Grandparents are very special people. Newly grandparents even more so. I must say that my Mom has made the transition from merely parent to Grand quite gracefully. She’ll phone me up and ask whether I’ll be using disposable or cloth nappies. Disposable! Our water supply is questionable, and I’m thinking practically. But I added that I am planning on using towel nappies for the drools and burps and 101 other uses. (Here is where the core of her phone call cam in) A friend of hers had bought a sewing machine that can embroider and she wants to practice a bit. My unborn child’s urp napkin will be the guinea pig to 3 colour giraffes. Later on she asks if I’ll be using a bottle sterilizer. (a what – I call it steam and chemicals myself) NO, no this is a device that (either goes into or is a microwave) microwaves the bottles sterile in about 6 minutes. Go ahead Mom, buy it. Please.
My Dad also eased into this new state. He hasn’t asked any if the usual questions directly, just ‘How are you standing?’ I still am, if that’s what he means? Still, you gotta love him. If it isn’t completely medical or you can’t plug it into your USB, he’s pretty much a bit clueless (Love ya Hugo!).
I think the in laws are still a bit in shock. Then again they’re the typical other Namakwalanders. Some may argue and say there’s only 1 type – wrong. After living among them a bit, I have narrowed it to two main categories: the load bombastic Vredendal-Matzikama type; and the rest of the northern part of the Western Cape type.
Then there are everyone’s opinions on what is healthy during pregnancy and what not. I won’t air too much of what I adhere to. I filter all the advice, cross reference them on the internet and a few books – then make up my own mind. One of these concerns were sushi. A friend of ours took the trouble to buy all the ingredients needed for a sushi evening and rocked up at my house last night. Henk doesn’t eat it (He doesn’t like the rice – kan jy dit glo. Niks met die vis te doen nie), and his girlfriend was away and solo sushi isn’t fun. Plus he’s never made it before and I promised that if he can get me fresh salmon, I’ll get out my bamboo mat.
I hit the internet and googled ‘Sushi during pregnancy’. I didn’t trust our Health minister’s opinion since the media has a way of distorting her words out of context and her speech writer (if she has one) needs a thesaurus. Finally settled on the NRDC findings about mercury levels in fish (Salmon has 0 parts per million [for what given value to parts?] ). Also we won’t be eating prawns, yellowtail, tuna or eel – I deemed the salmon safe. Here are the pics. I also tried my hand at California rolls. My maki didn’t look too bad either. I almost scoffed half the bottle of pickled ginger. I just love the stuff, and the wasabi he got would clear up your sinuses – permanently.
