Tharaa - Netball Player of the Tournament

On Saturday morning 10 year old Tharaa participated in her first netball tournament in which six schools played each other in a round robin format.

She was incredibly nervous. Being one of the tiniest on her own team has never bothered her. But seeing the size of their competitors had her completely panicked. Many of them towered head and shoulders above her. Next to them she looked so tiny and vulnerable - I was so worried that my little baby (because that's what she looked like next to them) would get trampled.

But she held her own - beautifully. One of the other parents nicknamed her ''Glue-fingers'' because no matter how the ball was passed to her, she managed to catch (and hold onto it) effortlessly. She was also responsible for one of her school's very few goals.

Which is probably why her school's coach chose her to be their school's Player of the tournament. (Each school coach selected one player from her own team to receive this award).

Being awarded her prize

And no one was prouder than her sister.

With a proud and gushing Nuha (7)

Congratulations Tharaa. We are really really proud of you!

Eastern Food Bazaar visit; savouring the last of the summer flowers and Aisha brings home her first art activity

On Friday night we took Mum-in-law out for supper at the Eastern Food Bazaar. This is one of my and Mo's favourite places to eat. We absolutely love their curries. The kiddies however usually prefer their pizza over curry. Mum-in-law ordered the grilled chicken.

Although there are an abundance of restaurants and eating establishments in and around Cape Town, there are not many sit-down places which are certified as Halaal. EFB is one of the very few Halaal certified establishments based right in the centre of town, which makes it perfect for us.

The food orders are placed downstairs at a very long counter. Service was relatively quick, which I really appreciated, since the kids had been moaning about being hungry in the car already. The atmosphere downstairs is usually busy, loud and vibey, which means that we usually opt for the more quiet and serene upstairs eating area - where it is not quite as easy to lose one of your kids. I'm always stunned at the exquisite decor upstairs; especially the intricately carved wooden furniture.

The annoying part of the evening was that Shakeel (12) spent the most of the night playing games on his cell phone instead of chatting to us. Since Mum-in-law was accompanying us, I was unable to growl at him the way I normally would - a fact of which he clearly took full advantage. I made a mental note to give him hell when we got back home.

Dinner was lovely, as usual. Mum-in-law, who possesses culinary skills of note, noted that there was an excess of cumin in the lamb rogan josh. Luckily I'm clueless about such matters, so I was able to enjoy the dish without reservation.

On Saturday morning the kids spent time playing outside. They sadly noted that some of the plants bearing summer flowers were withering, which prompted them to make the best of the few which remained. They filled a large transparent dish with water, removed a variety of flower heads and arranged it to form a pretty little floating garden. Shakeel's role was to keep the bees away from the girls as they selected the perfect flowers for their bowl. But after failing to convince the girls to place one of the goldfish into the bowl, he lost interest in the project and wandered off to play his Playstation instead.

Yesterday afternoon we headed for the gym. As usual we dropped Nuha (7) and Aisha (2) at the children's play area at the gym, while Mo, Shakeel and Tharaa (10) swam laps in the smaller pool. I had a really intense workout - I could hardly walk at the end of it. In fact I am still aching from it (in a good way).

The best part of our time at the gym was that two-year old Aisha, who is not yet at daycare/creche, brought home her first piece of art. The older kids were so excited - they insisted that I start a file for all Aisha's 'work'.

My brother and his family popped around when we returned from gym. As usual the kids were ecstatic to see their cousins. They screeched, played and slurped chocolate ice-cream. So much fun.

As usual we rounded the weekend off by attending our calming, yet spiritually rejuvenating, Sunday evening prayer meeting. And, as usual Nuha slept right through it.

It was a lovely busy weekend.

Bigfoot in a sexy mini skirt

Finally, after weeks of trying to get it right, I think we finally have.

By 18:00 yesterday I was heading for the shower- all homework had been completed, books signed and dinner was on the table, ready to be served.

The answer had lain in the re-shuffling priorities. Immediately upon arriving back home at 15:10 yesterday, we all raced to the television to watch the last few minutes of the repeat of 7de Laan. My excuse (luckily backed up by Shakeel's Afrikaans teacher) is that watching this light-hearted Afrikaans soapie helps with the Afrikaans grammar and vocabulary. No really- watching this programme has done wonders for my Afrikaans vocabulary!

Immediately after this programme ended at 15:30, I sat down with 7 yr old Nuha's Grade 2 homework. This was a strategic move- she has the least homework, so getting her to finish first means that there is someone to play with 2 yr old Aisha, who would otherwise spend the entire afternoon disturbing the older two kids, demanding that they play with her.

Nuha receives a list of 15 words each Monday to be studied for the test on Friday. The maths for the test varies. This week they will be tested on "counting in two's" . Since the teacher was absent Monday and Tuesday, they only received the list yesterday. Despite that, we managed to finish studying the spelling list- and she was able to count in two's effortlessly. Thank goodness, because- as planned, she was able to start drawing with Aisha; enabling Shakeel (12) and Tharaa (10) to continue with their work unhindered.

Every day Tharaa is given a list of 5 English words and 5 Afrikaans words; which have to be used in sentences which show that the child grasps the meaning of each word. The Afrikaans sentences have proven to be a bit tricky, as none of my kids are able to master the word order in Afrikaans sentences and tend to translate directly from English; resulting in clumsy lopsided sentences. The problem is that they don't hear Afrikaans being spoken at home, or even by friends and family. (Illustrating once again, that I'm not being a bad mommy by letting my kids watch 7de Laan when they get home from school).

Shakeel finishes his homework in class, while the other kids are chatting away in their free time. Not because he is a goody two shoes, but because he is hoping against hope that this will prompt me to let him watch an episode or 2 (or 3 or 4) of Naruto, 'the coolest series ever!!'

But instead, I rewarded his dedication by requesting demanding that he brings home all his books- I'm determined to get a jump on preparations for the March/April formal assessments/exams. So yesterday we learned all about earthquakes. Pretty interesting stuff really- for me, at least. I animatedly demonstrated to Shakeel how the tectonic plates, which lie adjacent to each other, move about- by holding my hands palms-facing-downward and moving them about like a DJ scratching his vinyl (Am I cool or what!)

To help him remember the concept of the seismic waves I moved my arms about in undulating motions (I knew my bellydance lessons would come in handy some day). Then illustrating the varying speeds of seismic waves I proceeded to speed up my arm waves (probably looking like a demented breakdancer) - much to the embarrassment and horror of my poor son. But, as mortified as he was, the information had stuck. I tested him on the remainder of 'Earthquakes' and we also touched on 'Volcanoes'. We learned so much yesterday- I am confident that, come March/April, I will be able to tackle any question in the exam with ease.

After spending the afternoon filling my head with knowledge for which I would be unlikely to find absolutely any use in my life, I set the table and phoned Mo to find out when he'd be home for supper. I proudly told him all we had accomplished for the afternoon.

Now because of the scorching hot summer we've been experiencing, I've gotten into the habit of prancing about the house in the shortest skimpiest little dresses- not for the sake of being sexy (obviously), but because having clothes against my body was just unbearable.

Neither the kids, nor Mo had said anything about this all summer, so imagine my surprise when Mo ended the phone conversation with, "Um, er- could you perhaps shave your legs before I get home?",

Imagine that!  I was about to start yelling in protest, telling him that I had enough on my plate and, excuse me if I didn't still have time for vanity, when I happened to look down at my legs. Yikes, how had I missed this? I looked like Bigfoot in a very sexy shift dress.

So there I was at 18:00 yesterday- with homework completed, books signed and dinner on the table, ready to be served. On my way  to the bathroom- not for a relaxing rewarding shower, but to hack away at the jungle that had been flourishing on my limbs. Mildly concerned about depriving any wildlife of their home. Fully expecting angry bats to come flapping at me, furious at being evicted from the habitat in which they had thrived, undisturbed for the past 6 months.

I emerged a new woman, strutting down the passage all smooth and hairless in my sexy little dress- to clean up the puddle of Aisha's pee in Shakeel's room.

The kids make a comeback- and mom dances a jig

This morning I awoke to birds chirping more happily, the sun shining more brightly and the blue sky looking more radiant. Even Shakeel (12)'s grumpy morning face looked adorable.

It seems that the tides have turned. The winds of positive change are finally breezing through our household, hopefully cleansing it of all last week's negativity, stress and drama (as described here)

Yesterday afternoon I summoned each one to bring me their homework diaries and messages/letters sent from school. I braced myself- I just didn't know what to expect these days.

Furtive glances among the three older kids made my heart sink. What the heck now? But wait- they were smiling; happily excited. I was suspicious.

"What's going on?" I asked apprehensively, already working out what punishment I would be meting out to each respective child.

More furtive glances.

Then...

"Ta daaah!!" they all shouted in unison, each pulling out an item which they had been hiding behind their backs.

Shakeel had been presented with both his Library monitor and Playground Monitor badges. He can now boss everyone around the way he loves to do- but only now it is official.

I congratulated, gushed and hugged. Nobody deserved to be awarded this honour more than he did- nobody is as bossy as he is. This role suits him perfectly. I was proud and happy.

Shakeel shyly, but proudly posing with his two monitor badges

"And, that's not all," sang Tharaa (10), sounding like the guy on the Verimark infomercial about to announce a product's additional features. She pulled out her Homework Book.

I broke out in a cold sweat. The dreaded Homework Book. The cause of all last week's trouble. I readied myself to attack.

She flipped to the last page of her completed homework. At the bottom were the words "Lovely work. Keep it up" accompanied by a sticker of a smiling heart surrounded by bright yellow stars.

Now I'm aware that at schools these days, kids are routinely awarded smiley faces, hearts and kisses and the words "Well done, sweetheart" or "Good work little genius", so it really doesn't carry as much weight as say, when I was at school. But coming from this teacher this was really quite a vote of approval, as this woman is known to have high standards and to be intolerant of mediocre slapdash work (which is the reason she and Tharaa had gotten off to a rocky start in the first place).

I whooped, danced a jig, hugged and whooped some more. I sighed a happy sigh of relief. This motivation from an authority figure whom Tharaa admires and respects, is exactly the encouragement this child needs to continue on this path. (Yes, I do realise the implication- that I am not an authority figure she admires and respects, but hey, right now I'm just happy to have the teacher's help- I'll save my tears for therapy).

"And, that's not all," sang Tharaa in her Verimark infomercial voice. She yanked a green card from Nuha (7)'s hand.

"No, I want to show Mommy. It's my card!" wailed Nuha.

"Okay then" said Tharaa tossing the card onto the floor. I felt my earlier pride slowly start to dissipate. 

Nuha picked it up and showed it to me proudly. "Look Mommy. I got a green card today!" Oh, more relief! Green cards signify good behaviour in class; an indication that the child has worked and behaved well for the day.

Now the fact that there had been a few orange cards (signifying that the child needs to work harder at being attentive in class) interspersed among the green cards over the past two weeks, would not have bothered me too much in the past. Nuha was quite a chatterbox, I know. She has a very loud husky voice, which inevitably stands out and is always heard by the teacher when the class becomes chatty.

But I had been in a fragile state due to the antics of the older two, so the orange cards, to me, started to signify my failure as a parent. Was I raising delinquent children? How had I gone so terribly wrong?

Once again I hugged, danced and became teary-eyed- maybe I wasn't a complete loser as a mother after all.

So this morning I could overlook Shakeel's moods and the fact that 2 year old Aisha had kept me up for much of the night. There was hope once again. My kids were emerging from their brush with near-delinquency; and were once again showing me how amazing they can be if they try.