and dinner...

 A spark plug.  Jake picks up the weirdest things on the way to school in the mornings, when we're lucky enough to have time to walk...

 

 Pretty stones and a boxer charm.  These are in one of the orchid pots.  The boxer Jake picked up somewhere and it reminds him of Danie's dog, Laila...

 Roots.  OK, these are a given, since there are plants growing on the table, but just make for a fun picture...

 A spider's nest.  I'm sure there are plenty more underneath the table and chairs, but I'm not looking.  We seem to have quite a few black widows around, which Jake loves and I'm petrified of.  This one was tiny though, so he can stay...

 A marble.  Again, Jake's obsession with picking things up.  I'm in there too.  And my orchids.  And my roof... 

 And that's my table in pictures.  I do need to sort it out sometime, but I'm not in any rush, there's too much happening on there.

Sue X

 Yesterday ended up being a totally crazy day.  I was all organised for Valentine's Day and for our picnic, but just landed up having a million other things to sort out in between everything else.  Once we got through to Danie's house, things slowed down a little and we were all sorted by the time he got home from work.  The picnic was packed, flasks ready and we hopped into the boat and headed off for a little cruise.  I managed to convince Jake that it wasn't a fishing trip, so we were all able to relax and enjoy being together.

A total sop, I know, but I love making new, happy memories.  I get that from my mom.  So many people don't enjoy Valentine's Day, but I just think it's fun.  Like Halloween.  Next year I'm going OTT...   

 Jake took some bread crumbs with to feed the fish and ducks along the way. We saw millions of fish, so he was a little disappointed about not having his rod and reel with him. Next time...

 Jake had fun being our skipper for a while.  He's pretty good at it too, considering he's only 7.  It gave Danie time to give me some Valentine's cuddles...

 My two special loves...

 Our "little" feast.  I had all good intentions of doing everything myself, but didn't quite get the chance.  Sorry to all my veggie friends, my man is the complete opposite.  We did have grapes and nuts on the side, with humus and mini rice cakes (which we didn't open).  We also had Valentine's Biscuits, heart shaped chocolates and hot chocolate.  We nearly sank the boat on our way home...

My guys again...

 And this is the view from where we dined.  The wind was blowing a little and it was a bit chilly on the water.  We just drifted a bit while we ate, before heading home.  Just us, was just perfect.  Thank goodness we packed warm tops and a blanket... 

The rest of the evening was quiet.  Jake went to bed and Danie settled in front of the TV, while I read a magazine.  I am tired today though and have a sore throat starting up, so looking forward to my bed later.

I had to make a decision today about my garden that I didn't want to make.  Jake and I have been so excited about having a pretty garden and I know it's physically not something that I can do on my own.  I don't have the strength.  So getting someone in to sort it all out in one go, irrigation, composting, ordering, planting, digging out grass, etc was the answer for me.  It's the only way I can possibly get it done.  It is just Jake and I in the house, so the heavy man work isn't possible. I also realistically need to think about whether I'm going to sell the house one day (if I ever move out), or rent it out.  And renting it out is a better long term plan, financially.  I can't imagine how heartbroken I'd be if I'd spent all that time and money on the garden to make it beautiful, only to see it go to ruin through a tenant's lack of interest.  So, for now, until I have a clearer plan on my future, I'll just have to settle for 2 trees and ugly, uneven grass full of weeds.

Sending lots of love,
Sue X