The good days ...

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).