Pontoon boat riding and the bump makes an appearance

It was Grandma's birthday this weekend so we had a lovely picnic at Black Hill Park and then went for a ride on a pontoon boat around the lake. It was super hot and muggy so we were glad not to be doing anything that required exertion, like walking or even canoeing around the lake! The pontoon takes you around to all the little inlets, there is a breeze, beaver lodges, dragonflies and other fun lake things and all for just $4 a person! The captain of the boat gave us a little history of the lake, but more interestingly, he pulled out furs of the creatures that actually live in the park around the lake. It was fun and a little creepy to touch beaver pelt, coyote, squirrel, fox and even mink! The kids had fun putting the smaller animals on their arms and freaking the parents out.

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Family Photo taken by Uncle Travis

HOT

Wearing a groundhog. Much hand sanitiser was used after. 

Summer holidays some more

Last week was another busy one but lots of fun. We rode in a pontoon boat to look for dragonflies. We found just a few but Emma had a lot of fun looking at the provided charts and guessing which were the dragonflies we were seeing. We also spotted a couple of great Blue Herons skimming along the lake away from us, a number of turtles sunning themselves and a lone deer in the woods. We also went to play at Cabin John playground and picnic area where there is a mini-train. This was with a couple of other Butler School families and it took her a while before she was ready to play with the kids instead of me. On Saturday, Keir took Emma down to a fun day of all things Civil War. General Stuart (a re-enactor on his horse) and his army marched into Rockville and arrested a whole bunch of Northern traitors. We had been talking at breakfast about generals, armies and such and I had mentioned how the army would requisition people's livestock and food for the war. Emma completely fixated on this, I suppose as something she could understand. When she saw General Stuart ride in on his fine steed she stuffed her water bottle and snacks behind her so that he could not get them! K explained to her how the General had told the assembled crowd of 300 people not to "fear for their belongings" and so she allowed him to lift her up to his shoulders for a better view of the handsome fellow. I have a few photos here of last week, and also some random ones off my phone as it slowly recovers from it's toilet dunk. Included are some pics of Grandma in civil war costume. We didn't have a good one of her face, but she is the lovely lady in the pink with hoop skirts! Just one more reason Grandma is awesome. Also included are a photo of a friend Theresa, who we met in Kenya and is now living back in the States, a picture Emma drew of K on her board, the cat being patiently tortured with hairbands, feeding the chickens at the farm-share whilst wearing protective headgear and marking on the star-chart when she had slept through the night.

Dear Emma, 2 July, 2013

Dear Emma, In the car today you asked to play the kid and the monkey game. I said I didn't know how to play and you would have to teach me. You told me that I had "teached" you the game and then you proceeded to sing; " I wrote a note, I wrote a note and then I dropped the note. A monkey found it." I realised you meant the clapping song "I wrote a letter to my love". You loved that we clapped during the game and then when it came time to catch the monkey you had to run screaming all over the house. Of course we couldn't do that in the car so instead we just sang the song over and over again. You soon became bored of the lyrics and made up your own. "A little monkey picked it up and pooped on it. Then he squished it with another note and put it in his pocket." Which led naturally to a discussion of how one would get monkey poop out of the note and also out of a pocket. Hugs Mom

Dear Emma, 1st July 2013

Dear Emma, Today you had a high fever all day and did not feel well. You actually opted to lie down quietly every now and then in a "nest" of pillows on blankets on the couch. During one of these sessions you were quiet for a while and I thought you had fallen asleep. Then you chirped up and asked me "Mom, is the baby naked in your tummy?" I responded that she was and you then said to me: "Well, you share your chocolate with the baby, you should share your clothes too." Hugs Your Mom

Quiet Day

On Saturday, after a busy week, Emma asked me if we could, please Mommy, just have a day to watch movies? I slowed the pace on Saturday, and Sunday too, and today has been quite glacial. We had a slow breakfast, cleaned the house and stayed in our pajamas 'til nearly 2. On Sunday we had been strawberry picking with Dad but the berries are not great so Emma and I have laid them on wax paper on a cookie sheet for freezing, for something we will come up with later. She played a while upstairs with her doll house before she declared it filthy. I set her up at the kitchen sink with soap and water and a towel and she has been occupied washing all the doll house goodies for 45 minutes now. She is wet through, the counter, the floor and parts of the ceiling are wet, but she is happy as a pig in mud and so am I!

Picnic

Yesterday we tried to go creeking. I don't think I have ever done this, unless A-level Biology and Geography fieldwork counts? I imagine it to mean that you wade up and down a creek and find fascinating stones, creatures and other creek stuff. Unfortunately, it had rained, well, more than a little bit. The creek that we chose is on a floodplain. In usual circumstances one crosses a lovely green field, take a short walk in a cool woods and end up on a stony beach. This time we trekked though a mud paddy, and then halted when we saw the woods were essentially a swamp. We were with friends, one of whom is a nearly four year old boy. He said, "there's crocodiles in there" and we abandoned. We piled back in the car with our very wet shoes, studiously ignoring the fisherman putting on waders and gumboots, and headed off to a playground. It's actually an excellent playground with lots of different things for the kids to do and a good flat (dry) bit to put your picnic blanket under a tree. We all had a blissful three hours outside, swinging, jumping, eating, climbing and chatting. Then we came home to put our sneakers in the wash and agreed that when it was hot and dry we would try the creek again!

First summer playdate

We went out to friends who have a house with a lovely garden where they grow actual vegetables, have two ponies and chickens! Emma played for four hours straight and I chatted for four hours straight and we both had an awesome time. One of the highlights for me was Em's little friend taking her out to the garden and them eating handfuls of snap peas straight off the vines and then collecting the eggs out of the coop. On the way home she crashed so hard that she couldn't be woken up, even with the move from the car to the house.

Dear Emma, 12 June 2013

Dear Emma, You only have two concepts of time. Five minutes and forty five hours. The first means a short time and the second means a long time. You mean the long time to actually be longer than forty five hours but just how long is variable. When we leave a fun place and get in the car you sit there for a few minutes while we drive away and then you realise that we are actually leaving. From the backseat you pipe up loudly and complainingly; But Mommy! I wanted to stay there for FORTY FIVE HOOOUUUURRRRRRS! Today you were conversing with Cousin Travis about how you could both become statues and stay frozen for a long time. You told him very seriously that you could stay statues for forty five hours. I have tried to explain how forty five hours includes night-times as well as day-times but you won't be swayed from using it to measure how fun something was. Or how long it is taking me to finish this blog post. Hugs, Your Mom.

Summer Holidays, Age 3

Emma is on summer holidays. Her last day of school was Friday and I am determined that we are going to do something fun every day to celebrate this wonderful area that we live in. We are going to the theater, to parks, to playgrounds, to farms, to the zoo, bowling, creeking, hiking and swimming. And that's just this week! Hah! It's so easy to not get out of your pajamas, lie around all day in the house and get bored with each other. Emma chose a colour pen and we wrote on the calendar. One activity for each day this week. Yesterday was the library (amongst other errands) and today we are going strawberry picking. Of course it rained on our first day out but we broke out the Gumboots! Today we started the day with craisin-beet muffins which are scenting the house in a marvellous way as I type.

Dear Emma 30 December 2012

Dear Emma, You were supposed to be going to sleep and you came into our bedroom. You had cheerios neatly arranged in lines stuck to your shirt. I pointed them out to you and you were very proud of them. I asked how you got them on your shirt. You carefully explained that you just suck on them and then stick them. Your Dad lay laughing helplessly into the duvet while I tried to convince you to take them off and go to bed. Hugs Your Mom

Dear Emma January first, 2013

Dear Emma, As long as your Dad and I have been together he has loved to sing the Puff the Magic Dragon song and it has made me cry. I feel so heartbroken for Puff when his boy leaves him so alone and he retreats to his cave. Your Dad has always enjoyed teasing me at how emotional I become but none the less does not sing the song while I am around. And so you have come to be three years old and heard the song perhaps once or twice. Looking for Christmas presents for your Dad in the bookstore I came across a lovely board book telling Puff's story. In this one, the last two pages where they repeat the chorus, Jackie Paper returns as an adult and brings his daughter with him. What a wonderful idea! At last Puff will have another friend. And this little girl will one day bring her children to find the lonely dragon too! We opened the book on Christmas day but it wasn't until Sunday night that we read it to you. You lay on your back between us on our bed and when Jack left, you got teary! I swear I have never said anything about it in front of you. You became sad for just the same reason that I always did! You and I had to talk and talk through the pictures of Jack bringing his daughter and you still were not resolved that the story wasn't too sad. Your Dad made up two new verses describing Puff and the girl's joy at finding one another. Now it is a story, book and song that makes us happy instead of sad. Hugs Your Mom

America, the beautiful

I kept humming this to myself when we first arrived back in the States and I can't help but think it even more now the Fall has arrived. Fall, what a perfect plum of a word, plopping from your mouth like a big piece of caramel apple. Toward the end of the Summer, Emma and I picked a few cooler mornings to go and pick berries. Her punnet never had any in them as she ate as many as she picked. Then she came after the ones I had picked til her fingers and lips were raspberry coloured. It felt more decadent than chocolate, cake or ice-cream to just pop the raspberries, strawberries, blueberries and cherries of the late season into your mouth whenever you felt like it. I keep buying the strawberries from the shop because I am not ready to stop eating them. In an effort to move onto the Fall seasonal fruit, Emma and I decided to go apple picking this morning. We went out to the farm and it turned out they were having a fall festival. We fed the goats and the three little pigs. Emma said hello to Dorothy, Toto and the Tinman scarecrows. We chased each other around and around the dark straw-bale maze. Then we went on a wagon ride in a bed of straw to the pumpkin patch. It was so fun to pick out two pumpkins and load them in our bag, all the while exclaiming how excited Dad was going to be about our pumpkins. Once we were back in the car and on our way home, Emma shouted from the backseat; "What about the apples?!"

Dear Emma 30th September 2012

Dear Emma, Tonight I lay with you to help you fall asleep. The room smelled of the vicks we put on your chest to help you with your second cold of the school year. We could hear the puttering Autumn rain on the roof outside. I felt your chest start to move in slow even breaths and then into the darkness you said; "Mommy, you are my best friend, ever, ever." Hugs Your Mom.

Dear Emma 20th September 2012

Dear Emma, Today we brought Glynis and Gpa your Gruffalo books and Glynis read them to you on the couch with Gpa looking on. Gpa fetched the Gruffalo doll they had brought for you and had him peek over the books just as the mouse runs into the Gruffalo in the book. Your eyes were shining and you had to explore him to make sure he had orange eyes, a black tongue and purple prickles. Hugs Your Mom

Dear Emma 17 June 2012

Dear Emma, Tonight in your sleep you rolled over and complained that you were just making your bottle for your baby. Granny and I laughed together at how adorable you were. At the lunch table with Granny, Stoney and Aunty Becca, you asked to sing "be unbroken". We all held hands and you and I sang it together with me prompting you on the words. I thought you were very sweet but when I turned around Granny had tears in her eyes. Later Aunty Becca suggested we all have a race to Granny's gate. You loved the idea and got in line with us and we started running together. Aunty Becca and I calling to you encouragingly to keep you running. Then Uncle Stoney grabbed you from behind and laughing just carried you faster than Becca and I could keep up with. Hugs Your Mom.

Dear Emma 15 June 2012

Dear Emma, Today as I look at you sleeping I love you so much I want to explode into a million tiny kisses and hold you so close you will always feel the warmth of my wonder at sharing my life with you. Hugs, Your Mom

Dear Emma 27th May 2012

Dear Emma, This evening Aunty Caitlin came to listen to a story at bedtime. When the story was finished she wanted a kiss. You wouldn't give her one so she snugged you and covered your face with kisses. When you were done brushing your teeth you knocked on her bedroom door yelling goodnight. She opened her door and you ran into her arms and gave her a big hug. Then you gave her a damp kiss on the cheek and she gave you one back. When she was small and I came back from the UK or wherever she used to give me the best greetings. They are some of my best memories. I loved her small strong arms telling me how much she loved me. Hugs, Your Mom.

Dear Emma 28th May 2012

Dear Emma, Today you thought it was hilarious when I tried to feel your teeth. Is it possible that you are ticklish inside your mouth as well as in your ears? You funny, funny kid. I love you so much. Hugs, Your Mom.

Dear Emma 13 May 2012

I have decided to write short vignettes to Emma that she can read later. Just little things about her life and what she does each day that makes us laugh, cry and love her too much. SO here goes. Dear Emma, Today you didn't want to get out of the car. When your Dad took you out of the car you cried and started to crawl back to the car, crying all the time. When you realised how muddy it was you crawled back towards the porch and put on your pink hello kitty gumboots and then crawled out again. Then you came and stood at the front door and cried and cried. Nothing we did consoled you so we gave up, figuring you to be just plain cranky. I put an episode of Peppa pig on and you stopped crying, peered through the bars of the stair rails and into the lounge and watched from the doorway. When it stopped, you started crying again. I put on the Jungle Book and you came and sat on my lap and I held you and wiped away your tears. You call him Pappa Bear and Balloo can always make you happy. Even when I can't. Later this evening you were sitting with Aunty Di on the couch. She was telling me about a lion she saw with your dad and she said to me, she was Buff, Dude. You piped up - what is buff dude? In your sweet and funny voice and we all laughed. Love Mom

it's the little things

There are things about our lives here that we'll never have anywhere else.

My oven has only two settings: on and off. Also, one of the stove top buttons shoots off across the kitchen floor when the oven is preheated.

I have seen the following on motorcycles(not including the drivers of the motorbikes):
A three seater couch
A cow
Five children in school uniform (yes - that makes a total of 6 people on a bike)
A half dozen six foot two by fours
A rain water barrel the size of two bathtubs
A bathtub

Diarrhea meds with ingredients banned decades ago by the FDA and costing 50c

Invasions of flying, black crickets who can't navigate in the air

Restaurants with four dogs who put their heads in your lap while you are eating and a cat who wanders across the table.

Trucks where you can see all four wheels because the axles are so damaged the truck drives sideways towards you.

Speed-bumps are built exclusively by women. There is no explanation for this, it apparently "just is".

Obstacles to driving which include: cows; camels; sheep; goats; bicycles; motorbikes; trucks driving sideways; people; giraffes; donkey carts; trucks which can't make it up hills. Frequently all of the above will be on the same piece of road.

Class board follow up

Here is Em's board as they have worked on it further. It is just lovely how each day the teacher talks through the board and the children enthusiastically discuss and point and name all the points on it.

Valentines Preview

We lie on the bed, my toes touching his
and our arms touching across the pillows.
We make a heart shape in which she is
snoring softly, head against his chest
and feet tucked into my armpit.
Saturday nap bliss.

A day all about the babies

Today we drove out to a friend's house for a pancake breakfast (with chocolate chips!) She lives on Elkorama which is a farm adjacent to Mpala so it is always quite a drive, but we often get lucky and see some wildlife.

Our first sighting were some lovely Giraffes, a male, a female and a baby who only just came up to his Mom's tummy. Not a great photo as I only thought to get the camera out when they were moving away from us.



Then as we were coming up to the house we stopped for some ellies and quickly realised that one of them was not much bigger than Emma! Well... maybe a little bigger, but SO cute. He was with two other elephants, a large and a medium sized. He was horsing around with the medium sized one and she was doing her best to ignore him. I decided she had to be his older sister.



I liked this pic that K took of us watching the ellies, not just because it is Emma watching elephants but also because my hair looks awesome.

Soon after we arrived L told us that one of her guides had found the cubs of the leopard who has been eating the rock hyraxes from outside her house. As an aside here, the hyraxes climb into her engine block to hide from the female leopard. A fact that just tickles me for some reason. The girls climbed into the car and K stayed back to tend the bacon and Emma. We drove almost to the border of Mpala ranch, and then drove some more into the bush and off the road, watching out for thorn branches whacking into the car. Then we parked and walked down a hill and back up the next and up onto a kopje. (Rock outcropping with ubiquitous fig tree growing on top.)


Now during this little walk I was becoming uncomfortably aware of a number of things.
a) I did not bring my hat and I was definitely wearing town shoes.
b) Where there are baby leopards there is a mother.
c) I have previously had a close encounter with a leopard and didn't like it.
d) The bush around us was getting thicker and harder to see through.
e) I was the last person in the line of people walking towards the kopje.

Thankfully we arrived as this somewhat horrifying list appeared in my mind. We hung back while one of the guides hopped up into the rocks to check for the adult leopard. I was glad not to have his job. Then we clambered through the grass and came upon a large rock wedged between two others making a sandy bottomed cave beneath them. Initially I had a bad angle and this is all I could see.

Then I moved around to the top of the rocks, casting about with a wary eye for a cross mommy and got a look at the babies. Oh how lovely! Bundles of fur, confused and squirming, not looking at us and with dark spots and squashed faces! There were three but I only saw the two. I was completely enchanted for a few moments just looking at these tiny helpless creatures and imagining the graceful predatory lives ahead of them. Then one of the few swahili words I understand made it into my consciousness. Mzea. Wait, isn't that like, Daddy? Or Man? or possibly Big Man? Turns out the guides had seen a male leopard hanging around that morning as well as the female. My reptilian brain began to chitter in the back of my head in quite a severe way and I was more than happy to traipse off into the bush again. Leaving the cubs snuggled together in the shade and dust.




I have also added this blurred one as a demonstration of my hands shaking after the mention of Mzea.

And here we are again...

Day zero of chocolate free household:
- Notice that noticeably less of feet are showing beneath belly. Not pregnant, so not a good sign.
- Also notice that belly no longer goes away when flat on back. See point above re pregnancy.
- Decide to have a chocolate free home.
- Walk resolutely past chocolate aisle with no signs of weakness in grocery store.

Day one of chocolate free household:
- Morning, no problem!
- Afternoon, discover unexpected boon of half a bounty bar in bedside table. A little old with a few ants but who cares!

Day two of chocolate free household:
- Can we still call it day two if chocolate was consumed on day one? Confident head nod. Yes!

Day three of chocolate free household:
- Nutella by the spoon, use plastic spatula to get remnants from jar. Search rest of pantry for more.

Day four of chocolate free household:
- Eat the following snacks post dinner;
small amount of old ice-cream, mango flavour. (It's like eating fruit.)
ginger cookies
popcorn
cup hot milo

Day five of chocolate free household:
- Gibbering wreck by lunch. Cursing fact that car is in shop, consider walking to find chocolate.
- Question husband intensely as to whether he may have some hidden in his office.
- Consider baking chocolate cake.
- Instead, surf cooking websites to look at pictures of brownies. Promise myself to one day make these:
http://blogs.babble.com/family-kitchen/2012/02/02/simple-super-bowl-sunday-dessert-mini-peanut-butter-brownies/

We'll see what day six brings. I'm rooting for acceptance and closing my belt.

Fun at school

I have been so impressed with Emma's teachers, even though the kids are only 18 mo to two and a half the teachers really go all out with planning a theme for the year and setting all the activities around it. This term there Miss Anne pitched a tent in their classroom as the theme is: "Let's go camping!". I mean, literally pitched a tent!! They have also put together this amazing board. Each week they read a poem from a book and then do a painting activity around it. So the children painted the background and the sky and then piece by piece the teacher has filled in exciting things on the board and puts a photo with each piece so the children know which is theirs. Emma's is the leading elephant.

Blue pancakes for breakfast!

Snugs

I want desperately to remember and hold close moments with Emma. I want to always feel her skinny arms holding on to my neck so tightly that her shoulder is against my windpipe. I want my arms to always have the feeling of being wrapped around her, and how small she is and yet how solid and strong her body is. I want forever the feeling of the back of her head with it's matted hair that fits into my hand. I want to remember the coldness of her wet tears on my neck and the feeling of her hard little nose rubbing the snot off onto my shirt. But most of all I want to remember how it was she who came to me and how she didn't want to let go, but wanted me to hold her and hold her and hold her.

Nakuru National Park

K's folks came to visit and we had them on a whirlwind trip trying to see as much of possible of Kenya to get a flavour for the country. Emma and I mostly stayed at home to try and keep her routine as simple as possible while K acted as guide and chauffeur. Em and I did go with them to Nakuru National Park.

It is a small park compared to others I have traveled in, from any point in the park you can look down towards the lake and up towards a hill, or cliff side. On most of the hilltops you can see evidence of human habitation. Either rows of crops or twinkling metal rooftops. In the two nights we were there the park was most spectacular at first light. The air was cool and fresh but not cold, and the dust was still settled from the dew. When you looked up at the hills there were parts illuminated and coloured by the early sun, and parts so completely in shadow it must still have been night there. But it was looking down at the lake that made you hold your breath and try to take a photo with your mind. The fever trees stood at the lake's edge, so tall with bright green trunks and the table top canopies. Between their trunks there were glimpses of white and you could just make out birds on the glimmering water. The mist covered the lake and steamed up into the air, reaching towards the sun and hiding the far shoreline.

My two most exciting moments in the park came on our way out. The first was driving along the shoreline with standing water on either side of us. We marveled at the numerous birds, zebra, gazelle and buffalo on either side of us, wading into the water to drink. As we were moving along the road a monolithic creature made us stop. A white rhino, paused on the side of the road, waiting to see what we would do. When we just sat in the car watching him in amazement, he decided to go ahead and cross the road. In the middle of the road he decided he didn't like the look of us and lowered his head to stare at our car over his long and very pointed horns. K gently reversed down the road to indicate that we were well aware of our submissive status and the rhino continued across the road, then splashed down alongside the car, taking a sip of water now and then. When he faced us, he was almost as wide as the car, and when alongside, almost as long. I really felt that we were looking at a dinosaur. Armour plated and heavy, ready to defend himself or attack, whichever he chose.

The second exciting moment came when we were almost to the gate. Looking through the trees and out onto a plain we could see that multiple herds of gazelle and buffalo were moving along, pausing now and then but then moving faster. We were sure there must be something pushing them along, just waiting to choose prey but we couldn't see what had to be lions. Then we rounded a corner and came upon four lions reclining in a partially fallen tree. They were young adults, grown but still spotted and striped. Some were completely relaxed with giant paws dangling off the tree and one couldn't find a good spot and moved along the trunk, stretching, yawning and generally showing himself to best advantage. As we watched an older female came and lay under the tree. Clearly keeping an eye on the youngsters while the rest of the pride rustled up some lunch.

Whoah Slug!

Biggest slug I have ever seen in my life. Emma was less afraid than I was. EW.

Masochism, but in a pretty place

So I feel that I just have to share my most recent physical exercise triumph. One of the Dad's at Emma's school is a personal trainer and he does his training on school grounds. In Em's first week one of the Moms was standing in the school yard, "naming and shaming" as she called it for people who should be doing "bootcamp".

Now yes - this is an army town, we have a British Army base here as well as a Kenyan one but still - bootcamp? Pulease!

At least that was my thought. But here is the thing. I am NO good at peer pressure. Standing at a new Mom's meet old Mom's coffee and eating large amounts of sticky iced chocolate cake while self-congratulating other Mom's told me how hard they had just worked and how they deserved the cake, I found myself crumbling, much like the cake in my mouth, and nodding my head vigorously at their comments. (Maybe if I nod hard enough I will work off the chocolate calories and not have to actually, ugh, exercise.)

On top of this my closest friend here keeps sending me damn texts about how she went for a run this evening. YES - you KNOW who you are. THEN, you know the pair of jeans you can always fit into, even when you are in the throes of PMS? Well the button was a challenge. I blame Nutella.

So anyway, I strong-armed Keir into accompanying me. Misery loves company. And we went to a bootcamp session called "get tyred" because you use tractor and car tyres for this particular kind of torture. We literally had to squat and lift and flip TRACTOR TYRES! They are heavy! And they smell! This was a Thursday. On Saturday we went to D's and she lives on the fourth floor with no lift. It took Emma and I 40 minutes to climb, thankfully Emma believes in taking breaks when tackling D's steps. I couldn't pee cos I couldn't sit, and then when I did I had to stay there and take advantage of being down because I couldn't get up again. Squats, with tyres! Oh and did I mention lunges? All kinds. Wanna make me cry? Say to me: "split lunges for 30."

I walked like a geriatric cowboy 'til Tuesday. Then I felt pretty good for two days and went back. Then I went on Tuesday. Today I thought - hey, maybe if I go again only two days after, the punishment will work out Tuesday's kinks? Wrong again chum. New kinks and I have decided water and wine and juice are all overrated. As is peeing.

Oh and the pretty place? We face Mt. Kenya while doing bootcamp. It is a beautiful mountain, often with rain and mist swirling around it. Sometimes cursing and spitting at it is the only thing that gets me through the jump lunges.

nuttin' much

So I haven't blogged for so long, not really having anything matching the excitement of an eye to eye with a leopard but then today I thought, well Kenya is still an interesting place to live and I should write about that!

Today I went for the first time to a side of the street stall for my veggies. I usually get them from the grocery store where the veggies all look as though they have been there a while and aren't enjoying the visit.

Today's stall is on the same street as Em's school, it is a wood hut with a couple of corrugated iron roofs that make a little porch. On the porch are the veggies. I wondered under the porch and the two ladies shelling peas looked at me suspiciously. Thankfully a man came out of the hut to help me. We had a little tussle over the largest passion fruit I have ever seen as he tried to choose them for me, but I like to choose my own fruit and with a shrug that clearly said "ok Mzungu" he made space.

The best part of the stall are the 8 or so baskets of dried beans. Beans I have never seen before and when I asked, never even heard of. I couldn't resist the pitch black beans that have a white stripe. No idea what I will do with them. Put them in a chili I suppose. The man weighed all my veggies on a scale with actual weights and I paid him what seemed a paltry amount for some really lovely veg. I also feel quite proud of myself for finally feeling comfortable enough here to get out of the car!

coupl'a pics

Monkey and Emma with matching hats!


All prepared for the power to go out!

Living in Nanyuki

Living in Nanyuki is still an adventure, even if there are no ravening beasts. (The little barkers in the landlord's garden don't count until they actually draw blood.)

When it rains, which has been often recently, the power goes out. When it threatens to rain, which it does on the days it doesn't actually rain, the power goes out. The other day, from 9 til 5 the power went out on the hour for half an hour and then came back on for the second half of the hour. This led to me almost showering, losing power, getting distracted, getting naked for the shower, then losing power and getting distracted... it took me about three hours before I actually figured out there was a pattern. And then there are Thursdays. As a load shedding exercise we are supposed to lose power from 6 til 9 each Thursday night. This translates to the power going out anywhere between 4 and 6 and not coming back til, well anytime really, and sometimes not coming back at all. This makes dinner, bath and tea an entertaining dance. Whenever someone switches on a light Emma exclaims; "Yay! Power's back!"

Emma Update

Oh the fun we have had this month!

I asked her if she was my sweet girl and she said; "No! Spicy girl!"

She is continuing her potty training and her bear, froggy, bee and assorted other animals must take their turns on the potty too.

K is trying to teach her to use an f at the beginning of words as well as at the end. She can say "off" just fine but food comes out "dude". The other day she came inside from just such a lesson and said: "Mommy, fffff ffff ffff, DUDE!"

Each toothbrushing session is a game where her toothbrush is "naughty" and apparently leaps out of her mouth. (This happens when she jerks her head) The poor toothbrush gets told sternly how he is not doing the job and put back in the cupboard. This game does lead to some yellow teeth until Mommy comes in and has a "talk" with the toothbrush.

Some of the habits she has brought home from school and as a nearly two year old has latched onto as something to be experimented with are a little challenging. We now must deal with eternal "NO!" as well as "Go away Mommy!" The former I enjoy playing around with and when she says "No" I say "Up!" then she can't figure out whether she should say yes or down? Quite often she just goes for No again. Sigh. When she tells me to go away, I do. It's quite funny how quickly that changes her mind.

Just as much fun as the conversations and games we have with Emma are the conversations that happen between the two parents. How many of you know of Dr. Suess' Yink who drinks ink? Well I was reading the nursery rhyme to Em that goes:
If all the world were apple pie, and all the sea were ink
and all the trees were bread and cheese, what would we have to drink?
K said from the front seat; "We'd all have to be Yinks"
My response; "But it would have to be pink ink wouldn't it... can Yinks drink anything other than pink ink?" and the conversation went from there for quite a long time. This is not the first time we have had such a conversation.

Natural Blue Light Shows

At the beach this year I went swimming at night. It was about 9 O'clock and the water was so black except for the edge of foam where the waves lapped against the shore. We went swimming because the phosphorescence was in the water. These are tiny algae that glow when you move in the water.

I floated there in the black with one of the cousins, looking up at the far lights of the stars, and the nearer lights of the welcoming houses on the beach. It was an experience that brought me into an acute awareness of my body as well as a wish to use every part of it. With each swish under the water my skin was alight with a ghostly blue shimmer. My legs kicked and the colour flowed down my leg and off my toes. My fingers twinkled like I was making magic.

Just a few weeks later Emma and I were in Windhoek. The air there was very dry. Each night at about 3am the air chilled. When I moved a blanket over Emma her crib lit up with eerie blue sparks jumping off the blanket and rebounding around her.

Emma update, long over-due!

So much has happened and so much has grown in our lives. We are now settled into Nanyuki after plenty of travel, lots of wonderful time with family and friends, and for Keir, a trip around France and Spain.

Emma is occupied with watching, as she calls it, a movie. It's about a Bear in a big blue house who teaches his wee companions to use the potty. I love it because she is inevitably thrilled about using the potty during or after a viewing.

It is just impossible to explain how grown she is, how she is a personality and smart and thoughtful and working everything out but then also so small and so tiny and you remember that she has only been in the world for two years.

She has started school! She goes three days a week for two and half hours each morning. It's really not long but just long enough as we come home and she heads straight to bed! We started off with me staying with her and then leaving for longer and longer periods at a time. Now she is so confident and knows the routines of her classroom. Her favourite of all is painting where she is quick to cover her hands and feet in paint and use her whole body as a paintbrush. Each Thursday they wear their swimsuits and have water play, which is so much fun with all the kids in and out of the tubs and in and out of the sand pit.

She has 5 other children who are in class with her, some days there are only two of them and some days all the children come in. You can tell how many by how ragged the teachers look. Hehe.

She is also slowly working on the potty training. We are still in the stages of familiarising her with the idea and she luuurves to sit and read on the potty. She also (like any good quinn girl) likes to run around with no diaper, which makes her Daddy very anxious and we had to get rid of the lounge carpet in case of accidents.

She is still incredibly cuddly and lovely and every moment with her is fun and special and active. But we really do have to keep her brain working or she gets bored and then the frustrated two year old comes out and it is NOT pretty!

poop of all kinds

Emma has started to talk about things that have happened weeks ago and her memory is quite exacting. We must talk about the entire incident once she has remembered it, repeating the most salient points multiple times.

One example of this is from a visit we made to a farm with Grandma and Dad. At the farm we watched a sheep having his tummy sheared to keep him clean until his whole body was ready to be sheared. Now every time we see a sheep or sing Baa Baa Black Sheep we must go over how the "Teep's" "tummy" was "cup" (cut) and keeps him "keen" (clean).

THEN last week Daddy took her to the zoo. There they saw a panda. The panda ambled over to where Em and Daddy had their noses pressed to the glass and took a spectacular poop. Apparently panda's poop is bright pink, and somewhere between the consistency of cow pats and dog poop, as K named it: panda pate! Upon observing the panda vent his bowels Emma cried heartily. Since then, we discussed at length how "pana's poop" on the "gound" and how "I cried" when that happened.

The panda pooping on the ground has also sparked discussion of where everyone else poops. Mommy and Daddy poop in the "toilo" and Emma poops in the toilo and the diaper. This conversation happens almost always in public places and very loudly. On one particular incident where K was taking her into the bathroom with him, she said at the top of her voice: "Daddo poop toilo?"

Upon your return

I have paused in my umpacking from our epic trip to the states. Paused partly to have a cup of tea and partly to take stock of life.

This morning we have had multiple power cuts and there are extremely suspicious spiders all over the house that have met the wrong end of my slipper. We had a terrible sleeping night last night as Emma adjusts to another house and another bed. Also my internet is soooooo slooooow.

BUT! The sun is shining into the house, I boiled the kettle for tea between power outs and Em and I have already had a romp in the garden. Last year was tough in some ways but looking at pictures now I remember the really amazing ways it was good.

I find myself anticipating with some excitement what is to come this year. But as with all things in Kenya I am also glad that it is only for a year and this too will end.

I'll leave you with some of the pics from the year:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Emma update

Man is she cute! Below are things that are cute that she did in a cute way:

On the metro today she pointed at a little boy and said loudly: "What is dat?" When I told her it was a boy she said: "Hiiii boi". UHOH!

When we arrived at the Grandparents' house and she was introduced to the cats she got right down on the floor in Utter Kharma's face and said: "Hiii Kiddy" about a hundred times 'til Atta got bored and left.

A few nights ago she found the clean cat bowls and took them to the bottom of the stairs. There she stood at the baby gate and called up to the cats who were hiding out on the second floor: "Ca-aaats, bllablllbib your Du-ude*".
*translation: Cats, come get your food.

She is insistent that she know where everyone in the house is at all times, so there is the endless question: "Ooh is Gampa, Gam'ma, Daddie, Cats?"

While we visited with a friend now known to us as 'Bina, Em found her Crocs and wore them around and around the house all week. A few days ago she woke up from her nap demanding 'Bina's Doos, So now we are sure that she does dream.

Months ago we decided to start instituting time out. Emma thought this was an excellent and hilarious game. She would engage in the naughty activity and then put herself in time out, telling herself sternly; "No! No!" K and I were laughing hysterically into the couch cushions. It's hard to be stern yourself in these moments.

There are hundreds more but now I can't remember them. Oh well... another post, another day.

Emma Update

Couldn't wait to share this. We have spent the week at the beach in North Carolina and Emma has loved every second. From all the attention from grandparents to digging in the sand with her cousin who is only two weeks older to playing in the waves with Mommy and Daddy.

Today was the last day at the beach and we had a slow start this morning as Emma woke at 3am and never really went back to sleep. So K and I were having breakfast while checking out mail and as we were almost done I casually said to K across the room: "Shall we head down to the beach?" Emma flung down her toy and barreled across the room shouting: "go, go, go, go BEACH!" It was adorable.

States side

Well we have successfully negotiated the very long trip across the pond. Amsterdam airport got massive thumbs up from us as a stopover. Not only do they have a play area with slides and "tree-houses" where Emma could stand and watch screaming, running, playing children with what can only be described as horror but they also have a quiet baby room. In this room there are curtained booths with cribs and cushioned couches for babies to take naps and parents to nap or check their email. This room also comes equipped with a microwave and actual baby baths with actual clean, hot, first world water. It was heaven.

K's Mom picked us up from the airport and we drove on the most fabulous roads. TARRED roads, roads with LINES and SIDEWALKS. Where people did not try to KILL YOU with their cars, motorbikes, bicycles or COWS.

Then this afternoon we went to pick up a few essentials at the grocery store and I made K walk up and down each aisle so that I could bask in the Americanness of things like individual size (as in for one meal) spices and 12 different kinds of M&M's.

Other wonderful things about the first world include not having to use drinking water to boil potatoes. But the BEST thing is being around my kitties again. Henry is giving me love right now and attempting to hijack the keyboard and Oleo is squeaking at everyone in the hope that someone will take pity on a poor starving cat. I have to leave ya'll now and go give them a group hug.

0;0'7"

We are still living in the southern hemisphere in our new little Nanyuki house. Which is a small fact that makes me as happy as all the other small facts about this house do.

Emma can run out of the house, out of the little gate and into a lovely lush garden. We spend a few hours each day playing outside with her balls or looking at crickets and grass and puddles and all kinds of good things.

The house has three bedrooms, one of which functions as K's office, a little dining room, excellent for playing Carcasonne and a large sunken lounge which opens onto the porch. The whole house has very quickly started to feel like home and I was surprised at how much less stressed I am here. I can leave my doors open and there is no Vervet to threaten Emma. She can run outside and no rabid hyena or curious leopard will steal her off the porch.

Also - and it seems like a small thing until you are without it for months - the shower is heavenly. Hot water, clean water and as much of it as you want. Emma's Grandma asked us if Emma liked bubble baths and we don't know as we have never had enough water to do a bubble bath!

So really, it turns out that I am a town mouse and not a country mouse as I have always thought myself to be.