Summer rain in Cape Town

I got sent these photos of the storms we've been having the last couple days in Cape Town. Beautiful! And a nice view of the new Cape Town stadium!

Joshua's new room

We finally did it! Joshua has moved into his new room.

I'm actually still kind of in shock that it all worked out today. We've been getting things ready for literally 3 months - ordering his bed, getting a duvet set and curtains, looking for a lamp and other accessories...

We didn't manage to find a lamp in time, and we'll still need to decorate the walls, but he's sleeping in his room right now, and I think it's looking pretty good so far!

Andrew decided this week that we really needed to repaint the room, so we bought some paint yesterday afternoon, and last night Andrew and my brothers did the first coat, and then Andrew did the second coat this morning before we even woke up.

The finished look:

We found a mirror that would look really nice, and we spray painted the frame a nice bright red, as well as the plug and light switch covers.

Once the room was ready we did a final vacuum, and of course Joshua can't be left out of the action!

When we started moving the bed in he wanted to be all over it...


We brought in his little table and chairs that we bought a while ago, and he's been using them every day in the new study - so very familiar territory.

While we were waiting to put the mirror up Joshua started crawling along it - up and down and up and down. He was really enjoying the different view of the world. You can see him looking at me in the mirror.

The final product (but still waiting some more decorative touches - they'll follow):


When Joshua saw the bed all made he just wanted to get straight in - despite the fact that the temperature today was about 35 degrees... He wanted the full experience!



We bought a small Barney as a "new room" gift. He loves his big Barney, and he's been wanting him to sleep in the cot with him recently, but he's really too big for that. So we thought we'd get a small one for his new big boy bed. Well he saw this dinosaur, and he was completely inseparable from him! I put it on the bed for him to see when he got out of the bath, and the whole time he was getting dressed, and while we were then trying to get him into the car to go grocery shopping he just wouldn't put Barney down. So at least we know we made a good choice there ;o)

And here is our little angel fast asleep in his new room!

We really wanted Joshua to move early enough that he wouldn't feel he was being ousted by his little sister. My goal had been to do it by the end of February, and considering all of the delays we've had outside of our control, I'm really happy that we made it by 6 March, with a good 11 weeks before I'm due.

But it really does mean our boy is growing up!

An afternoon in Joshua's company

I've been sick the last day or so, and Joshua has been such an angel. He's been well behaved, there haven't been any tantrums, and he's just been a bundle of fun, but also sensitive to how tired I am. This evening we were playing, waiting for Andrew to get home from home teaching, and he suddenly leaned into my neck and started blowing raspberries. This reminded me that I never did get to tell you all about a really nice afternoon we had last week where he just showed how wonderful this age is...

I normally fetch Joshua about 3:30 and then Andrew gets home from work between 5:00 and 5:30, so we've got a while to spend together.

On this afternoon Joshua was on top form. Just some of the things that he did:

• He's really obsessed with Barney, and we have a big Barney toy. We had just bought a little table and chairs for Joshua to have in his new room, and within the first day or two he decided that Barney needed to have one of the chairs all to himself. So every time we went to go and sit at the table he'd insist that we get Barney and he had to also join us. And then Barney had to do everything that we do. When we're drawing Barney has to have a chance to hold the crayon and draw too. When Joshua is having some water to drink, Barney also has to be offered a drink. Barney is definitely very real to Joshua!
• Joshua was given a sea animal puzzle by Andrew's mom for Christmas - one of the wooden puzzles with pieces that fit in. There are 10 different pieces - a fish, dolphin, starfish, seahorse, crab etc. Joshua can now name all 10 of the animals (dolphins are now his new obsession, and he calls them "donno's") So was naming all of the pieces, and then he also wanted me to use the wooden pieces and draw around them on the chalkboard, so that he has the outlines. And once this game started I had to lots of outlining!
• At one point we were busy sitting, and he decided he wanted to read. So he got a book for himself, and then he got a book for me too. And we both had to sit and read. His book was all about this puppy and how it likes to play with its boy. Right at the end there's a picture of the puppy playing peek-a-boo. And Joshua sees this and immediately hides his eyes, and I have to also hide my eyes, and then there's a big "peek-a-boo!" And of course we have to do this over and over and over again...
• Another book he got is a "Words" book, which has photos of basic things like cat, dog, car, truck, apple etc. We went through that entire book and he could name every one! The only one that confused him was the truck because it's a front profile, when he's used to seeing them driving by and then he'll tell me there's a truck. But his vocabulary continues to amaze me with its size, and with how rapidly it's growing!
• Then of course there was the blowing raspberries incident. That was the first time he'd ever done it, and I was completely confused when he came into my neck, and then when he blew the raspberry all I could do was burst out laughing! I still don't have any clue where he learned to do it... But then I had to do his neck, and then he did mine... And of course me laughing the whole time just made him want to do it more. So cute!
• Then we were drawing on the chalkboard, and I'd draw a face, but leave out one of the eyes, and he'd be able to tell me what was missing. A car, leaving off one of the wheels, a man, leaving off a limb etc. When I first started doing that with him a while before he really didn't get what I was doing, but he's caught on nicely!
• And then I did this kicking game with him. He's got a set of soft coloured building blocks in 4 colours. So I made 4 towers, one in each colour, and then I got him to kick a ball to knock over the tower. This was of course great fun. And each time he was about to kick he'd say "Watch!" Then I was going to rebuild the towers, and not really expecting anything I asked him to give me all the red blocks. The way that he'd kicked the towers over the colours were all mixed up - but he was able to pick out all the red blocks and give them to me, and then the yellow and green and blue. I was so shocked! And then of course he had great fun in knocking the towers all down again!

So we had a really fun afternoon!
And then just some of the other cute things that he's doing these days:

• He's enjoying counting. He got a counting book for Christmas, and he like me to point his finger and count. And now he's started to be able to say the numbers as well. This evening he said 1,2,3,5,6,7,6,6. Not perfect of course, but for 22 months I'll take it! And that was in response to my asking how many fish there were in what he was looking at. So he's making the connection between "how many" and counting out the numbers. And when he was bathing the other day there were two moths on the wall. Whether it was fluke or not, I don't know, but he promptly said once he'd seen them "Two moth" Maybe fluke...
• He loves drawing, and he loves getting Andrew and I to draw. His favourite thing is stars. A few days ago it was always "Big star", now he's realised that there are also "Small stars" in the world, and if there is a big and small star he can tell you which is which. But what he's also started doing is colouring in the stars and other things that we draw for him. Obviously not perfectly, but actually remarkably well! I did take some pictures, and when I finally get around to posting some photos again I'll show you. He also likes to draw circles. They look more like tear drops, but he's got the round movement going pretty well!
• He's also doing really well with his colours. He knows all the basic colours - red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple - and he gets them right about 80% of the time, which I think is really impressive. But what's really helped is the crayons he has, and also his balloons... He absolutely loves balloons! Sometimes he wants them to be tied and he'll hit them around. Other times he wants to hit them out of your hand, or very often your mouth before you've even finished blowing it up, and watch it go flying around the room. They're a really cheap form of entertainment, so it doesn't really bother me that most days you'll walk around the house and find at least 3 balloons lying around. But like I said, he's really good with his colours as a result!
• He is a real jumpy boy. He'll often just randomly start jumping when we're walking along. And sometimes we'll make a circle on the floor with blocks, and he loves to jump into and out of the circle. Of course it's much more fun when Daddy also jumps with him...
• He's got a few books over at Granny's house that are absolute favourites. Thomas the Tank Engine and Fireman Sam are most commonly asked for, and he's got favourite pages in each of them. He'll ask for the balloons, or the cake etc, and you've just got to hope you can find the right page!
• Whenever we drive anywhere these days he wants to have a book to look at in the car. He's got one ABC book that he often asks for - it actually is living in the car now. And he'll just spend ages starting at the pictures! What he's absorbing I can't even begin to imagine!
• On Sunday evening we drove down to the beach to watch the sunset (from the shelter of the car...) Joshua loves being able to be in the front of the car with us and playing with all the different controls. There's no doubt that he's a boy, and very eager to be in the driver's seat!
• He's also a very helpful boy, and very willing to share. From everything I've read I still can't believe how much he shares, but he always wants to make sure that Andrew and I have what he has. And as long as there's no tantrum he's very eager to help with just about anything that we ask him to. He definitely likes to feel part of things!

There are other things that my tired mind just can't think of right now, but it is just such a joy watching our boy grow up. We're just hoping that he'll adjust well to being a big brother!

Joshua and the DVD player

Joshua just got a Barney DVD off the table next to the table (which he had to go up on his toes to reach), opened the case, took out the disk, went to the DVD player, opened it, took out the disk that was in there and put the Barney disk in, closed the player, put the old disk back in the Barney case, put the Barney case back where he found it and then fetched the remote and gave it to me to put on Barney.

I could only sit amazed...

Naming and being the zoo...

Joshua's talking has really progressed now (finally!) and he is just too adorable!

We were looking at his picture book with animals in it, and when we got to the elephant he always says "Boom" imitating the heavy way they walk. Andrew then came and did an elephant walk on the couch, and Joshua copied him. Too cute!

Then I thought we'd finally catch him with his talking, so we went through the whole book (so the video is nearly 3 minutes... but worth the watch if you've got a fast connection!) and he named just about all of them! But in between he couldn't resist doing some acrobatics. Enjoy!

We're having a girl!

We went for our 3D scan this morning, and it is such a relief to know that everything is fine with my pregnancy, and then also to finally know that we're having a little girl!

When I went for my normal checkup in December she was being very coy, and the cord was also between her legs, so we weren't able to find out then, so now at 22 weeks we finally got the news.

She still wanted to be coy, but this time she was mainly hiding her face... The first time the radiologist tried to get a nice picture she had both of her arms up in front of her face.

But then she opened up. We got this nice profile:

And then it looked like she was resting her head on her one arm:

And then just a clear shot (as clear as these alien type 3D scans can look)

But everything is healthy, all the organs seem to be functioning properly, and no apparent abnormalities. So we are just looking forward to a healthy little sister for Joshua!

"I Know that my Saviour Loves Me"

In Primary the theme for this year is "I Know My Saviour Lives", and the first song is a brand new one - I Know That My Saviour Loves Me. I started teaching it to the children on Sunday, and what a powerful song!

I Know That My Saviour Loves Me (Oct 2002 Friend) (click here to listen to the mp3)

1. A long time ago in a beautiful place,
Children were gathered ’round Jesus.
He blessed and taught as they felt of His love.
Each saw the tears on His face.
The love that He felt for His little ones
I know He feels for me.
I did not touch Him or sit on His knee,
Yet, Jesus is real to me.

2. Now I am here in a beautiful place,
Learning the teachings of Jesus.
Parents and teachers will help guide the way,
Lighting my path ev’ry day.
Wrapped in the arms of my Savior’s love,
I feel His gentle touch.
Living each day, I will follow His way,
Home to my Father above.

Chorus
I know He lives!
I will follow faithfully.
My heart I give to Him.
I know that my Savior loves me.

The first verse is based on the account found in 3 Nephi 17 where Christ visited the Nephites and prayed for and blessed the children.

We had a presidency meeting this evening, and I used the song for the spiritual thought. I spoke about my experience with the song "One by One", which is also based on the same scriptural account. And as I spoke about it, I felt the Spirit again so strongly, testifying of Christ's love for the little children, and for each of us.

And then I spoke about how important it is for us in Primary to help the children to feel that love. They can't have the same experience that the Nephite children had, but we need to help them know that the Saviour doesn't love them any less than those children. They need to feel "wrapped in the arms of [His] love" through us as parents and teachers. What an awesome responsibility - in every sense of the word.

I know that Jesus Christ is real, and I can feel the love He has for each of us. I am so grateful to have this knowledge, and to have the Spirit to bear witness to me.

I hope that we can succeed in helping the children to feel this love too.