A beautiful moment

As my Gioia's grasp of the English language grows in frog leaps she uses it better and better as a tool of manipulation.  She has so many requirements before I can get her to sleep in the mornings.  She needs a wee-wee, then she asks for tea, then she wants 'Charlie and Lola' or 'Jog-the-frog' or Daddy/Granny-B/Ouma, the list goes on.  These are all ploys to distract me in the hope that I lose focus of what it is I am attempting to get her to do.  This morning, she lay on my arm, put her hand on my cheek, squarely looked me in the eye and said 'I Love you' for the first time.  A moment in time that I will have in my heart until my hips give out.  She blew me away with this remark and yes, nap time shifted on by a another twenty mintues.

Mommy the camel nearly beheads toddler

This would have been the newspaper head lines ...I know I play too rough with Gioia, she never cries though, she just gets cross with me. On Sunday we were all in the garden and Johan was a lion and I was a camel and she was taking turns riding on our backs and listening attentively to our animal noises.  She was enjoying us tremendously and when it was my turn to give her a lift again I thought to spice up the 'ride' by walking through her roly-poly.  I completely misjudged the height and Gioia nearly lost her head.  I have never felt less worthy of breathing on earth as I did when I realised what I had just done, I hurt my baby! Gioia cried out in pain and sunk to knees in an awkward manner that made us all panic.  We rushed her inside and lay her on the bed so Johan could do a full inspection of her neck, back and head.  All she wanted was 'muti', so we gave her some body lotion to apply to the area that hurt.  This seemed to have helped and after 65000 'I'm sorry's' I climbed into bed with her and we both fell asleep.  The next morning when we enquired about her injury she chirped 'all better'!

Quality time with Justin

My brother Justin has viral induced Cochleitis resulting in Vertigo. He cant sit or stand, watch TV or read a magazine, he can just lie flat on his back staring at the ceiling and listen to music.  We love this! We now have his undivided attention.  Gioia has been signing and dancing for him as a form of entertainment. He closes his eyes if she jigs about too much.  Here the two of them are napping, he was able to open his eyes long enough to type in his password for me so I could work on his computer. 

Keeping Justin company led to a long nap in the big bed

Gioia in Nana's garden

We are visiting my folks in Kroonstad and we stopped over in Parys for tea and crumpets with my Nana and Aunty Karin.  Gioia found this angel  hiding in the shrubs, and together they said their prayers.

New Vinyl in Kiddies Rooms

Here are some recent examples of my art on others walls.  The images were mms'd to me by my clients aftter they applied them.

Daddy's do it differently

Johan and I parent differently.  Neither of us does it badly or wrong, just differently.  I like routine, structure and organised play with a clear focus and objective, he likes dirty messy play without structure, and routine is what it is.  Gioia thus gets the best of both worlds and benefits from our north and south approaches to raising her, we both agree though that she is the center of our universe, the peak of our moutains and the marshmellow in our sweetie pies.  She knows this of course. I have learnt to love they way Johan does things with her, infact I envy him most of the time because no matter what, the fun never stops.  He seems carefree with her and she responds so well to his style.  It takes many deep breaths and signs from me to just let it go and not to interfere as she can get cheeky because she knows he is anti discipline and scoldings.  They adore each other in such a special way that I find myself teary eyed while watching them interact, converse and frollick about.  She told him the other day, in no uncertain terms, 'no more kisses Daddy ', because he plants one on her cool rosy cheek every chance he gets. Little girls and daddy's are wonderous and I cherish each and every moment we share together.

Gioia paints a mural while Johan paints Gioia, I thought not to tell Johan that the paint stains both cloth and skin, I don't always want to be the looming voice of reason, and stains come out most of the time.

Johan loves to do everything he can with Bean when he is home. Bath times are his speciality and what normally takes me 15 minutes takes him 45.  He gets into the tub with her and together they wet everything that doesn't move.  I wash her hair every other day, but Johan seems to like blow drying madams coif as he has been doing it daily.

Spaghetti Bolognaise

Only happy hour and mojito's would allow for a feisty monkey to eat a plate of bolognaise wearing a beautiful summer frock.  That dress has been soaking all night in omo as it has sauce everywhere from the collar to the hem.

Smit's stop over

Claire and Pierre stopped over to say OLA on their way home to NRB.  Gioia just adores them and was so happy to see Aunty Claire at the front door.  The little red guitar that was presented to Bean was warmly welcomed and Gioia strummed and picked it just like Uncle Japie showed her.  All the photos you see below that do not have Gioia in them were taken by Gioia.  I have inspired my toddler and she knows how to get her subjects to laugh and pull faces!

Boxing day Brunch

Irene Milk Farm is a wonderful old working farm with green lawns, acorn trees and a killer Sunday buffet.

Playing House-House

Johan built Gioia's doll house in secret while I kept her busy in doors. It was the first of her Christmas gifts from family members and a friend. We were so excited to see her reaction to this gift as she is such a girly girl.  Since the house appeared in her back garden she has moved out of her room, she only comes into the flat to fetch more of her stuff like her brush or her hair dryer.  We can watch her work and play from our bedroom window and we chuckle as she remembers to lock and unlock the front door as she moves in and out.  Barry and Sansie gifted her a plastic desk that fits perfectly in the housie, and she can work on her 'puter' and draw and paint.  She washes her dishes under the garden tap then runs inside to fetch a drying cloth or two, and then she sweeps her houses grassy floor and puts fresh flowers into her window flowerbox.  With all the excitement she still manages to remember her indoor potty stops and her christmas sock sweet collection.

Merry Christmas

Roly Poly

The Bean loves her new addition to her garden gadets. Johan, and DHL, organised this fun goodie! I can role in it too, much to my middle ears dismay!

Waiting for Special Guest - Ouma Lena

Gioia got all dressed up in a red dress and with her Jenna Clifford bear jewellery.  Ouma Lena is joining us for Christmas and we spent the morning preparing the flat while waiting for her zippy red car to park in our bay!

Dress up with Daddy in the Garden

Johan can wrap a wicked turben for a 'Laurence of Arabia' effect. My beach sarong can then be neatly knotted around Gioia's neck as a magical cape that allows her to fly like a Harry Potter extra.

Chrismas Decorations with our names

Zoo Outing in JHB

Off we go to the Johannesburg zoo for a meet n greet.  We walked this way and that and saw many interesting animals, Gioia named them all.  She did keep asking for Koala's but there were none to be found.  The German Gorilla was a favourite but the chicken in my wrap, with honey and sesame seeds, won the day!  There was nearly an incident with a red head teenager that absent mindedly teased our toddler with a stick...it was clear he had a death wish as Johan flew into him like a raging bull reminding him not to come near his kid.  The teenager agreed completely as the colour drained from his face.

Meet the Niemand's

Gioia's first movie

We have that holiday feeling! That emotion is normally followed by an adventurous spirit.  Open Season 3 is showing at the movies so we thought to take Gioia to her first Nu Metro encounter.  We pulled out all the stops and plied her with popcorn, coke and astros. These delights might have been the true reason that our little monkey managed to sit still for 49 minutes. Ten minutes into the movie I could tell Johan was getting 'jittery' so when she asked for a wee-wee break we were all happy to call it a day and move on to Menlyn's games arcade where we introduced the Bean to 'public transport'! Garlic snails from the Spur was the order of the day and it punctuated, rather offensively, the end of the outing, along with some dramatic face paint!

Sorting out or messing up?

Elzettie sent me this mms of her darling Rebecca's handy work.

The Tree

...it's up!

The river wild

Johan, I, Fred and Hes went for a day trip down the Krokodil River Sunday morning. We were on the water from 9am to 3pm and we have very burnt appendages to show for it.  I was under the impression that we would be paddling lazily along calm waters, chatting and enjoying the packed beverages as we go along. I had no idea about shooting weirs and running rapids and catching eddy's? For the first hour and a half I sat straight up, dry mouthed and wide eyed, clutching my paddle firmly and listening attentively to my husbands commands behind me as he navigated us throught the above mentioned obstacles.  The day was brilliant and I am in love with this water sport.

Origami Workshop

The origami bird and heart workshop was a wonderful success, all the ladies enjoyed the afternoon and I walked away feeling accomplished and uplifted.  I will be posting photos of their mobiles as they mms them to me.

Little Lady

Now that Daddy is home we go for outings-a-plenty.  Coffee shops and restaurants.  It's hard work for us as she does not sit still long enought for either of us to get a cappucino moustache.  Here is a rare moment, much like spotting the Loch Ness or Yeti.

Night Lights

Here are the Dragonflie,s that Granny-B bought for Gioia's flower garden, by night. They are so beautiful.  I also thought to try out some night time photography.

Staying fit for Christmas

Eventhough it is holi-holi-holidays here at no.7, and Mariah is singing her Christmassy heart out, Johan does not want to rest on his laurels.  Here he is in the garden completing a crossfit workout.  Gioia gazes on in complete admiration, she has not been exposed to such determination and its clear she approves of his efforts as she claps her hands spontaneously between reps.

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International Arrivals

Waiting for the eagle to land and spit out the man of the house is so much fun and taxing! Gioia can't contain her excitement once we are at International arrivals...the wait feels like forever while we watch for his familiar face. When Johan finally came through the glass doors Gioia screamed  his name and ran to him as fast as her little legs could carry her, it was a teary moment for me as he whipped her up in his arms and she covered his face with fairy kisses.  I am able to quickly blog  while she politely answers his 20 questions in the bath.

Daddy's actually here

All I can hear while editing a few cellphone snaps is ''Daddy Daddy Daddy''. The flat is alive with the happy sounds of a bonding father and daughter.  Johan manages to breath new life into our flat without doing anything other than just being here, in the moment with us.

Garden chair re-vamp

Vinyl wall art

Initiation into Motherhood

Most moms would say that you’re officially a member of the sacred motherhood clan from the moment you give birth to your baby. I, on the other hand, have a theory that you are only a mommy, in its most true and pure form, after you have been initiated into the group by your offspring.  Your child may test you in whatever manner they see fit Some test your endurance, some to choose to test your speed, my daughter chose to test my patience, self control and humility! It all happened this morning quite unexpectedly.  Gioia has a teenagers habit of closing bedroom doors, leaving her trapped on the inside of the room.  This morning, while I wasenjoying my well deserved warm steamy bath she closed the door to the study, thereby trapping herself in the least interesting room in the flat.  I decided that she was going to have to serve her sentence in her make shift  cell as I was lingering way to lazily between the comforting bubbles.  She knocked politely on the door once or twice then banged loudly, but I was going to stand my ground. This was of course a colossal mistake, a titanic blunder and yes, a Hiroshima-type- bomb-epic miscalculation on my part because when I opened the door in my towel she stood in front of me with a wry grin holding her poo.  She handed me what she could, the rest she had rubbed into the floor, onto the wall, the door, the bed, the bookshelf and of course onto her face, her head and her feet. She was obviously getting ready to wage war against me  and she thought to camouflage herself with her excrement.  I have never been so calm in all my life, all I managed to hiss was ‘oh dear’ before swooping her up and plonking her into the bath, then drenching her in water and soap.  While she was waiting for me in the now empty bath to fetch her towel I took a quick look around the study for the ‘motherload’ or point of origin.  Low and behold, she had managed to contain most of her number two in the plastic dustbin.  I was thrilled, as I realised she is now certainly potty/bin trained and I am lifelong member of M.O.T.H.E.R.H.O.O.D. All I have to do now is encourage her to play with her food before digestion, not after.

Smelly Bunny...?

I love this photo of Gioia and Liam, they were suppose to pose for Sansie with their balloon animals, Gioia however seems to have caught a wiff of the bunny?

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Filling my BIG shoes

Gioia loves to swish swish down the tiled passage in a pair of my shoes.  She is not pernickety as to what pair she wears, any found in my room will do, and they don’t even have to match.  The clip-clip sound effects of my kitten heels can be heard from any corner of the complex. I love to watch her as she manages to balance with her toes peeping so far out of the shoe that her ankles are actually wearing the shoes, not her feet.  She likes to copy me more and more as of late, so I seem to do everything in stereo. Lips for mommy, then lips for Bean.  Nails for mommy, then nails for Bean.  I realise now that she watches my every move like a lion would a gazelle, and then she mimics me so closely it’s comical, especially when she uses my one liner’s.   Today she messed her tea on the carpet, and while she was cleaning up with the bathroom hand towel she was saying ‘’don’t worry, don’t worry’’!

Filling my Big Shoes

Filthy Fifty

I am writing this post lying in the foetal position on the floor.  I'm typing with just my index finger. This morning Mark had yet another surprise for us...filthy fifty! Ten exercises, 50x of each! It took me 33minutes to complete and then he tried to get us to stretch!?  There are only two more days of this madness left, then we have happy-get-fat-in-peace Christmas holidays to look forward to.  Ballistix Fitness likes to surprise us on the last day, and we ended off last year with this workout if I remember correctly? If the surprise came early this year I am afraid of what Mark and Neil have in store for us Wednesday. Can you say Benilyn Day?

Filthy Fifty: 50x box jumos
50x Pull ups
50x Kettle bell swings
50x Walking lunges
50x Knees to elbows
50x Push Press
50x Squats
50x Sit-ups
50x Burpees...Ahhhh...I was so sad at this stage
and then 250x skips

What's in a name?

I thought to add this just to round Sundays blogging off, considering I have been doing research on my monkey.
Gioia
English translation/equivalent: Joy
Origin: Derived from the Latin Gaudia and means "full of grace and goodness."
Name Day/Onomastico: November 1 (Johan's birthday, Gioia's is 11/11, Poppy day)—La Festa d'Ognissanti (All Saint's Day), day in which all saints not represented on the calendar are remembered.

Gioia is a Gioia to the tenth degree.  How do I better this  name for the next baby?

Holding onto your toddler

Have you ever wanted to strap your kiddo to the restaurant table leg? Or keep em chained to the grocery trolley? Gioia was never fond of her pram. From the moment she could walk she wanted to push her pram, not sit in it.  Gioia also does not like the confines of a grocery trolley, which leaves me one of two options, either I shop without her busy body, or I make an outing of it and let her wonder beside me.  My friend Sansie then text me this link for website that sells products up my alley, I am ordering the bear for her. I wish it came with a button option that zaps her (ever so lightly) when she moves to far away from me or to stop her from pulling goods off the shelves.

http://www.4akid.co.za/products

Googled Gioia

I googled Gioia Benade and it sent me to my blog! I then googled Gioia in google images and found these pictures! Its so much fun to see her unusual name in print. See below, I need to share my delight...ah...the small things

Please VOTE for the Bean

Please vote for our super cute monkey at http://www.calora.co.za/competition/gioiabenade
Gioia Benade, possible Face of Calora

'IDEAS' Magazine advert

As you might have gathered by now by viewing my blogposts, I love designing! I especially enjoy designing Children's Party Stationery, and all the accessories that go with a unique party theme.  I put together a little advert that I have emailed to a magazine for their Entrepeneurs issue next year.  I hope it makes the cut.

Johan is nearly home

I feel like my routine consists of count ups and count downs.  The count down to Johan started last week Thursday, and Gioia and I are counting sleepies till ''Daddy coming to visit!" He will be flying in next week Thursday and now I am working out harder and eating healthier and drinking the suggested 2l of water a day.  I really crack myself up. So much goes into preparation for my man, and by the time he finally arrives I need a holiday. Its hard work getting ones nails and waxes done, infact it turns into a week of torture.  I am always relieved to spot him in the crowed  for more than one reason.  His smiling face signals the beginning of my time-out.  I can share the responsibility of raising a ray of sunshine, especially on the days that I feel cloudy.

Ladybean

Sharon's mom Claudia hooked me up with the this 'ladybean' costume for Gioia! I think she is the most delightful bug on the block.  Once in full costume we took to the complex parking lot to test the wings.  She flew up and down, then lay flat on her tummy and did her version of the breast stroke, apparently ladybirds like to swim aswell as fly. 

Here is little Wian's birth notice. 

Gioia's first second cousin, Megan, was born yesterday afternoon late.  Congratulations to Lolly and new Nana Karin. We cant wait to meet her. It would seem she migh too be a thumb sucker like our little Bean.