Good bye for now

Am actually totally devastated - I am leaving today to Namibia for 6 days.. without the kids... and I do not know whether I will manage the time without them well. I will miss them terribly and I hope they remember me when I come back (am sure Venotjari will, but who knows whether Unovandu will too...). I have mixed feelings about going and am dreading having to say goodbye, becuase I know I will burst into tears - could actually cry now...

Roll over... for real

He finally did it - he rolled over from his back onto his tummy. And now he is doing it as if he has been doing so since forever. We only saw him roll over this morning, but I assume he has done it before - we just weren't there to witness it.
It does make me proud to see him achieve that and it also gives me a sense of reassurance that all is well with him and he is developing well.
The doctor told us to leave him on his tummy as often as possible, so that he can develop and strengthen is arms (he is apparently somewhat weak in the arms). So I was afraid that he would not learn how to roll over, if he was on his tummy the whole time. All the worry for nothing... Naturestill took its course... and I guess that doctors do know what they are talking about most of the time and have valid reasons for their instructions.

I want to be a deep see diver...

On Tuesday we finally managed to go swimming again. Unovandu's cough has finally subsided. And he really loved being in the water. At the beginning he just let himself float in the water without much enthusiasm. But then we did some diving with the kids (basically pulling them once under and through the water). He really enjoyed that and was all smiles until the lesson was over. I hope that he stays healthy for longer and that we doi not need to miss out on any more lessons. Otherwise he is still trying really hard to turn over, but is still does not manage to lift his torso. It will probably take a while. Until then - happy practising.

Wunder gibt es immer wieder...

It happened - yesterday Venotjari voluntarily went into the shower and even took the shower head and sprayed the water all over her body and head. Until then any mention of a bath or shower was accompanied by lots of crying and moaning.
She was so proud of herself when she was finished - she was beaming from ear to ear.
Now it seems that our bad bath days are over...

news

Quite a bit has been happening in the last couple of days. Unovandu has now started trying to turn over from his back to his tummy. He doesn't get very far. The result of his endeavours is that he turns around in circles. It has also become quite dangerous leaving him alone on the couch. If you leave him in one place and position, you always find him lying somewhere else, when you return. I remember Venotjari's first movement attempts. She used to slide and move backwards ("robben"). What I do not know anymore was whether she took a long time to learn turning over. What I now do with Unovandu, is that I practice the turning with him, so that he already knows what it feels like to roll over and also so that he can know which movements he needs to perform, in order for him to roll over. Let's see how long it takes until he does it.

I had a chat with one of Venotjari's teachers at the kindergarten. She is a lady from Irland and she is currently doing an internship and will return to Irland in August. Her name is pronounced Cuiva (but it is written completely differently). She said that Venotjari is her translater. When the kids say something to Cuiva in German, she turns to Venotjari and asks her what they have just said. Cuiva is totally impressed about Venotjari's biligualism - and so am I for that matter. I didn't know that she was so firm in both languages. She hardly speaks any English at home unless I prompt her to do so. Good to know that all our efforts are somehow paying off and that she really does know two languages. Amazing... :)