X is for Xhosa

We have limited information about your tummy mummy sweetheart but one thing we do know is that she is Xhosa & this week we celebrated Heritage Day, otherwise known as National Braai Day.  So we decided to focus on Xhosa this year.

What is Heritige Day?  Google defines it as follows:

"What does Heritage Day mean to individual South Africans? - for some a braai with family and friends, for others a chance to respect their traditions and for some who don't know their roots Its just another day as usual.

Heritage Day is one of South Africa's newly created public holidays and its significance rests in recognising aspects of South African culture which are both tangible and difficult to pin down: creative expression, our historical inheritance, language, the food we eat as well as the land in which we live.

Heritage is defined as "that which we inherit: the sum total of wild life and scenic parks, sites of scientific or historical importance, national monuments, historic buildings, works of art, literature and music, oral traditions and museum collections together with their documentation."

So of course your father & I don't know anything about being Xhosa - What would we do without Google?  A few strokes on our trusty search engine & I had a few recipes for dishes we could do on the braai & even a few pics of Xhosa face paint.  

I was worried about the food - especially about what it was going to taste like cause it sounded 'volks vreemd"! :-)  But Umngqusho rocks!  It took forever to cook but it was nice & the Oxtail was devine!  

Needless to say.. We'll be cooking some traditional Xhosa food & celebrating the heritage of your tummy mummy a little more often than once a year baby girl.  

We love you!  xx 

Two...

So baby girl.. I haven't written you in a while.  It's hard & terribly busy busy busy raising a two year old! :-)

You turned two in May & although I have enjoyed every phase, this one is proving to be the most challenging but also most enjoyable phase!  You can communicate with me & I'm loving it!

So let me tell you about a few things you've been up to in the last week - I know you'll love reading this one day!

I bought you a reward chart - you don't quite understand the concept yet but I felt that we could slowly introduce you to it.  We bought a few interesting stickers & also introduced you to the potty..  Every time you sat on the potty you got a sticker.  You seemed to really enjoy the chart & then... the chart went missing.  I didn't think too much of it, figuring that I'd find it amongst your toys.  That was until I went to the toilet!  You had tried to flush your reward chart down the toilet.. Ai jai jai!

Have I mentioned that we're trying to potty train you?  CHAOS!  In my attempts to be informed, I googled the topic & read an article "How to potty train your child in three days".. Well, not this child! & definately not this parent!  I feel like pulling all my hair out, one by one!  You pee in the potty once & then on the floor, & then on the chair & then on the carpet & then just to keep it interesting.. in the potty!  Turns out you dont even mind cleaning up after yourself!  Thought that cleaning might encourage you to pee IN the potty, but no - you enjoy cleaning.  Ai jai jai jai jai!!

I can't hide stuff as easily from you any more.  this morning you fetched your chair from the lounge, took it to the kitchen, opened the fridge & took the cheese out from behind the bottles of mayo & mustard where I was hiding it on the top shelve.  You then brought it to me in the lounge, doing your victory dance singing "Kasies, kasies yum yum kasies!"  I couldn't help it.. I just had to give you some kasies :-)

I love that you make me laugh so much every day.  You're so cute, I almost wish that you would stay this age forever. Well once you're potty trained!  Love you baby girl! xx