Thursday 8 March 2012

Wildlife on safari...


A torch is the new coolest thing ever!  The boys were taken by their nanny (yes we have one of those, for the three hours that I work four times a week) to the park, and she took them to the weta cave.  She is also (coincidentally) the coolest nanny ever too, so she took them each a torch with plenty of batteries so that they could see the wetas hanging from the ceiling and looking at them with their beady little eyes (this is how they were described to me later by the twins).   I am not sure, speaking strictly from personal experience, whether it would be better to be able to see the beady little eyes of a weta actually looking at you, or not to see the beady little eyes of a weta looking at you but to know that it is there anyway.  For those of you not familiar term, a weta is what we used to call a park-town prawn (in South Africa), and is a creature that Peter Jackson used to great effect in his movie of King Kong (just watch the scene with the chasm and all the wetas crawling up to devour the hapless humans and you will never sleep again).  A weta is not really like that carnivorous beast in the movies (or so they say), but I am sure that, standing in the dark in a closely confined space like a cave, an ordinary or garden type weta would assume astronomic proportions that would quite possibly freak me out.  Torch or not.



Anyway, the kids came back with wonderful tales of their adventures in the cave, and singing the praises of the humble torch, with which they had been able to see in the dark, with or without the benefit of carrots.  For days we have been inundated with requests for the torches, so that they can explore the house under cover of darkness.  At night, they switch off all the lights and run around with their torches, shining the light into unsuspecting eyes and generally causing mayhem (as is in their job description).  


Unwittingly, however, and in a totally unpremeditated way, I became the coolest mom ever too.  At night, sleeping in one room with three children has it's own challenges.  It involves sneaking in to your bed quietly, holding your breath, if you choose to go to bed later than the time of eight o'clock that the kids go to bed.  I have often forgotten to brush my teeth at that stage, and this usually necessitates me blundering around in the bathroom and trying to make as little noise as possible while running taps, finding toothbrushes, etc.  I recently discovered that having a torch in the bathroom is the perfect option, as I can switch it on and not make a noise that wakes up the children while I get ready for bed.  


But the other night, the Sweetpea had left a box of his tools (he is grouting the tiles) on the corner of the bath. In spite of the torch, I somehow managed to stumble into the box and knock it down, scattering the tools everywhere and making a racket fit to wake the dead.  Two little boys appeared as if by magic in the doorway of the bathroom, open-mouthed, wanting to know what all the noise was about.  And there they discovered their mother, using the free time that she has after putting them to bed.  Playing with a torch in the bathroom in the dark.  How cool is that?






And if you’re feeling extra clicky and lovey, you can vote for me on Top Mommy Blogs too.  Just click on the link below! Thanks for all your support!


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3 comments:

  1. Hi Want to vote for you, but I "get lost" in the TMB.I go to the twin category, but don't know where and how to find you - clueless :-0 - please help ;-)

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  2. Hi - as far as I know, if you just click on the link from my blog it automatically counts as a vote. You can do it every time you visit my blog apparently and it counts as a separate vote every time. Thanks for you interest too!

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  3. Thanks - will click away :-)

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