Walking and Reading

Jack began walking about 3 weeks ago on his 17 month birthday. It took him a long time to walk, but he got the hang of it fast. So fast that he is now comfortable wearing these wellies which are significantly larger than his feet. He kept trying to wear Tessa's frog wellies, so I pulled out thes old ones of Tessa.

He's also a book abuser. No, he doesn't abuse books; he abuses the person that he wants to read the book to him. He approaches Dusty or me and tries nicely to give us the book and sit on us. If we are otherwise occupied, then he will hit us with the book and start hollering and crying, until we cave or run away. If we read, then he's so happy, but if we leave, a real tantrum begins even if the hitting stops. Today he hit Tessa in the face with a book - ouch! But what can I say? He's a librarian's son.

Mary and Joseph Confusion

We live on a Catholic compound here in Musoma. They recently built a sort of grotto thing to hold a statue of Mary, painted it pink, and surrounded it with potted plants, flags, and colored lights. It's quite bold to say the least, but fortunately the pink has faded. Tessa is enamoured with Mary, and we must greet her every time we come in the compound if Tessa's with us ... "Hi Mary!"

Ironically, the gatekeeper is named Joseph. Tessa, who has never seen the classic Disney movies, recently received a coloring book with Cinderella, Beauty, Jasmine, and some other heroines with their beaus. She thinks they are Mary and Joseph. Apparently all the Biblical Christmas stories she was so familiar with in December have now been replaced with the "Mary statue - Joseph gatekeepr - Disney" combo. I'll have to think of some fun Biblical lesson to get her back on track.

Thoughts of a Family Dog

His finger's in my eye. Her bouncing bottom is crushing my lungs. They're so loud, and he has some serious stinking poop in his trousers. When will the big people tell them to leave me alone? How long do I have to take this? Don't these little people know I'm a scary Rottweiler?

Ah well, it's all worth it if I can just reach the cookie the little guy left under the dresser two days ago.

Last Day of School

Here on our compound we have a small Catholic school. On Friday, we heard drum beating and singing, so Tessa and I set out to see what all the hub-bub was about. 1 minute later we had to return to the house for our umbrellas. When we arrived we saw the field had been cleared so the many kids could march out and put on a show for some visiting educational dignitaries and a smattering of parents. This meant that the kids were standing at attention, singing their songs, and doing their daily exercise routine while standing in the rain. I felt so sorry for them as I watched them stand there shivering with beads of rain rolling off their heads - and they just stood and took it! No screaming or running or complaining like I would expect of American kids.

Kids here have some bizarre stoic ability to sit (or stand in this case)quietly through anything. But this is the first time I've seen them do it in the rain. Children, even young ones, can sit quietly through a 2 - 3 hour church service, all lined up on the front bench with their parents somewhere behind them, and rarely will we see a kid get in trouble or toted out. We've heard 2 reasons for this. 1) They are disciplined frequently and severely at home. 2) They are undernourished and simply don't have the energy to misbehave.

I think it must be a lesser combination of the two. I think additionally, entertainment is rare here, so they're happy to watch or be involved in almost anything. Plus they are next to siblings who can pinch them or whatever to make them behave. Finally, the little ones are nursed a long, long time so when one of them fusses, Mom just opens her shirt, and voila! - a quiet youngster.

Whatever the reason, quiet kids in a service are something to admire as our own kids wriggle, giggle, cry, fuss, and complain. I'll be thankful for the church nursery and Sunday school to take our kids off our hands when we come home so we can worship in peace, and so they can have a good worship time too.