Girls afternoon out - special moments at Pepperazzi

As the parents of four kids, we sometimes find ourselves failing miserably in our attempt to balance the time and attention we spend on each respective child. Unfortunately it is often the child who is being the most difficult, or creating the most problems who ends up getting the most attention.
In our family, little Aisha (2) is most often the recipient of our energies and attention. While Shakeel (13) and Tharaa (10) are able to forcefully claim our attention by screaming or moaning loudly enough, it is 7 year old Nuha who fades into the background, unnoticed and unheard. We therefore have to make a conscious effort to set aside time for her whenever possible.
 
We realised that we had to consciously carve out time for each child. We’d do this by arranging for one of us to have one-on-one time with each one of them, while the other looks after the remaining three. We hoped to do this as often as possible.

A few months ago I took Tharaa out for a sushi lunch. We had fully intended this to be the first of many, once her siblings had had their turns. We do not include Aisha in this queue- for- attention because, as centre of the universe, she already owns all our time.

Since learning that the Avengers (2012) would be hitting the movie circuit this year, their dad, Mo has been using Shakeel as an excuse  planning to spend his one-on-one time with Shakeel by sharing this amazing movie experience with him. (Imagine, all these Marvel superheroes in one movie! I’m on the edge of my seat with barely-contained excitement *dripping with sarcasm* ). They planned to attend this life –changing event this past weekend.

As usual, Nuha has thus far been the one to fall through the cracks. So, this weekend I was to take her to lunch. But cowards that we are, Mo and I could not bear Tharaa’s nagging, so (I’m ashamed to say) we decided to include her in Nuha’s one-on-one lunch.

We headed to Pepperazzi in Canal Walk. There was a slight wait for our orders to arrive, because the place was absolutely packed. The girls passed the time playing games and bickering.

I ordered an avocado and pineapple steak burger. Either I was really hungry by the time the food arrived, or this was one of the most satisfying restaurant meals I’ve had in a long time.

 Nuha ordered a simple kiddies beef burger and chips
  

  

Tharaa ordered the kiddies ribs and chips. 

Tharaa had us wishing that we'd ordered the ribs too

A picture's worth a thousand words

  
Although they enjoyed our little outing, I cannot in good conscience count this as Nuha's one-on-one time with me. I am really looking forward to spending some 'alone-time' with my deserving little daughter.

Despite their bickering during our outing, I will always cherish the wonderful moments we shared on our outing and am looking forward to doing it again.

Brother and sister time

It was so lovely to receive a surprise visit from my brother and his three kiddies yesterday morning. The house was filled with excited shrieks, little feet racing up and down the passage and hysterical boisterous laughter. Pure unadulterated joy.

Shakeel (12) had been invited to a birthday celebration of one of his best friends, Sipho. Mo took him at the local mall to meet up with a few friends. They would all be going to the movies together. Our initial response to him being allowed to go had been ''no'', since we do not allow our kids to walk around unaccompanied by an adult. But since it was then decided that Sipho's dad would be accompanying the kids, we gave in.

At home, the girls and their cousins played the Playstation 3 Motion (like a Wii). It was terrifying to watch, as the youngest two kept running close to the person playing - who was usually swinging the motion controller around like a crazy person - in their quest to slay their opponents in the gladiator championships. Both 2 year old Aisha and my 1 year old nephew narrowly escaped being smacked against the head with the motion controller numerous times. Was I relieved when they stopped playing that game!

My brother and I sat chatting about life, family, religion, etc. while sipping tea. It was lovely - I enjoyed having such a long time to talk to him. It was enlightening, uplifting and soothing. He even managed to go the entire conversation without mocking the size of my head (yes, we still behave like 10 year olds when we get together).

When sis-in-law joined us, we started to prepare for an imprompu braai / barbeque. I made accompanying macaroni and cheese while she prepared a yummy potato salad. They stayed until about 21:30, by which time the smaller ones were pretty exhausted.

After seeing them off, we hopped into the car to accompany Mo to fetch Shakeel. As expected, Shakeel was miserable when he got into the car. Mo had already received the usual call from his friend to request our permission for Shakeel to sleep over. As usual our response was that we do not allow our kids to sleep out. When he got into the car Shakeel begged and pleaded to be dropped off this morning again, but since we have plans, we refused. The poor child sat up until past eleven doing Mathematics and Natural Science studying and has been doing the same since 08:00 this morning. All in in the hopes of being allowed to spend the rest of the day with his buddies.

So, perhaps we'll drop him off later (after he accompanies us to a family day event). Let's hope his friends haven't all left for home by then.

Time to get ready for a day of socialising (and listening to my son's nagging voice saying, ''When are we leaving? Can we go now?'')

Looking forward to it.