Lil’ Note: I wrote this post while we were still in our place in Gordon’s Bay.

I‘m constantly taking snapshots with my mind these days, savouring these last few moments in this special place…this home where three became four, where words became sentences, where diapers became potty-trained just in time for more diapers.

He wakes up later these days, warm and cozy and sometimes grumpy. He still cries for us to come get him, even though he’s in a big-boy bed. Occasionally all we hear is a loud, “Hey! I wake!” He’s never quite sure about breakfast…no Pwo-Nutwo … no yoghurt … yes Pwo-Nutwo. Yes Yoghurt. I want deez, deez deez!!

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{First week in Gordon’s Bay}

Something clicked funny in the “May I please…” training, so when he is prompted to ask for something properly, he quickly rattles out:

May I please get down, yes, may, youuuuuuuu.

That’s been the story for a month and half and he’s sticking with it.

At breakfast one morning, we held hands and I decided to pray with my own special rendition of a Veggie Tales song:

Thank you, God, for this day, for the food in our bowls…

but before I could get to the second line of my special song he interrupted with a loud

NOPE NOPE NOOOOOPE!

And before I could finish saying, “I can pray how I want…” he interrupted again with an assertive

“Pway Ploperly, Mama. Do it ploperly.”

I could only laugh in response.

The baby that learned to walk and to talk, to dance and to run right here, is now a little boy. Full of life, and spunk and personality, and so different from the toothless wonder that arrived in ’09.

I pause listening to him speak as he uses the ‘a’ from ‘Father’ in words like fast and dance. In my American accent I ask “Are you dancing, Bear?” {with the a sound like the word ‘an’} and he replies, “No. I dancing.” with the ‘a’ sound from the word ‘father’ again.

How soon will that bit of South Africa fade? I wonder.

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{near the end of our time in Gordon’s Bay}

***

Now here we are in Bloemfontein, those days have passed, and the last two months of calling South Africa home are upon us. I’m reminded to slow down, and to be thankful for this day.

Whichever they are, these days pass by so quickly. Kiss your family. Hug your kids. Slow down and be thankful for today.

You may not pass this way again.

xCC