After our recent crib-jumping escapade we decided it was time to move Tau to a toddler bed.

So, after hunting the Internet high and low, we decided on the KidKraft Modern Toddler Cot because it could take Tau’s existing crib mattress and looked to be the lowest to the ground of all the beds we saw.

As Tau watched Dave assembling it, we talked about the new BIG BOY BED (!) and how wonderful it was and how he didn’t have to sleep in the crib anymore because that was for tiny babies.

Quite sweet and gullible, our child. He has taken remarkably well to sleeping in the bed and has only slipped onto the floor once in the month or so that we’ve had it. Dave found him, still wrapped perfectly in his blankets, on the floor in the middle of the night.

He does push his luck some nights by getting out of bed before he falls asleep and walking to peer over the railing to see what we’re watching on TV. But generally, a firm “Get back in your bed, NOW! please …” sends him back under the covers.

In addition to the yellow sheets I originally made for the bed, I bought a cute Safari fitted sheet from Target to match the Safari monkey pillow and lamp already in his room.

Had to move the lamp up high recently when Tau burned his hand on it. He decided it would be a good idea to touch the light bulb to see whether Mom was right when she said it was “HOT, Tau! Don’t touch!”

And so begins knowledge of the fact that Mom is usually (always?) right.

Oh, and in case anyone is planning on sending Tau a lion for Christmas? A subtle hint in the picture above. Let’s just say the zoos and wildlife preserves of the world have been calling, requesting the return of their beasties.

A bit blurry but here is Tau walking a mile — OK, a meter or two — in his dad’s slippers.

Note that even though he is very clear on which is his left and right foot, he hasn’t yet clued in to the fact that shoes are shaped to fit the left or right foot. Hence the shoes on the wrong feet!

He wears his own slippers inside Dave’s so that his feet don’t slip out right away.

And it’s hard to tell in this picture but he was so chuffed with himself — to be wearing DADDY’S SLIPPERS!

I mean, the swagger! Like, hey Mom, look how big I am!

One night last week Tau and I are snuggling on his bed before sleepytime, reading Five Little Monkeys.

This book works, by the way. All of a sudden our kid knows that jumping on the bed is a BAD BAD thing. The monkeys? They get owies when they jump on the bed. The fact that Tau cut open his head and had to have his arm in a cast for two weeks, even though we told him repeatedly not to jump on chairs and beds, means nothing. But NO MORE MONKEYS JUMPING ON THE BED!? Apparently that works.

So we turn to the first page where the five little monkeys are all sweetly tucked into the one big bed by their mama.

“Look at all the baby monkeys Tau. Let’s count them … one …”

“Uno! Dos! Tres! …” Quick little finger stabbing the page. “Cuatro! Cinco! Seis!* …”

This boy, he can count in English to around 14 — the number of steps between our downstairs and upstairs floors at home — and to roughly diez en Español. But I thought it was cute that his first instinct was to count in Spanish!

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* Usually counts to more than necessary for the number of objects.

Halloween art from daycare

Sometimes life gets in the way and I don’t get to report back on a major event. Like Halloween.

Which for Dave and I is neither here nor there, not having grown up trick or treating and so feeling no real connection with the holiday. In our pre-Tau days, we were the people who turned off the lights and curled up in bed early with a movie. Or went out for dinner so that we could see everyone dressed up but not have to wrangle with the challenges that Halloween presents.

Like how many pieces of candy to give each trick or treater. And whether you hand the treats out or just hold out the bowl and let kids help themselves. And what kind of candy is deemed acceptable anyway? All that and gauging how much candy to buy upfront, so that you don’t have a mountain of Kit Kats and M&Ms left over. Not that that’s a tragedy in my opinion — I can always find a way to dispose of Kit Kat bars.

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Friday afternoon was cool and overcast. Perfect weather for staying home and watching a movie with a glass of wine and a bowl of comfort food.

I’d thawed ground lamb but wasn’t sure what to do with it. Spaghetti Bolognese? Lamb curry?

And then I remembered frikkadels — quintessential South-African meatballs and the perfect comfort food of our youth. I hadn’t eaten frikadelle in probably twenty years.

What I’d forgotten was how easy they are to make. And how they go with just about anything.

I didn’t feel like peeling potatoes to make mash, so substituted couscous, with a hearty gravy and some steamed veggies. Perfect!

Tau’s plate

Our plates, with grown-up veggies

If you’re interested, here’s the recipe — the bread and egg make for a very moist texture, and the flour and spices ensure the outsides are crispy and the gravy tasty! (more…)

Because I’d so love to, really I would. And I like to think I could come up with something delicious every day of November. But truthfully, my mind is elsewhere. Somewhere new and exciting.

For the last I-shudder-to-tell-you-how-many months I’ve been dreaming up a new venture. A nichey social networking blog for South-African women, both in the old country and living all around the world. A site that brings the sweets of the Internet to South-African women and a bit of Southern Africa to the rest of the world. You like the idea?

It’s been slow and painful at times. I’m no graphic artist or web designer but I can poke my way around PhotoShop and cascading style sheets when I have to. And truth be told, mucking around with web stuff is one of my favorite things to do. As you know, there’s not a whole lot of free time in our household, so most of it has been done in little bursts of effort. Half an hour here, 15 minutes there. Baby blogging steps that finally get you there. (more…)