Today is the big day! After 9 months of waiting, Thabi's mother is going to hospital to have her baby. She will be back in 3 days.

Can you read the date and day of the week on the calendar?

What will the date be when Thabi's mother comes home?

"Bye bye sweetheart!" Thabi's mother says. "Please help Dad. I'll be home very soon, with a big surprise for all of us!"

The baby has grown so big inside her mother's tummy that Thabi can't get her arms around her like she could before.

The taxi is hooting. It is time for her mother to leave. Thabi starts to cry. Her father lifts her up on his shoulders.

She loves being so high up off the ground like this. She is now at least a whole head taller than her father!

If Thabi's father is 1,6 metres or 160 centimetres tall. About how far off the ground is Thabi now?

Soon Thabi is sad again and starts to cry. This is the first time in her life that she and her mother have spent a night apart.

Thabi's father puts her down on a chair in front of him. He wipes her tears and speaks softly to comfort her.

Thabi feels brave again, standing tall on her chair. "I am 6! I am a big girl!" she tells him.

When she stands straight on the chair like this, Thabi is about the same height as her father. Do you remember how tall he is?

How tall do you think Thabi is, when she stands on the floor not the chair?

Thabi only has to wait for three days from Wednesday to Saturday, but to her it feels like years. Thabi tries to work out how many hours she has to wait.

She knows there are 24 hours in one day, so she says to herself, "24 + 24 + 24 is_____."

Do you know what the answer is?

"Dad," Thabi says. "I thought I was your baby! That is what you always call me. What will happen now? Will I stop being your baby?"

"You will always be our special first born child, Thabi," her father tells her.

Dad answers many questions about the new baby. Then he has an idea. "Why don't you write Mom a letter? You can tell her how much you miss her and ask her more questions about the baby."

"I would love to, Dad. Please will you help me?"

After lunch, Thabi's father helps her to write the letter to her mother. Read Thabi's letter:

Dear Mom,

I love and miss you! Daddy says you will be home on Saturday. I can't wait to see you and the new baby.

I have so many questions. Is our baby a boy or a girl? Will it look like me? When will our baby start to walk or talk?

Love from
Thabi, your big baby.

When she has finished writing her letter, Thabi starts to daydream.

"Maybe there are two babies." Thabi thinks to herself. "Twins like some of my friends." Thabi thinks of Zodwa and Brenda, twin sisters who look exactly alike.

"What kind of twins could ours be?" her mind wanders off.

The big day has come and Thabi is so excited. She has waited 3 days (or, 72 hours), but it feels like many months since her mother went to hospital.

They have waited 9 months for the baby to grow inside her mother's tummy. Thabi counts back in months, "April to March is 1 month, to February is 2 months…"

Count back to find what month the baby first started growing inside Mom's tummy.

Thabi hears her parents at the front door. Thabi keeps very quiet. She wants to surprise them.

But Thabi is in for a much bigger surprise. Her mother has come home with twins! Thabi has a sister and a brother!