Mom says, ‘... It is amazing the things you can think of at 5am... More things that ZaZa does:
she is vey good at saying, ‘Share’, but is not too sure of the concept yes ... Occasionally she will break off a bit of her food to give another baba
She is also very good at saying, ‘my turn’
If I sing a song ... I can miss out words and she will put the words in ... Like in the morning we sing, ‘every morning when I wake up, I pen up my (and she says eyes) ... ‘ etc
She is exceptionally good at the sequence of a lot of the Clamber Club songs
She loves singing, ‘Pa, Pa, Pa’ ... For the song, ‘Pack away, pack away ...’ and loves packing away ...
Mom says, ‘If I stand with my arms crossed and leg forward ... ZaZa will look at me and do the exact same. Too cute. She watches and copies everything ... These little things are quiet amazing’.
Moms says, ‘It is our third day back ... And it is 3:30am and ZaZa has a BAD case of jet-lag, so she is up... And because she is up, I am up! So I have decided to get over the frustration of this by writing a post that I was supposed to write about all the funny little incidents that happened in Sydney ... (at least this will justify the week of jet-lag that we have to deal with). As always, I want to say this serves as a memory journal for me, I a, always surprised by the little things that ZaZa gets up to (which I am sure all kids do) ... But I feel I need to ‘document it’... Here goes:
The one night we went out for dinner, Mom, I and ZaZa were standing at the car, Bern was about 200m away talking to some friends ... I said to ZaZ, ‘call Bern’... I thought she would walk to him, instead she bent down with her hands on her needs and this BIG roaring voice came out, ‘Berrrrrrrrrnnnnnnn’. It was so cute!
One night she was playing with Bern-spinning him around on the chair. When it stopped, she looked at him straight in the eye, put up her fingers and in a very serious voice said, 2 more. (she does this thing where she looks down and her eyes go up)
ZaZa found a piece of paper in Cassi’s cupboard cut out into a heart shape ... Out of the blue she said, ‘heart’, then put the heart by her heart and Bern’s heart (is this an indication that she is on her way to becoming a doctor?)
ZaZa would sit on the step at Aqua Bar and say ‘hello, hello, hello’ to all the customers and then ‘bye, bye, bye’ when they left.
I said to ZaZa that we are going on the aeroplane and then we will see Daddy. So when we got on the plane, she walked through first and business class and all the way to our seat, shouting, ‘Daddy, Daddy, Daddy’ and looking all around. I then said when we get off the plane. So first thing she said when she woke up in JHB, she said, ‘Daddy, Daddy’. Then I said one more flight and then we will see Daddy. So when somebody asked her where she is going, she would say, ‘1 more, Daddy, 1 more Daddy’.
The first night back she would not leave Phil alone, she was jumping all around him while he was sleeping, shouting ‘Daddy’ in every different way.
When she wants you to wait somewhere for her, she turns, looks you straight in the eye, leans her body forward and puts her fist by her cheek (which is the sign for wait) and then hurries off.
When playing with the ball, she puts her little finger up, and points to her eye, as if to say, ‘watch’.
If she hurts herself she will come to me, and I kiss the sore spot and a million other spots. Then she runs back to where she hurt herself and pretend hurts herself again, and comes back pretend moaning ‘sore, sore’ wanting a kiss.
Her language is bursting, when carrying something, she says, ‘heavy, heavy’ (with lots of expression), she is very good in the morning for pretend moaning, ‘Barney, Barney’ (in the voice of complete desperation), is she wants you to sit with her, she will tell you in a loud forceful voice, ‘sit, sit!’. When Tammy abd Naphtali arrived for school yesterday, she immediately said, ‘Tammy’, ‘Tali’. She went to see her friend Dani yesterday, and she was shouting, ‘Dani’, ‘Dani’
She is obsessed with Frogs, which she say, ‘Foug’ (which sounds like Fuck) - this obsession comes from Clamber Club. The other obsession is giraffes, which she says, ‘raffe’ (which sounds like ralph). She can spot frogs and giraffes EVERYWHERE. If we are driving and there is a giraffe or frog on a shop window outside, she will shout ‘frog or raffe’ ...
I am always surprised that once these little ones start talking, you realise how super observant they are ... My mom was carrying the cup that I warm ZaZa’s milk bottle in, ZaZa immediately shouted, ‘botti’, ‘botti’. After 5 weeks of no school, yesterday ZaZa was the first one in her chair, shouting ‘dough’, ‘dough’.
She still uses sounds instead of the animal names, ‘woof, woof’. ‘meow, meow’, ‘roar’.
She has started saying, ‘My’ (instead of Mine), it is ‘MY sushi’, ‘MY pram’, ‘MY car’, ‘MY swing’.
My absolute best is when I sing the Barney song, ‘I love you ... ‘ she starts swaying to it, and trying to sing along and then gives the biggest hugs!
She is quite assertive (some like to call it bossy)
ZaZa loves to talk on the phone (except when somebody else is on the phone). She holds it with one hand to her ear, head slightly tilted, and walks around (just like her Mom).
.... I am sure there are more stories that I have forgotten ... I feel completely blessed and privileged that I had 5 complete weeks of stress-free time with ZaZa 24/7 ... It is just amazing to watch and be part of her development ... She is a complete joy, and I feel gives my life purpose and meaning (yes, I know that sounds cliched, but it is true).
Had such fun on the beachfront today ... Taking my ‘car’ for a walk ... FINALLY Mom let me get an ice-cream from the ice-cream truck ... I LOVED it! Then I bumped into my friends from AquaBar – Sesha and Setantan ... They taught me how to throw sand into the water ... Except I would not let them play with Sushi, saying, ‘my dog, my dog’. (Mom says ... ‘when we were leaving the beach ... Zaria was carrying Sushi’s lead ... When Sushi would not walk and sat down. Zaria ran behind Sushi and bent down picked Sushi up by the bum and said, ‘Go!’ ...
Another lunch at AquaBar ... I never get bored of it ... I Love the beetroot juice that Granny makes me, the mushrooms that Nod makes, the Eggs that Peach makes, and the pickles! Oh yes, I love appletizer, sweeping and chatting to Peach! (and Silvana)
Taking the phone (that I stole from Ally) ... But its one like Gran’s ... And pretending it is a camera .. Walking to everyone and saying, ‘1,2, cheese’ ... ADORABLE!!!
... Went to Kindie with gran in the morning ... Had fun, but was sad to say goodbye to all my friends that I have made over the last 5 weeks. Then lunch at Aqua (what’s new) ... Playing at Aqua ... No more pics – because Mom went shopping – very boring. Gran gave me dinner, bathed me etc etc ...
Wednesday began with a walk on the promenade with Mom and Gran ... Then breakfast at AquaBar ... Then meeting Tanya and Izzy at the petting zoo and the play area (I was more interested in hijacking Izzy’s bicycle with phone! - true SA style) ... Home, sleep, back to Aqua for lunch (yes, Mom and I have been eating VERY well here in Sydney at Aqua) ... Then fetched Ally from school, went to the park, played ... Met Coby and Kat for Thai food ... Home and sleep! - please note, that I have become very happy to have a babychinno in the car ... And then lick the foam with my fingers (like Granny and Mom!)
