Tonotopics – Hearing loss and living life

May 9, 2024May 9, 2024

The 7 colours of the rainbow

By the grace of God we got to the 7^th birthday. Lilliputian Lisa is turning into some kind of project manager, organising everything and everyone. Planning, calculating and overthinking in general. Lilliputian Hannes is a bit of a wild card in most senses. He is everyone’s friend, he is the main attraction to any event and such a gentleman.

I wanted to be all witty with the significance of the number 7. But then I thought that a rainbow has seven colours. Perhaps an ambitious effort but let us see how we go with saying something about my little collection of humans that can be linked to a rainbow. It is Monday afternoon as a write this… so I do not have any wit left 😊:

So the seven colours of the rainbow are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet…

The most obvious link I can make with red is that it is their school colour. Yes, blue and red. The girls still wear those unfortunate little dresses that we know from our own primary school days. But I am not complaining. I adore a school uniform because it has eliminated a lot of the struggles of our mornings. There are no disagreements about the garment of the day. Yes, so this was the first official school year as well. Suddenly, there are spelling tests on a Friday, assessments and robots that have to be built from toilet paper rolls and empty cereal boxes. We have also learnt that Lisa is the one who can keep her wits about her with regard to her earthly possessions. In the afternoon, everything comes home and is accounted for. Her twin, however…

Five months into the school year we now basically know what we will never see again once it leaves the house in the morning. I stopped scolding him about this, because Lisa has now taken over this role on my behalf. She just channels her inner Mamma. When I arrive for pickup in the afternoons, she starts with Hannes; while collecting her own bag, she is running off her little checklist in her mind. “Hannes, do you have your shoes… both of them, Hannes? Do you have the homework? Hannes, close your bag; things are falling out.”

The very first day that homework was dished out, I also proudly sat them at the dining room table. We are doing this, with my gorgeous little homework station with all the needed stationery that I made from Pinterest. I turned my back for a moment and came back to Lisa, erasing all the homework that Hannes had done. “Wat nou?” What are you doing? “Nee, Mamma, dit is nie netjies nie”, she explained, indicating that it was not neat enough. Again, I am reminded why they should not be in the same class.

Alright, moving on, to orange. Here, I am going to take the writer’s liberties and link it to the fruit instead of the colour. I want to talk about lunchboxes. So I had my humour failure some time last year about lunchboxes. The Engineer, therefore, took this over for me. He is a lunchbox packing machine and does it every morning without fail or complaint. Occasionally I get a special request for the shopping list related to these lunchboxes, and the Lilliputians are genuinely concerned that they may not get a lunchbox if the Engineer is engineering elsewhere.

Yellow is the next colour. I had to ask the little robot on the internet to assist here. Apparently, yellow is mentally activating. Who knew? I recall now that I read somewhere that you should make your summary notes on yellow paper when studying for an exam. I have not tried this and am not going to enrol for something to test this theory, but together with this manual activation, yellow is also linked to clarity and focus, optimism and joy, intellect and creativity. So, let us chat about creativity. This year has been the year of new things for the Lilliputians and their parents. One of these new things is the sudden familiarity of YouTube Kids and how easily they navigate themselves into the most annoying little videos with kids of non-descript nationality that I know are making more money than me. YouTube Kids, however, brought dominoes into my house. I bought a set of Jenga that looks like Tetris blocks. Cheerfully colourful and plastic. Cheap cheap! Hannes took one look at these and decided that they would work perfectly to build dominoes with. It took me about 3 days to realise that my Jenga would never fulfil their actual purpose, and it was during such a discussion that Google heard me, and I saw dominoes on Takealot. Now these are not dominoes that you can play dominoes with. It is a set that is intended for building things that need to tumble over. I swiped the card. And bought a little box of utter joy. Not a day passes that Hannes is not building or plotting what to build or making things tumble off my coffee table. Equally creative, his sister, however, feels that the Jenga should be Jenga. And when she was gifted a set of actual Jenga, she quickly told her brother that these would not be stacked for anything other than their intended purpose.

Green I associate with the outside. And as I type this I realise that the most obvious outside thing we have done since their 6^th birthday is learn to ride a bike. They got them as their gift last year. Initially with training wheels. The negotiation started that they wanted to take them with on a weekend away and the Engineer steered away from this by saying that they can not fit on a bike rack if they have the training wheels. It took Lisa less than an hour to balance on two wheels. She did initially on turn in one direction. But her determination to get this right will put most grownups to shame.

Blue I associate with the ocean, and that will then be our adventure to Port Elizabeth to visit my folks in Oesterbaai. I placed a post about this. It was quite the event. I am still recovering.

Indigo is up next. And when I hear the word I always think of that song by Watershed, do you know it?

Since the birth of the Lilliputians I have always vowed that I will not play any kiddie music in my car. So even if they are present, we listen to our music (which yes, dates from the 90s – you tend to get stuck somewhere). The Engineer handles the school drop-off in the morning and has the same rule. A few weeks ago, we were all at home, and I heard Hannes softly singing “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana. It was a proud moment.

Music also links to the fact that they started piano lessons this year… watch this space!! In truth Lisa started piano lessons, and Hannes is enthusiastically trying to play any other song than that on the sheet music.

The last of the seven colours is violet. Now here I would like to reach a little for a link with a little purple elephant with the name Tippie. I am personally not a huge fan, but these little entry-level books are the ones that they can recognise the words in… a love for reading is slowly growing. This was also then the costume that Lisa chose for book character day at school. I tried my best to convince them to choose something that would not test and stretch my budget and artistic capabilities, but alas. Hannes wanted to be Timothy (the hound in Famous Five), and Lisa wanted to be Tippie. I was saved a friend who had a cardboard elephant head (no, I don’t know why) and then also the Chinese store where I could buy things to make dog ears from for Hannes. I was particularly impressed with my effort, but the Lilliputians were unsure if my master pieces would last the day. I just wanted a pretty picture, which I got.

In the afternoon, at the pickup from after-care, I see that Lisa is in tears. It has been a long day. Apparently, there were other Tippies. They wore full costumes, looking like little stuffed elephants—no cardboard in sight. Sniffling, with big tears rolling down her cheeks, she sobs. “What’s wrong with you?”

Oh my dear child, so many many things! But at least, by the grace of God we got you to seven. Happy birthday!

January 26, 2024January 26, 2024

A new school year

And so school starts. It has been a little more than a week since the first day of Grade 1 for the Lilliputians. The December school holiday was long, and I was not sorry when the 17^th of January rolled around. Do not get me wrong, our holiday was amazing.

You will remember that the first day of Grade R did not go so smoothly, but Grade 1 was at least tearless. Lisa looked a little watery there for a bit, but got distracted by the unpacking of stationery (she is mine).

Hannes charged in and showed me that he is sitting right at the back of the class. This, I am sure, will change soon. Lisa is sitting right at the front in her class, and totally content to be there.

First day also meant homework, of which Lisa completed hers and then started erasing her brother’s so that she can redo his – not up to standard, you see.

Not a lot has changed.

Hannes marches in and gets high fives from kids that I have not even seen on a photograph. Lisa stands back and waits for the commotion to pass. I really can some days not believe that they were inside me at the same time.

We also had our first athletics. Turns out the Du Toit siblings are my kids too, and not that fast. We, the parents, were however there to witness this from the stands and left after they ran the 80 m’s.

Shortly after my first meeting this morning, a friend phones to say that she is at school picking up her daughter and little Lisa is not happy at all. My communication was not great, and she did not know that they were still going to aftercare. Maybe she was hoping that we will take them home. She promised to dry the tears and let her know. So the mom guilt therefore kicked in shortly after lunch, at which time another friend phones, to say that he was just at school and Hannes’s bag has been abandoned (they had at this time already gone to aftercare). So I go to school to pick up the forgotten bag. I wonder if he has already figured out that he does not have it. I wonder if he is worried.

See, if you pick them up in the afternoons from aftercare, you get the Lisa loaddown, where she lists everything that had gone to school and confirms that it is all in her backpack. Hannes, during this time, is collecting everything from everywhere, usually to have to return for a second round of “I forgot my school shoes”. They may be twins… they are not the same.

As I am writing this I am making plans to pick them up a little earlier and at the same time enjoying a moment where my thoughts can happen one after the other. Sheesh, it feels like… it never stops. The last few weeks have been filled with nights where little people and old dogs wake me up and I then remain awake, because I am not a 19 year-old free spirit anymore. This in turn means that I am ready for my nap around 11 in the morning…

I hope that things will settle. Then maybe my mind will settle too.

Our first Sunday back in church was last week, where the minister did the usual “happy new year” thing. In Afrikaans, we say, “voorspoedige nuwejaar”, which in essence means, may you be prosperous, may your endeavours be successful etc. Not a bad wish. He however gave some grounding when he said: “May God’s will be done in your life this year”. And what a perfect and honest wish. Because within God’s will it may not always be easygoing, and successful and simple. Some of it may be hard and challenging, but if we know that we are moving within the will of God, then we know that we are not alone.

This first few days of school has really been challenging. And yes, I know it is only the beginning, but clearly I am not great with change. But within all this chaos, we can still remember that we are moving within God’s will and God’s plan and that within that he will protect our steps.

I booked tickets for a musical this week as well, and when we tried to explain to the Lilliputians what it is, the Engineer and I did our best rendition of “Do Ray Me” – we were so chuffed that we still knew the lyrics. We, however, made Hannes cry. Actual tears. We will not be quitting our day jobs just yet.

August 11, 2023August 11, 2023

Tell me it’s their first flight without telling me it’s their first flight

The Lilliputians had their first flight in July. Yes, it is now much later, but a first experience should be documented. I took them to go and visit my folks in the Eastern Cape. The Engineer stayed behind to watch the labs, the house and the budget. I had the first flight with my Lilliputians. It is very different than just worrying about yourself. And remember I am a professional worry-er.

May 9, 2023May 9, 2023

Lilliputian lessons for the 6th year

Goodness and grace! How did we get here? Probably both goodness and grace, right?

Today the Lilliputians are 6 years old. I have been a mother for 6 years already. I have to admit that this first year in a new school and different classes… it has been tough on this Mamma.

So let me see what are the new lessons the Lilliputians and I learnt this year. Note that this is in no particular order.

Mornings do not become easier when your kiddos get older. It has not thus far, anyway. Everybody is still conscious before me, even when I sometimes get up before everyone. Some of us love it (the men in the house), and some of us need a reward for making the effort.

Do not throw away art projects anywhere that you will be caught out. It needs to happen while everyone is away, preferably in the neighbour’s trash. If you do not get this right there will be a panicked wail from the kitchen when someone finally remembers to actually throw away their apple core and you will be asked to explain yourself through snot and tears. Note this could be anything: half a drawing that was made on a napkin, the friend’s drawing that ended up in the school bag by mistake. It could be the crumpled-up one at the bottom of the school bag.

Swimming lessons are absolutely worth every cent and also every excruciating minute that you have to sit there for them to learn to swim. Holidays are COMPLETELY different once they are water safe.

If you are going to show them one of your favourite childhood movies, be sure to have craft material for them to build something. You know, like paint and a DeLorean for a time machine.

Rewards that are thought out by parents are not always valid and usually lame. Rewards thought out by teachers and basically anyone else are amazing, even if they are the exact same thing…

Both the men in my house like to sing the wrong words at the top of their lungs to any given song. The one does it on purpose (has been doing so for the last 20 years to piss me off) and the other one does it because he really thinks that those are the lyrics. Both of these gents also like to sing a totally different song than the one that is actually playing. We may need to limit music in the house for this reason.

You become a chef the moment you put on an apron.

Little boys cry when you throw away the boxes that the wine delivery came in because they wanted to build a [insert any impossibility here].

My mother was not really sorry when she pulled my hair while making my school pigtails. You only learn this one when you have to do it for someone else.

When you are six, food tastes better when you don’t know what it is. As soon as any ingredient is actually identified, it is something that you no longer consume.

Lunchboxes should contain whatever the friend had for lunch yesterday.

The answer “no” to the question “does anyone need the bathroom” is only valid for the next three seconds or however long it takes to get everyone strapped into the car.

Actual school days are long and may cause collapse before dinnertime. If you are Lisa usually on the carpet where she was busy playing with something.

If you manage to tell your daughter a BS story about a mouse that dishes out money for teeth… it is going to bite you in the ass. Yo can read all about that here.

Books were and always will be amazing, and the best part of the day is story time. ALSO the book Alice in Wonderland is really long…

You can learn to ride your bike without the training wheels through sheer willpower in one afternoon. You will, however, then only be able to turn right. You will also only figure out the breaks much later. It is important to crash into your sibling or your jogging parent as many times as possible.

Twins should not be in the same class, because the one will cross out her brother’s name and rewrite it because it was not pleasing to the eye.

Change is generally hard, but for some it is harder.

You are blessed if not both of your children leave things everywhere, because then the one will check the other one’s bag.

Everybody loves stickers.

Someone should write down the nightmares that kids have. You can make millions with that movie deal!

YouTube Kids will get on your last nerve because you realise that every minute spent on whatever nonsense they are watching, that little family who are pretending to be real live mermaids, building a bomb or making dinner, are making actual money… while annoying the crap out of you.

So yes, the list is long and definitely incomplete…

But yes, we are at six. I was also happy to realise that you forget things. New parents have asked for advice and I had to honestly tell them that I cannot remember. Probably due to sleep deprivation or alcohol consumption, or both. But all in all, I feel blessed.

Happy birthday little people! You amaze me daily.

March 24, 2023March 24, 2023

How the tooth mouse came back and bit me in the ass

The first tooth was pulled in our house this week. It was actually not pulled because both the Engineer and I refused to do it, so the owner of the tooth managed to do it herself. Super proud about this rite of passage, she allowed for a photo to be taken and ran off to go and dig out the little box they made a church for the tooth mouse. Yes, I know, in English, it’s a fairy, but for some reason, the Afrikaans speakers decided that it should be a mouse, which is important for the purposes of this story.

The excitement about the night-time visit, which will only happen when everybody is asleep, found the Lilliputians in bed way before bedtime. The tooth, was safely wrapped and tucked into the little box, awaiting appropriate reimbursement.