Peace?

It is election day in South Africa and despite the general certainty that the ANC will win – although their service delivery is putrid – most people went and voted. This is in stark contrast to the previous election when a lot of people simply didn’t vote.

We voted around mid-morning. Dirk went first while I looked after the kids and I went after. We were lucky. We didn’t have to wait too long in line and the whole thing was over and done within 20 minutes to half an hour. The rest of the public holiday we could relax.

I had a nice bath and Magnus joined me in the bathroom, tugging at his pajamas indicating that he wanted to bath too. So I undressed him and put him in the bath with me. Before long Marco was there and got into the bath without a word. I love bathing with them and seeing them enjoy this simple pleasure. Looking down on Magnus’ head, I had a brilliant idea. Got out, fetched scissors and promptly gave him a haircut. It turned out as nice as one could hope for with him jerking his head around every few seconds to see what I’m doing or to protest loudly: “No no no no.”

(By the way, “no” is not a word in Afrikaans and his pronunciation is more Latin than English. The other night at the circus, he tried chatting to the little boy sitting next to him who couldn’t understand a word he was saying and asked what language he was speaking. Dirk answered, “Chinese” without a hint of a smile and the little boy gave Magnus a long disbelieving stare.)

Afterwards, I put him (still naked) in front of the mirror in our bedroom to admire his haircut. I swear I was away for just a minute to fetch some clothes for Marco and when I came back I found Magnus gesticulating wildly at the floor. He’d done a number two, stepped in it and tried getting rid of it by smearing it all over the carpet. I dumped him back in the bath and washed him down. You can bet your bottom dollar that I immediately dressed him after that. And then it was the carpet and I.

Still, it was a nice day.

It was freezing cold the last few days and it prompted me look at the kids’ winter wardrobe. Their pajamas were threadbare and yesterday we went to town and bought each a new pair, some slippers and decent winter shoes. I was a bit depressed at how much money this exercise cost us, but it had to be done. Today I packed all the shoes that are too small for both away for good as well as Marco’s old shoes that could still be used for Magnus. My kids hate wearing shoes anyway and a lot of Marco’s shoes have hardly been worn. It’s only in Magnus’ current size that we don’t seem to have anything wearable. Estcourt winters unfortunately demand shoes…

You have to curse the short-legged gene that both inherited from…well, follow my eyes. Whenever I have to buy a two-piece, the pants are way too long while the top is just about right or even too small. And the irony is that they are actually tall for their age.

This afternoon I took a nap while Magnus slept. When we woke up, Marco got into bed with me and we read a story while we snuggled. Later we joined Dirk at the swimming pool where he was valiantly trying to get rid of all the leaves in the pool after the stormy weather we had. I took the leave blower and with Magnus shrieking with indignation at the noise it makes, I vacuumed around the pool. Marco was jumping on the trampoline and playing in the leaves. Then he insisted on swimming. I baled out, but Dirk swam with him. The water was freezing and the two of them lasted only a few minutes before they ran home and took a hot bath.

Marco was difficult all evening and was sent to my room for time-out. He reacted with noisy feigned crying and I had to really try hard not to lose my temper with him. I could see that he was tired though and after supper, a milky drink and cleaning his teeth, I read him a story. He fell asleep before I could finish the book. Magnus popped in every so often to pester the cat who’d curled up at Marco’s feet, bring his brother a teddy bear and offer slobbery kisses. He does not really share his brother’s enthusiasm for books. But after Marco slept I tucked him into bed and he fell asleep without a murmur.

Peace at last.