Frugal living: Planting my own veggie patch

For years I have wanted my very own veggie patch.  Somewhere I can go to when life gets rough and I just want some peace and quiet.  Somewhere I can go to to harvest my own food.  Well, I FINALLY have started with my little, tiny veggie patch.

My neighbour went to our local nursery to buy some cherry tomato, green pepper and lettuce seedlings.  She then divided it up between herself, her mother and me.  SO grateful for that contribution!  I planted my little seedlings (but I'm still learning about this whole gardening thing) and have waited in great anticipation for the seedlings to grow, grow, GROW!  Okay, then learned that I actually have to water them twice daily to look nearly as nice as my neighbour's vegetable plants!

I then went out to the same nursery on Sunday and bought parsley, eggplant / brinjal seedlings, spinach and swiss chard seedlings.  We split it up between the neighbour and our garden again.  Here are the photos of what we've got so far.  Sorry for the flooding, I underestimated the let-down of my neighbour's  watering can.



The tomato and green pepper seedlings and parsley on the far right.



Eggplant / brinjal on the far left, spinach in the middle and Swiss chard on the right with some spinach, Swiss chard and lettuce plants in the front (although you can't see the green lettuce, since it's been chewed away during the night).


Having these plants really makes me excited because it means I can provide a healthier food for my family without having to spend so much money on fresh, organic vegetables!  I am thinking about still buying coriander, dill, lemon grass, spring onions and then to plant broccoli.  Maybe THEN Linmari will actually eat broccoli!

Oh, and to follow is not necessarily about frugal living (although it could tie in with the theme).  I have finally, after a year and 4 months of living in our home, sorted out the hallway cupboard.  No easy feat, I tell you!  I know it doesn't look super neat, but it's organized!  At a moment's notice I can grab whatever you would ask of me from that cupboard. 

Lastly, my beautiful monkey of toddler is growing up SOOOO quickly!  She's learned to sign the following words within days of each other:

• Cheese
• Swim
• Finished
• More
• Sleep
• Thirsty

I am so darn impressed with her!  At this moment I'm SURE that I'm forgetting some of the words she can sign, but hey, that's all for a next post.  She's been able to sign "milk" and "bath" for quite some time.

First she climbed onto the dining table...

Then on top of the kitchen counter...

And today she figured out how to climb into the tumble drier (not plugged in).

I am LOVING this child!  How I wish we could have another one soon!  Praying hard that we'll fall pregnant soon.  I LOOOOOOOOVE this SAHM-thing ;-)

13 months and 5 days old!!!

 

This gorgeous child is already 13 months and 5 days old today!!!  I was not anywhere near a user-friendly computer on her 13 month day to capture all her newest tricks.  So, here goes.

 



• Linmari has added to her vocabulary and now also says "Ouma, Oupa, (Grandma, Grandpa), eina (ouch), eier (egg), no (shakes head)" after a week with the grandparents.
• Linmari further advanced to saying "Kyk daar (look there), ja (yes)".  I'm sure there were more words, I just cannot remember them. :-(
• She is too cute for words, starting to point, click, drag and drop (my dad always said that my nephew treated us like a user would treat the Windows OS, LOL).  Last night she kept on pointing at the kitchen counter and we thought she wanted fresh strawberries.  Turns out, she wanted COOKIES and knew exactly where to find them!  Today she screamed and cried like it was nobody's business.  When I investigated, she indignantly picked up a building block that she was playing with and pointed to it.  Then she proceeded to pick up another building block after placing the first one down on the floor again, and pointed at the second one.  And then she BABBLED!  She seemed very upset with her building blocks - HAHAHA!
• She babbles a LOT and non-stop!  I think she's taking after me.
• She's started to open the fridge and investigate what's inside.  NOT very convenient when I'm trying to cook.
• She loooooooooves frozen strawberries and smoothies!
• She has decided that she no longer likes olives and lemons.
• She is currently cutting FOUR molars - OUCH! (On Friday night she kept on saying "Eina" (ouch) and throwing tantrums, until we figured out [my husband, really] that her gums were really sore and that she is actually cutting those teeth.)
• She is quickly becoming quite the master of climbing onto tables.  Her latest endeavour involves figuring out how she'll get onto our dining room table from the futon situated next to the table.  She's already figured out how to get onto her own table out on the patio.
• Linmari has suddenly become Miss Independent....it's both frustrating and cute at the same time to observe!  If I touch anything that she was about to eat I can forget that she'll eat it.  She wants to, NEEDS to, pick up her own food with a spoon or fork and she doesn't need anyone's help - THANK YOU VERY MUCH!  (*groan*).  So we're on loads of finger foods now and most meals are eaten out on the patio at her table to avoid having to perform hectic clean-ups after every meal.  She seems to love the arrangement.
• Linmari looooooooves cheese as well!  In any form - grated, sticks, processed, whatever!
• Her sand pit is one of her most treasured play areas. 
• SHE CAN STACK TWO CUBES ON TOP OF EACH OTHER!!! HURRAY!!!!
• She can sort loose cubes into a muffin tray - how cool is that?!
• She's still not sleeping through - we're attempting sleep training again (a bit of a nightmare with her cutting teeth).
• She's attended her third wedding for the year and thoroughly enjoyed it.  Especially the bit where she got to dance with her daddy, and then with her stroller!

Every day I'm amazed at what my child can do.  I realise that life in and of itself truly is a miracle!  What a fortunate parent am I to get to stay at home and experience all her milestones with her?!  I just want to call everyone and tell them how wonderful my little girl is!  Love this kid to bits!

On a more productive note, though.  Since our little bit of a financial dilemma (in a worldly view, not by ANY means in a spiritual way) GOD has provided generously in our needs.  I started baking way more, including milktart, and also learned how to make koeksisters from my mom.  Then one of Thinus' colleagues asked whether or not I could make his son turning 5 years old, a SpongeBob birthday cake.  I said "Sure". worked out a price and together with a friend set out to make and decorate the cake.  Below is a picture of the final product.  I couldn't have done it without my friend's help.  She coloured and rolled out all the fondant, made all the facial features from a picture I had drawn her and stood by me till nearly 11 on Thursday night.  The hard work paid off and it seems like there were a few people that were interested in my cake baking skills.  All I can say is "Soli Deo Gloria!" - "Glory be to GOD alone!".

May you all have a blessed week!  I better get my baby's washing on the line and then get into bed.  It's rather late and I need some uninterrupted sleep!

Hubby and Baby celebrate their Birthdays!!!!

Today Thinus and Linmari are celebrating their birthdays.  Last year this time, I was in quite a bit of pain, not really thinking about the fact that Thinus would be sharing his birthday with our child.  Never in a MILLION years did I think that would happen!

To celebrate this wonderful day, we went for a family shoot, complete with the grandparents!  We'll be getting the photo's on Thursday.  I CAN'T WAIT!  In the meanwhile, here are only a few pictures I took tonight to celebrate my beautiful family.

 

I feel like I should just add that it's really late at night (for Linmari, in any case) and she's not all that willing to pose for pictures any longer ;-P  I will shortly post some more pictures of their party that we had yesterday.  But for now, we're going to crawl into bed (because we're absolutely exhausted!), watch October Baby, and have a good night's rest.

Thank YOU, LORD, for these beautiful people that I can call my very own family!!!!!  Thank YOU for watching over them!

The First Day of the Rest of My Life!

Good day, all!  What a beautiful morning this has already turned out to be. 

For the first time EVER I could sleep late during a 'normal working day', because I am now a STAY AT HOME MOMMY!!!!  Linmari and I slowly awakened with the day.  We took our time getting up and prepping for our outings (which are now not going to happen as planned).  I had the time to quickly whip together beautiful Banana and Oatmeal cookies, dress my daughter and myself and hang some diapers on the line.

On the Banana and Oatmeal cookie front.  People, this is the BEST cookie EVER to give your child.  No funny additives, no extra sugar, no salt.  Just pure banana and oatmeal goodness! I found the recipe on Facebook / online last week Wednesday.  It leaves plenty of room for playing around and improvising.  But the best thing about it, I don't feel bad giving this cookie to my daughter!  Here's the recipe:

Quick and Easy Banana and Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup of rolled oats (or any oats, I would imagine)

2 ripe and soft bananas

 

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius / 356 degrees Fahrenheit.

Spray an oven baking tray with some Spray-and-Cook.

Cut up and mash the bananas to a pulp.

Add the cup of oats and mix all well together.

Dish out tablespoonful amounts onto the pre-sprayed baking tray.

Pop it into the oven for 15 minutes.

TADA!  Wonderful, tasty and wholesome cookies!

 

Optional:  You can add chopped up nuts, raisins, choc-chips, dried fruit to the mixture.

I really want to try this recipe with some chopped-up dried mango pieces.

You can also add a pinch of salt if this tastes 'weird' to you.  I prefer it without salt, you soon grow used to the taste in anyway!

 

And here is the link to the photographed version of this amazing cookie! 

 

Okay, so Linmari just woke up from her midmorning nap and I better get going to my husband.  What a treat!!!  Oh, and then it's off to the ENT for Linmari's post-op check-up.  At least I'll be able to brag about the fact that she can now WALK!  (As if I had anything to do with it  ;-P ) Whoohoo!!!  A good day to you all!



11 month old kids are SO.DARN.CUTE!

So  I've been at home...recovering from chickenpox.  But during that time I've also been able to spend some precious time with Linmari.  Okay, so itching like crazy and running after your little one can be rather challenging, but that's fine by me.  At least she was a welcome distraction!  Keeping a steady level of Panado in my bloodstream and Calamine lotion on my body has certainly also been of great help!

Linmari are doing such cute things, SERIOUSLY!  Yesterday she started playing 'hide-and-seek' with me, just around our bed.  She would walk around the bed to her dad's side of the bed (our bed is very high, with a big mattress) and suddenly pop out to reveal herself.  And then she would be reduced to a puddle of giggles when I said "BOO!".  Quickly up and walking around the edge of the bed to the other side (my side) and pop out with me saying "BOO!" again.  GIGGLES, then LAUGHTER, like the kind of laughter that starts in your belly and erupts from your mouth! 

We also played with just plain old cake flour.  I put some on a tray, took it outside, and she entertained herself for nearly half an hour, just smearing her hands, then her face and finally her WHOLE BODY with the flour!  I also gave her some cookie cutters to play with, which she tried to "fill", but alas, it didn't work ;-)  She's too cute!

And THEN my dearest daughter discovered that the hedge between us and the neighbours' gardens could be traversed (with lots of effort and serious dirt-effect).  That kept her busy for another half an hour or so.  The garden was next, finding all kinds of interesting leaves (dead and alive) in the garden, playing with the ground/dirt, looking at birds in our other neighbours' garden and discovering red flowers (oh, the delight!) in our own.  As if that wasn't enough, she then fetched her ball so that we could play with that, after which she decided that the lounge chair on our stoep/porch makes for a lovely jungle gym.

I love the energy this kid has (and sometimes I loathe it, let's be honest) and how she wants to explore and experience every bit of her environment.  Yes, everything goes to the mouth...which is rather disgusting sometimes.  But I'm SO grateful to have a child who is able to move around in her environment.  Who can climb in and on and through things.  Who can go and fetch her ball and WALK to me so that we can play with it!  What a wonderful privilege it is to share in her development, to be present and able to see it all happening!  I am in awe of my child, but mostly I am in awe of GOD, for HE created this beautiful being. 

Yesterday, my devotional piece was on Psalm 139, by far one of my favourite chapters in the Bible.  GOD knit us together in our mothers' wombs.  HE knew all the days destined for us before they came to be.  HE knew that Linmari would start walking on Tuesday, 23 July 2013, before she was even born!  What an amazing blessing to know GOD and to see how HE designed creation.

I just wanted to share these beautiful experiences with the world.  I love my girl and am forever grateful that I can be part of her world!  Praise be to GOD for providing to enable me to follow my heart's desires!

This Mommy has Chickenpox...

Today was supposed to be me last day at work.  Instead, it's my first day in bed with Chickenpox!  Who could've thought that one can catch this twice?!?!  I'm living proof, you can!

My niece came to sleep over at our house 2 1/2 weeks ago.  That evening she developed a high fever (39.2 degrees Celsius) and we got her some pain meds to kill the fever.  It worked, but the next morning she was covered in little spots / blisters all over her stomach and back.  Her mom took her to the doctor who immediately diagnosed chickenpox.  Well, my daugther was exposed to her for 2 days, my niece's best friend was exposed to her for two days, and then there's the matter of her brothers being exposed to her the whole time!

I thought that Linmari would catch the chickenpox since I know it's highly contagious.  Thinus and I have both had chickenpox as children.  So here I was, waiting to see what would happen.  What happened was:

• The niece's best friend (who've been vaccinated) got chickenpox
• The brothers got chickenpox
• And early yesterday afternoon I presented with this rash, which was diagnosed as chickenpox late yesterday afternoon.

It's proving a bit difficult to follow the prescription of "rest" with my 11 month old daugther being at home with me.  She started walking on Tuesday (EEK!!!) and is toddling all over the place!  Too cute for words, really!  Now I can only rest when she rests, since I fear that she might actually turn the house upside down if I was to fall asleep for even a split second (plus, it's really not all that responsible to fall asleep with an 11 MO wondering through the house, even if the house is babyproof!).

 So, this is me, lamenting the fact that I am ill.  But hey, this is life!  And at least I get to spend time with my precious baby girl!

Life returning to normal...for 3 weeks

Our third school term starts tomorrow and I'm a bag of mixed emotions.  You see, at the beginning of the second term I handed in my resignation. 

I want to be a full-time stay-at-home-mom.  This is something I never thought I would say, but hey, here I am!  And tomorrow marks the beginning of a 3 week return to school to tie all the loose ends together.  What a scary thought! My husband and I have been living on a combined income for the past 5 1/2 years!  We literally only had a single-income household for 5 months and then I started working as an OT.  So we're diving into this unknown financial abyss.  Not sure how that's going to work out for us.

However, I know that this is what I want for my child.  To have a mom that's always (well, mostly) available and to be able to organise our household so that my husband knows that when he comes home at night there'll at least be a cooked meal for dinner.  I can't promise a clean house or ironed washing whenever he needs it but at the very least I can attempt to be an emotionally and physically available mother to our child.  You see, I was privy enough to see my baby's first steps this holiday!  What a wonderful gift!  To share my baby's developmental milestones WITH her :-D

I will still be volunteering every now and again (to not completely lose my touch) but for the biggest part I'm going to discover this new world!  I'm sure there'll be days that I would want to pull my hair out at the mere sight of a house that needs tidying or dishes that have to be done.  But I hope to soon fall back into my maternity-leave routine (although my baby doesn't sleep NEARLY as much as she did back then!).

SOOOOO, because life is returning to normal tomorrow, I've:

• Packed everyone's lunches
• Packed the nappy bag
• Put out clothes for myself and my baby
• Put all my necessary paperwork for tomorrow together.

I have a HEAP of work to do when I get back to the office tomorrow, having to make sure that all my kids have the necessary treatment plans / home programmes to lessen the workload of my colleagues when I'm gone.

I'm excited and scared at the same time for what the future holds!  Only GOD knows how this will all pan out.  Thank YOU, GOD, for being in my past, present and FUTURE!

I wish all of you a wonderful third school term!

11 Months Old!!!! Party planning and looking back over the past month

This beautiful child is a full 11 months old today. I cannot believe how much she's developed in the past month!  She's one of the greatest sources of my delight and I truly cannot imagine a life without her! (I'm tiping this post with one hand, since this beautiful child is lying in my arms, fast asleep...)

I've been thinking about her birthday party since January. (Yes, you read correctly.) But I have not been able to find a suitable venue for her party, until Tuesday night, when I realised that our church's hall would be ideal. Especially since her birthday is during late winter and last year there was a quick (but VERY unusual) snow storm 4 days before her birth! An indoors venue cancels out the possibility of bad weather spoiling the birthday party.

Another thing that has caused me lots of concern was that she and her Daddy share a birthday.  How do you host a party for Moms and Babes and involve Daddy's friends in the mix? Plus family?  The easy answer is: You don't. You host two seperate parties. But although that sounds all fair and well, it can become rather costly.  So I've been breaking my head trying to come up with frugal, yet beautiful ideas. Enter Google and Pinterest. I looooove these websites / search engines / call it what you may.  They simplify my life and provide me with cost-effective ideas without compromising on presentation.

The decision has thus been made. Two parties, both at the same venue but 2 hours apart to allow for Linmari to nap in-between. (YEAH, RIGHT! Like that's going to happen!) Linmari's first party with Mommies and Babies and a select few other friends, will be themed "Butterflies and Rainbows" with a homemade butterfly cake, rainbow cupcakes, some other (healthy) fingerfoods for babino's and two different soups with fresh (you guessed it!) homemade bread. Plus coffee and tea. Party favours are being worked on and will also be mostly home/handmade.  And decorations will be a mixture of homemade and store-bought items.

Okay, enough now with the party-planning!

We've had a lot of sensory play and exploration in the past month - much to the disgust of my husband who would rather clean the messy play area than touch a sticky baby!

Linmari can now:

• Climb into the shower, but has also grown fearful of getting out of the shower.
• Climb onto the lounge chairs INDEPENDENTLY!
• Safely get off of the bead - feet FIRST.
•  Say "dada, "mama", "papa", "Ada" (cousin's name), "tat" for cat, and "hello"
• Understands the sign for milk and bath
• Go "ooooh" when she sees something she likes.
• Follow single-step instructions
• Take single steps independently
• Use any furniture as a walking aid, pushing it along across a room
• (Unfortunately) loosen her velcro tabs on her diapers
• Start to help you to take off her clothes
• Walk everywhere with a phone next to her ear. She knows how it works...
• Take off the washing from the line bilaterally (I just loosen the pegs) and drop the clean washing into the laundry basket. So she'll grab onto two socks, one in each hand, then I have to remove the peg and she'll remove the socks from the line.  Too cute for words!
• Take objects from one container and place it into another, starting to do some shape sorting.  She seems to have grasped that round objects goes into the round hole the best.  A cube that goes into the square hole is still lost on her!
• Open drawers, cupboards and unpack what's inside; unpack the bookshelves (every.single.day!) and never grows tired of this activity!

This child amazes me with every developmental milestone that she reaches.  Maybe because I work with children that are delayed or have some hectic obstacles to overcome to reach their milestones.  I realise that one cannot take it for granted that these milestones will be reached.  It is a miracle every.single.time.  My child is a miracle and nothing less!

Linmari has started to really try to exert her will, throwing tantrums when she doesn't get what she wants.  She really struggles to wait a few seconds (don't we all?!?) and the crocodile tears she cries to make it known that she's unhappy is unreal!  Hehehe!  She really makes me laugh a LOT!  But she's also constantly talking to herself and I find that really cute.

We're currently struggling with her sleeping again, back at square one.  She's suffered 3 concurrent middle ear infections in 7 weeks' time, so she's going in for grommets next week Wednesday.  I'm freaking out, thus my husband will be by her side as she gets operated on.  I fear I might actually pass out even though I've seen much more gruesome things in my life.  It's not the same than when it's your own flesh and blood!  So she's really been struggling to sleep and we've had her in her camp cot in our room.  But recently she's spent more time in our bed than in her cot.

So, that's what our 11th month has been like.  LOTS of fun and tears!

May you all be blessed with a great weekend!

My little girl is 10 months old!!!!

Wait, I cannot believe it!!!!  Linmari is 10 months old?!?!?!?! Precious dear child of ours!

Her beautiful blue eyes continues to catch me off guard...  And those gorgeous, blonde curls!

During the past month she's

• Started to click her tongue like her uncle Gielie;
• Started waving goodbye (!!!!!)
• Started clapping her hands.
• Learnt how to (finally) climb into the shower cubicle ;-P
• Started to use "Mamma", "Pappa" and "Baba" more frequently.
• Had yet another middle ear infection.

She is a real chatterbox whom we love dearly!

That's all for now, more to follow on a day that I'm not quite so asleep in front of my laptop.

I wish you all a blessed week!

7 Months Old!!!

My babagirl is a full 7 months old today!

She:

• LOVES getting dirty!!!
• Micro-manages our entire apartment's floor, as well as any other floor / surface she gets into contact with.
• Still enjoys books but now more for the 'chewing-benefit'.
• Crawls off a single step as well as the stoep
• Crawls ONTO the back veranda!!!
• Moves from sitting to four-point kneeling.
• LOVES water and enjoys splashing in the bath...as well as getting everything else wet!
• Is very ticklish on the left side of her neck.
• Enjoys ALL foods, except broccoli (I'm VERY sad over this).
• Babbles away like it's nobody's business :-)
• Started saying what sounds like "hello"
• Talk more than she did when she was only 2 months old - and then I thought she was talking a lot.
• Steals all the attention wherever we go.
• Especially enjoys tags, on anything.
• Follows me wherever I go in the house.
• Can teach the army a thing or two about leopard crawling.
• Enjoys snuggles with Mommy and Daddy.
• Can hold her own bottle :-)
• Has started to develop object permanence, so she knows when I'm out of the room that I haven't completely left her.
• Enjoys lookint at herself in the mirror and chats to us when we're all looking in the mirror.

I enjoy my daughter so much, every.single.day!  Being a mother is the most fulfilling job I've ever had.  I cannot imagine my life without my daughter. Thank YOU, LORD, for this gorgeous, fun-loving child of ours!

Keeping my ducks in a row

I knew going back to work full-time, with Linmari in a daycare would be difficult.  Never in a million years did I realise HOW difficult it would be to juggle housework, parenthood and a full-time job! 

Even though I finish off at around 2-3 in the afternoon, I still seem to have nothing left of my day after picking up Linmari from daycare.  My entire last week we only got back home, on average, at about 9 PM after doing everything that was on my list.  I am a very social person and deem it very important to see my family at LEAST once a week.  Suddenly it has all become very difficult!

Housework has gotten completely out of control, to the point where I finally agreed with Thinus that I need someone to help me with it at least once every two weeks.  WOW, I hate the state it's in!  But when I get home with my little girl in the afternoon, I just want to play with her to make up for the time we've been apart!  Housework is the last thing on my mind!  And because of that I've started going for easy, high-carb dishes for dinner.  It's all a vicious cycle.

When I'm at work, I really miss my daughter SO much!  I try my best to do my job and I've promised myself that I will work hard.  But still, my heart yearns for my daughter.  She LOVES mornings and is at her best.  And now someone else (her darling daycare mother) gets to experience that lovely side of her, only for me to pick her up in the afternoon when she's already had lots of playtime with others.  Not only do I find that difficult, but also having to juggle my time table at work and my expressing times.  What a mission!  I don't mind expressing, not in the least, but I struggle to find time to do little else than work and express.  A woman needs to eat, you know?!  So Thinus has been sent on the mission to go and buy me a double electric breastpump to make life easier.

Linmari will also start with solids soon.  She literally STARES food out of your mouth!  She would love to get hold of anything and everything I eat and I tend to let her have taste.  She definitely prefers sour over sweet and is a real carnivore!  We might have some issues with vegetables, since she's gagging whenever I give her mashed up veggies.  Oh well, I knew there woud be a chance that she would be a fussy eater, especially since her daddy has issues with different textures in his mouth.  We'll start low and go slow!  At least she LOVES fruit!

My little girl has developed so much in the past week! (Good and bad).  She started balancing on her hands and feet (like a bear ;-P ) and got her first two teeth!  She also managed to contract bronchiolitis from somewhere and another virus causing upper respiratory infections, and started with her first antibiotics.  Somehow I thought that she was invincible since she was exclusively breastfed.  I was wrong!  She also discovered her tongue and thinks its HILARIOUS to stick it out for anyone who cares to look!  My little girl is not so little anymore!  Oh ja, and she's sitting all by herself :-D  *Proud OT mommy!* She got that right at just under 5 months! SCORE!  Okay, I'll stop gloating now...

So, this has been a hard few weeks on both my husband and I.  Our little girl made us sick and it's not fun not being able to breathe through your nose, nor taste.  We're both tired from our late nights and would really like to get into a better (earlier) routine.  Hopefully we'll get there soon!

Being an OT in a social world

I've been thinking about writing this post since Sunday evening, after visiting with our friends at their house-warming. So, here goes.

 Basically, I really struggle to switch off my OT-brain and just be a normal citizen, interacting with others in a non-OT way.  Why?  Because one of an OT's main attributes is that of being super observant.  Nothing goes unnoticed.  I look at everyone's gait (their walking pattern / style), I check out their pencil grip (and proceed to comment on it), and I always wonder about visual perception (my life at a school kind of means that visual perception receives a LOT of my attention).  When there is someone in a wheelchair, I check out the specs.  I LOVE going to disabled sport meetings, because I get to see the newest technology in prosthetics and wheelchairs.  And when I look at kids?  Well, I check whether what they are doing is on par with what would be expected of them at their chronological age's developmental milestones.

Now, here's the question - will I look at my OWN kids that way?  I certainly do look at my brothers, sisters, PARENTS, husband (shame...he falls victim to this quite often) and nephews and nieces in this way.  Friends, friends' friends and their children are also not excluded.  So, will I monitor my own child that way?  Will I make sure he / she reaches their developmental milestones at exactly the right age?  Will I try to stimulate them to the point that they achieve all their milestones?  I don't know...but it might bug me for some time to come.

The reason for this random thought?  I met a little boy (2 1/2 years old) on Sunday who was born a whole 12 weeks early.  My first thoughts were immediately on how these children usually present - they have quite a great chance of having a hemorrhage due to fragile vasculature in their brains, which can lead to Cerebral Palsy.  They can be deaf, blind and developmentally delayed their whole life through.  And yet, this child was walking, talking, could see and hear.  I kept on telling his mother what a miracle child he is (as if she doesn't already know that), and the fact that he could do all these things was awesome.  But, of course I looked at him as a whole - I observed a lot, and yes, he still seems to have some delays if you compare him to other 2 1/2 years old.  Yet, I should be comparing him to himself - and that was pretty awesome!
Thus the question I'm throwing out there today is this: How does the type of work you do / your occupation, influence how you interact with people?

Anyways, that's my rambling for today - I'm now off to finish supper (Aubergine Masala and yellow rice!).  May you have a blessed week!

Getting ready for the BIG BARA BRAG!

Today I was sitting in our Cluster meeting (happens once a month - everyone moans, tell about their challenges and successes, hand in their stats...that type of thing), and I was reminded of having to make a poster. See, tomorrow is the Bara OT Brag Day - basically a 'show and tell' for occupational therapists.

I must admit that I'm rather excited about this all, since it's been a while since I've really gotten any recognition for what I do at my clinic. At varsity if you did something well, you were made aware of that fact by your friends and lecturers....but when you are basically placed in the 'boendoes' - where you can see donkey cars when looking out of your office window just 50km out of Jo'burg... Let's just say that compliments are few and far. And not that I'm always wanting compliments, but it tends to get you rather motivated. And motivation is what I need right now, coz I have all these ideas but no drive to realise my ideas.

I would LOVE to start an educational campaign within our clinic to raise awareness regarding the role of an OT in PHC (Primary Health Care) and also appropriate referral (those tend to be few and far in-between!). And I wanna do a course with the creches in our areas on Developmental Guidelines and how to stimulate children to ready them for Gr.R and Gr.1 - a mammoth task I'm facing on my own within my Perceptual Groups that I am running. I find that a lot of the mothers I work with don't know the importance of stimulating their children from early on, and then their children can't do basic counting, don't know body parts, colours or shapes before Gr.R. They go to school and actually FAIL Gr.R due to not knowing these things - it could have been PREVENTED to start with. Okay, but this is just me having a mini frustration outburst.

To get back to Bara Brag Day. I have to make a poster tonight just to depict all my successes and what I've been up to at my clinic since I started my community service year in January 2008. Luckily all the photos are printed, but the ideas are still in my head and not on paper and I can see myself working into the WEEEE hours of the night (reminds me of 4th year OT at WITS). I've been working on the presentation concept since this morning when I sat in the meeting being reminded of what I have to do...and now it is half past 9 at night and I've done my washing, had dinner... did some MORE washing... NO poster!

So, I thought I would share my ideas with the world...to make it a better place and all. Here goes...

Hope the concept looks cool.

Anycase, knocking off now to finish the washing - Gotta look good for the presentation, you know!