thumbs-up thursday

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Okay, this trip is flying by WAY too fast. How is it already the 1^st? This morning I lead language enrichment with the babies in Haven 1.  We sang two songs, read a pop-up book, repeat, repeat.  They sat at the table for over 30 minutes!! I was impressed, maybe Dr. Tullos was too… Then we had “tummy time”, which I haven’t talked about yet.  In the African culture, it is common for women to strap their baby on their back so they can work, cook, etc.  Babies are rarely talked to (motherese) or played with so you can only imagine how much they love us American women (and men…aka Ben).  The aunties had no idea how important “tummy time” was until Dr. Weaver printed off signs three years ago reminding them every baby needs “tummy time” daily.  The babies need to be able to lift their head, turn over, and push themselves up, which are all milestones that we want them to achieve in “tummy time”.

After dinner we all went and played “futball” with the local college students.  I scored… against a Zambian! Special K took some good action shots, with her aaaa-mazing camera. I want to give a shout out to sweet Queso (brian) for sharing his last bag of chocolate peanuts with us! And, friends from home… I learned the best game ever… Interview, remind me to tell you about it. 

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Thumbs-up Thursday. Jonathan pointed to his nose on command, made my day. J Cari was peed on for the 5^th time today… the aunties were so sweet and gave her a chatangee to change into.  Beatrice, the head auntie at Haven 2, has been teaching us songs in tonguen so we can sing to the toddlers on the playground.  I got a cute video today of Charissa, Lauren and Beatrice singing to Lee, Jonathan, and Katie… Lee fell asleep and was bobbin his head on the swing… too cute.

We had nshima for lunch today…. Still love it.  This afternoon we went over to Haven 3 and played with the toddlers during snack time.  I can’t remember if I have mentioned snack time at Haven 3… just think feeding frenzy on shark week, but cute sharks.  They take bags and bags of chips or cookies, dump them on the floor, and the kids fight over them.  Rachel, in particular, is the bully at Haven 3 and takes other toddler’s snack if we don’t watch her.  Great videos have been taken during the feeding frenzy at Haven 3.

After dinner we went to play “futball” with the local college students but it was “too cold”… it was probably high 60’s.  A local college student, Grace, was out there and we talked with her for a little bit.  She was telling us about meeting the parents of her boyfriend.  Grace said that she will have to get on her knees the second she sees her boyfriend’s father because he is the chief of their village and it is a sign of respect.  Intense!  Oh, we had taco soup for dinner with cornbread… the cornbread reminded me of Papa in Mississippi and Dad, of course.  Missin the fam a bit.