Neil's grommets

Neil had his first operation this morning. Fortunately it was a really minor one: to insert grommets into both ears. All went very well, was over quickly and he was discharged before 10:00 this morning. He was back to his normal self shortly afterwards!

Neil spent some pre-op time riding around on his Austrian-bought Trunki suitcase

An empty tummy didn't stop him from smiling

Marisa accompanied him to the theater

Feeling a little confused (and nauseous); nothing that a little snooze didn't cure

I'm sure his world sounds a lot clearer now that his ears are functioning better!

Neil's actual birthday and Miekie's gala

Yesterday was Neil's actual birthday, which was a more subdued affair than his party last Saturday. We woke up slightly earlier than usual so that we could give him his presents. He likes getting presents!

Neil enjoyed Miekie and Pieter reading their cards to him

Nice toys!

Having fun on his new wheels

Later in the afternoon he got some more presents from Oupa and Ouma

Neil has a penchant for sneaking away to eat some soil

Later yesterday Miekie had her first swimming gala at Midstream College (the previous one was at Orca). She took part in the 25 metre freestyle and 25 metre butterfly events. I managed to attend the freestyle event. She did well in both (Marisa attended the butterfly event too) but her energy fizzled out a little towards the end each time, due to being a little unfit. She's very keen that she and I embark on a fitness program together so that she'll be in good shape next time there's a gala (or any other sporting activity, particularly where she's competing as an individual I think). We're planning on starting on Saturday morning with a light jog (I'm in Botswana at the moment).

A nervous Miekie, second from the left

A merged panoramic showing various stages of the freestyle race; Miekie is in the second-closest lane (click the photo to enlarge it)

No, not soil again... this time it was a cookie

Neil's first steps

Neil started walking last Thursday, just five days before his first birthday, which will be tomorrow. As bad luck would have it, I was in Botswana but luckily Marisa had the camera rolling. Here's the snippet she sent me:

Neil's first birthday party

Yesterday we held Neil's first birthday party. His actual birthday will be on Tuesday 19 January. Marisa went to a lot of trouble making the cake and doing all the other preparations. I think it was a beautiful cake!

Alexander and Misha were the first to arrive, bringing presents for Neil and also for Miekie and Pieter, which were their Christmas presents from Austria!

Extremely delighted and excited!

Neil received a great set of presents from everyone who came, and he enjoyed opening and playing with each one!

Discovering the fun of solving puzzles and problems

They looked excited to be eaten!

There were girls of Miekie's age; they spent some time playing Monopoly in her room

After some careful dissecting...

Neil with the only other child within 1% of Neil's age; (she was also the only one within about 500% of his age actually)

Pieter and Dawid

Miekie wearing her new dress from Austria when we went on a walk that afternoon

Here's a little video of the day:

Variations

Theme

Variation 1

Variation 2

A little explorer

It's interesting and fun following Neil around when he's in "explorer mode" to see what he gets up to. I took this video just before supper time last night:

Baby steps and splashes

A temperature in the mid-thirties didn't discourage Neil from his walking practice on Wednesday:

Later on we went to the pool to cool down.

Snooze, splash, tug, snip

Granddad and Gomutti arrived from Cape Town on Monday afternoon.

Neil was already snoozing at the time of the photo

We've got a bit of a heatwave here at the moment. A good reason to take a dip!

Splash (with Pieter—see his legs in the photo—about to join in too)

Neil finds Maya's collar fascinating...

Tug (luckily Maya is very tolerant)

In preparation for Alexander's wedding, Marisa, Pieter and Neil had haircuts yesterday. 

Neil's first snip!

Crawling!

Neil has got his crawling manoeuvre more-or-less sorted out now. He gave encouraging signs yesterday at Wendelin and Waltraud's house and then this morning he had a proper crawl:

By midday it was clear that he's just about got it mastered already:

Neil's first chocolate

I gave Neil some 90% Lindt chocolate on Sunday. What a proud moment for me as he ate it without any hint of distaste! Wow.

Growth projections

Neil was weighed again this week. His growth rate is still very predictable and, according to my calculations, he'll hit 10.0 kg exactly 1 week before his first birthday.

Having stayed mostly healthy during the winter, my time to be sick has finally come, just before my birthday. My voice has been reduced to a whisper and I can also still make low frequency rumbling sounds, but can't really talk. Hopefully it'll be over soon!

The birthday invitations I made seem to have been a bit confusing according to the feedback I received. Oh well. This is the invitation:

Little biltong eater

Neil likes biltong! Marisa got him gnawing on his own chunk of biltong this afternoon.

It was protected from accidental drops by the lace to which Marisa handily attached it

(Maja was green with envy)

A new walker for Neil

We bought Neil a nice wooden walker with blocks in it. I think I had something similar when I was young and the one that Miekie and Pieter used has seen it's day.

Its payload consists of nice bright blocks

Getting the hang of it...

An alternative is to be a passenger on the walker

I wish I was still as supple...

Earlier in the afternoon we went to a birthday part at the Rooihuiskraal Historical Terrain. It was Marisa's cousin Robert's twins' first birthday and hoards of the extended family showed up.

It was a cowboy theme

Napping