Two milestones.

Yesterday morning I awoke from my deep sleep to the sound of little voices chatting in the room next door. I felt disorientated and confused. I'd been having interesting "story" dreams which seemed to have ended too quickly, but more than that was the feeling of "what's going on?" The room was light; it was definitely morning time... Ben was away, so it was just me in the bed. I reached out, just to make sure, but it was cool and smooth, no traces of a body having recently left. The reason for my bafflement was simple: I had woken up naturally, without being torn from my dreams by my children crying out, or being tickled ever so gently on my face so as to be invited into my warm arms for a snuggle. "WHERE'S MY MORNING SNUGGLE?" I shouted to the other room.

"I'm snuggling with my brother" came the reply.

"What about ME? Where's MY snuggle?" I waited. Nothing. I couldn't believe it! In the last 4 years....I couldn't think of a time when the children hadn't needed us for something in the morning. I leaped up to go and investigate and sure enough, there the two of them were, in Josh's bed, chatting. (Josh is still not really talking, but making the appropriate noises). No arms went up to invite me in, no fighting over who could snuggle with me first - mostly I was met with disinterest.

Wow. I rather enjoy my morning snuggles. As long as they're not before 6.30am.

Furthermore, in the afternoon it was time for Mia's swimming lesson. Josh and I swam about in the pool and watched. It has to be said we are spoiled here with such warm swimming pools! More like a giant bath! After having just returned from out South African holiday, the difference in water temperature was most obvious. Anyway, I swam a bit with Joshka and kept an eye on Mia in her swimming class. I was astounded. There she was kicking beautifully behind a kicking board, head down, holding her breath for about 2 metres. i caught her teachers eye, and she acknowledged that Mia was doing really well. Fetching the starfish from the bottom of the pool was also not a problem at all- down she went, head submerged, to retrieve it. I was most impressed and can only attribute this new found confidence in her swimming to all the fun we had in South Africa. We swam in many pools and even invested in a "pollyoter" floatsuit while we were there. I'm not a fan of floatation devices, but I think this particular one gave Mia confidence and let her experience the swimming movements without worrying about sinking. After her lesson I dished out a ton of praise on my little swimmer and beamed when she said, "Finally! I learned how to swim!" We swam about for a further 30 minutes and it was only by means of a food bribe that I got her out of the pool (muesli bar).

Next week Mia is moving up a class, from Tiny Turtles to Starfish.

Thanks to all our swim buddies in South Africa!

This is wher my heart still lies.

I am half way through my holiday in South Africa; it's bittersweet. I love it so. I love my family and my friends. I dread leaving. At the same time I am aware of the ever present danger that lurks - every one talks about it. The trees are taller and the walls are higher, "trellidoors" abound and alarms beep-beep-beep to register every opening window or door. Cars automatically lock when you close the doors and start the ignition.
I am glad that my children are as yet unaware of the lengths we go to keep them safe, and content that when we go home to NZ we will feel a heavy weight lifting.