We have been slowly but decisively moving forward over the past months on various levels. Teeth Boeta has 8 teeth now, and we seem to be in a little break for the last week, while the canines are preparing for their onslaught, by all accounts some of the toughest teeth, time will tell. We also started brushing teeth about 2 months ago.
No issues there, but for the occasional diaper issues that co-insides with the teeth breaking through. We have been very lucky not to have any real issues with our son. Play He plays for long periods on his own, if needs be, and has developed the skill to keep himself busy. We have the attitude that a new toy should be frustrating at first, because it means he needs to figure them out, developing new skills. This last 2 weeks saw him figuring out a few toys and how to play with them, which was great to see. He loves stacking now, this keeps him busy for a while, and throwing the various sizes of balls, which makes different sounds is also a fun exercise. We still have winter weather, and this breaks our hearts at times, as we can see he wants out, we allow him out when we can. Other activities that he enjoys is singing, dancing, waving, turning in circles, walking backward. Pushing his cars around and working them through tight spaces is also a new fun thing for him. We have been including him in cleanup duties as well, making a game out of it. He also likes closing doors with appropriate celebration after each event – clapping hands. One of the games in the morning is that he closes the bathroom door (baby proof foam wedge inserted so it does not totally close), then daddy knocks, asks "who is there", open the door, on which account the laughing boy closes it in his face. Repeat game…
Language He has added a few words to his repertoire, and showing he knows the meaning of it as well. Mostly Afrikaans. "Is die see", meaning "it's the ocean" is a favorite as well as car, coming out as "ghar". Recently he started referring to the ball as "ba". Also "tata" which means "good-bye", which is accompanied with an appropriate wave. So, things are developing nicely enough in that sense too. Personality
Physical development Boeta started walking a week before his first birthday. Since then he has more control over his balance, adjusting fairly quickly, most of the time and has become a runner, keeping daddy on his toes. His strength in pushing stuff and carrying toys has also increased while the little hands continue to get stronger in pulling levers, he could not do a month ago. He now crawls when he wants to or when he needs to gather a ball under the table. He loves playing the wheelbarrow game, where daddy lifts his legs and he has to walk on his hands. Food We started giving him more grainy food from about 10 months and this has developed over the past 4 months to a point where he is having lunch on his own now, for the most part. There has also been a definite shift from tasteless (to us) non salted foods to foods with either fruit added or other flavor providing additions, including salt. We started including him with our dinners from just after 12 months, this has become set routine now. At about 13 months we started giving him some bits of our plates too, which he loves. This has also ushered in the aim of preparing better and diversified foods for us, including him in the thinking. On Friday, daddy made "meatballs", but sticking with the idea, the meatballs were 1/4 size and made from Pecorino and Tomato based sauce with organic whole wheat linguine pasta.
1/4 size meatballs
Dinner for mom and dad, but with ingredients that Boeta also enjoys, like the pasta, mince and peas. (Red Wine for Adults only)
|
Friday, 29 August 2014
Progression as we near 15 months
Black Crake (Amaurornis flavirostris)
Distribution right through Africa, south of the Sahara, except for central South Africa and drier Namibia. Found in areas with dense semi-dense plant growth, like the reed bed, we saw this one in, it presents a challenge to see and photograph, even if just for our own records.
|
Yellow mongoose (Cynictis penicillata penicillata)
Well, this post seemed easier at the beginning than it turned out to be. We have never second guessed ourselves when we saw a mongoose in the field with a white tip, as the White-tailed Mongoose. I have now come to learn that not only were we totally wrong, but there are many more species than I thought and subspecies. You learn every day. Our subject is the yellow mongoose, who also has a white-tipped tail in the subspecies we find here in our region. We found this pair very early in the morning in bad light. They prefer open grassland and live off insects, termites, fruit (especially in winter), small mammals and birds. They are so low to the ground, it is tough to get any type of picture, especially at a distance. They shelter in burrows, which they either dig themselves, take over or share from/with other animals, like ground squirrels and suricates. Rabies vector.
|
Crowned Plover or Lapwing (Vanellus coronatus)
Very well-known and beautiful plover in South Africa with its black and white rings crown, red bill and legs. They like short or sparse grassy areas and they are extremely vigilant when it comes to their nest and chicks.
|
Big Feet…
Going through my photos from our last trip to the Addo, I found some more random shots of elephants we saw. Yes, more! I decided to select a few just as a final hooray to the large mammals, the park is renowned for its large population of elephants after all. Lone Bull He gave us a quick glancing look. Later at Hapoor's watering hole we found another group. Drinking water
|
Thursday, 14 August 2014
Cape Robin-Chat
Mainly in areas that has high plant growth and seen in underbrush or on perch where he sings. Fairly common in most of South Africa, except the drier Northern Cape parts.
|
Kudu
I have done a post with more information about the Kudu before. It remains a beautiful animal, we did not see as many as previous years, which may be a result of the drier conditions, time of year, I am not sure. This is also a specie still running in open in many areas of South Africa, because only wildlife fencing can possibly stop them, normal farm fences do not pose any issue. Here are a few pictures I took on our recent trip.
|
Final walk (part 2)
In the previous post (part 1) I mention "Hapoor", "hap" meaning "nick" and "oor" meaning "ear". He was the dominant elephant bull for 24 years since 1944 – 1968.
He was deposed by that very female's son in 1968, and he became a loner, which lead to him breaking through the elephant fence, it is said the only one to do this, and knowing his nature and the fact that no fence will hold him in, Hapoor was shot as there was no other choice. He left his mark in the genetic stamp on the elephants in the park, but also a cast of his head in the interpretive centre and a watering hole named after him.
|
The sleeping, seeking, drinking jackal
We did a post on the Black-backed Jackal a while back. On this trip we saw a few of them and I picked 3 occasions to show 3 different activities we found them in. The first was around midday, near the first camp, we saw a jackal having a lazy afternoon.
|
