My son.....

The inevitable has happened.....the words that pierce a mother right through the heart. They came from my oldest boy, Kellan. He's eight years old, that's right eight!

Let me set up the scene for you.

I was letting him know one afternoon, that I would be coming to his class this Friday, in my very first school volunteer opportunity. In South Africa, parents don't get to do that, in fact the Principle of the school Kellan was in there, made the statement that he doesn't want the parents anywhere on the school property!! (Maybe he was having a bad morning?)

Well, Kellan sits back and ponders on this news for a while, while mother dearest waits in anticipation for squeals of joy to emanate from his mouth. And these were his following words....

"Mom, just don't embarrass me okay???"

What is that???? I know I was bound to hear these words eventually, but come on....he's eight years old! Eight!! Well, Kellan took one look at my face and started smiling innocently. I couldn't help it, I just started laughing, and asked him what actions he would consider "embarrassing"? He shrugged his shoulders slightly and looking down at his feet mumbled......"I don't know Mommy?"

So I asked him if I came into his class, grabbed him by the cheeks and kissed him all over his face while saying "Hello, my baby!!!" over and over - would that embarrass him?

He looked up at me and very firmly said "YES Mommy!!!!

I'm seriously considering buying a disguise...... you know, those ones like Tom Cruise wears on his 'Mission Impossible' movies. And maybe getting a voice altering device. I can see I'm gonna be using them a lot in the next few years!

Rewind

I've had a few days of sick children, and probably ended up catching their bug too, so it's been about 4 days of coughing and blocked sinuses. Medicine, nasal sprays and hugs as well. But kids are once again off to school, and the house is crying out for some attention. However, I thought I'd first catch everyone up on what's been happening in the Hersey home lately. (I will get to the housework.....I promise!!)


The kids are doing really well in school. They love it....no, really!! I kid you not!! Never thought I'd hear myself say that, but it's true. They seem to have gotten used to the longer school hours, as opposed to what they were used to in South Africa. They have made friends, and are now starting to say "class" with an american accent! Some things haven't changed however, it seems the game of "kissing catches" is universal, as Connor has been playing here just like he did in SA. Lets hope it's a health conscious version of the game, what with the school worrying about swine flu etc, etc.


The only hiccup we have had to deal with, is Kellan's reading level. It seems SA is much further behind in this area, and Kellan has to have some extra tuition in order to catch up with the other kids in the class. It's actually quite concerning to me just how behind South Africa is, in this regard. I cannot vouch for Private schools in SA, as we only had experience in Public schools. But, I'm trusting he'll be caught up real soon.


Last week, I was invited by some neighbours, whom we have recently discovered are South African expats too, to a ladies get-together. They are all from SA, and call themselves "The Koeksusters". It was really nice getting together with them, and finding some answers on questions I've had since arriving in the US. It was basically the first social get together I've had since we've been here, and because I haven't made any other friends yet, it was great to mix, and meet other people. We had soup and salad, which is a very American lunch menu, and at first seemed a strange mix to me, but I'm really getting into it now. Especially brocolli and cheese soup...yum! It was very encouraging, and in the midst of all my homesickness, and loneliness, it gave me hope that soon I will have friends, and the homesickness will start to subside.

Computer bugs and Witty Wednesday

Well, apologies for AGAIN getting behind in my blog. My computer decided my life wasn't interesting enough, and caught a Trojan Virus.......nasty little things these viruses!!

So after moving all my documents onto an external hard-drive, and removing EVERYTHING off the computer, we were able to get rid of the nasty and then had to reload all the programmes and documents once again, sans virus!!

So that held us up for a few days. And now my little computer is loaded to the max with high-tech anti-virus software, that annihilates anything that even thinks it's a virus. Nothing is getting past this baby!!

Once again, it is Witty Wednesday. And I especially needed something to make me smile, what with the computer saga behind me. I saw this little video, entitled "Are Women Born This Way?". It did succeed in bringing a smile to my face.

Maybe this is the evidence man has been waiting for, as proof of the fact that women do talk three times as much as men do......even at this age.

What do YOU think of this?

Well, I read a disturbing article this morning. About an Arizona couple who were accused of sexually abusing their children, after some "partially nude" bath-time photos were found on a memory card stick taken to Walmart to be processed.

Now, from what I read, the photos were innocent photos taken during bath-time play while on vacation in San Diego. The children were 1 and a half, 4 and 5. The photos were shown to police, and the parents were not allowed to see their children for a few days, and did not regain custody of them for a month, while the state did their investigations.

The parents are now suing Walmart and the state, for making defamatory comments that they had sexually abused their children and taken "pornographic" photos of them.

Now, one can argue they should or shouldn't have taken the photo's to the store to be processed, and instead have printed them privately. But my goodness, can you imagine the trauma the whole family must have gone through during this whole ordeal? I can't begin to imagine how I would feel if this had happened to me? Now, I have taken bath-time photos of my kids before, granted they were babies, and young infants at the time....they wouldn't let me come near them with a camera now while they were bathing! But never would I have dreamt that something like this could have happened. It sure does make you think twice about what you take to get processed now.

I just found the whole story very upsetting, putting myself in the shoes of those parents, and trying to imagine how they were feeling while their kids were not in their care. It's a terrible thought.

You can read the full article here.

Witty Wednesdays

Wednesdays are odd days. It's halfway through the week, still two more days to go until the weekend. And it's sometimes hard to get motivated to push through.

I know I could do with a smile or laugh in the middle of the week to help me feel good about Wednesdays! So I have decided to officially declare Wednesdays my "Witty Wednesday" day!! (well, on my blog anyway!).

I hope you get a smile out of this video....he's one of my favourites.