Can you believe Mommy is doing it again!?!

She is leaving....the country....without me....AGAIN! I cannot believe it. I'm going to miss her, but I bet not nearly as much as she will miss me. She is going back to visit Bestamom and Grandad...without me! She also has to give some silly speeches at a university. Ridiculous if you ask me.

Well, she's taking her computer too. So, I won't be able to keep up the blog while she is gone. BUT, look for my blogging to return in three weeks when my Mommy also returns. I know I'll have lots of adventures to tell you about.

In the meantime....here is a photo of me using my spoon. I LOVE to feed myself now....and want to every chance I get.

Best Darn Toothbrusher in all the land...

Yep, that's me. I LOVE to brush my teeth. First either Mommy or Uncle Topher does a bit of tooth brushing...just to help me reach all those hard to reach places. Once they've had their go....I start in. And, I'm a very thorough brusher and a LONG brusher because I think it's so fun! Plus....have you ever seen me smile??? It's seriously a great smile. Gotta keep it looking good!

Spaghetti on the carpet

Boy....Mommy went all Nutso on me today. I don't know why she got sooo upset. I was kind of tired of the spaghetti she was feeding me and preferred to go back to the spinach soup that was also on the menu. So, I simply went and pushed the spaghetti bowl right out of her hands. I mean, for heavens sake....I needed some way to explain to her that I was DONE with spaghetti. Well, it happened to fall, upside down on Mommy's rug. She put me in time out for 5 minutes! Usually, I only get time out for a minute and its for something really bad. Mommy told me that the time out was for my own safety because she was so mad that she needed to be away from me for a few minutes. Geesh.....talk about an over reaction. Here is her rug....do YOU see any stain on it?????

Mimi, the nose blower

Well, I finally have found a good name for Mommy. Calling her Mommy just seemed a bit boring...like everyone was doing it. I tried out a few names, Mama, Meme....but I have settled now on Mimi. And, now that I found the right name....I can't stop saying it! "Mimi....Mimi....Mimi".

When I REALLY say it is when I need to get my nose blown. I do NOT like a runny nose. So, if I feel like its ooky inside my nose....I start blowing in and out really hard to try to blow all the yucky stuff out of my nose and at the same time that I am doing that I start running around the house looking for Mommy and crying out, "Mimi, Mimi, Mimi".....when I find her I run over to the bookshelf with the kleenex on it and point and wait for her to help me with my nose. This happens about every three minutes since I still have the tail end of my cold.....so Mommy is learning patience. I am learning tenacity!

New Friends

This afternoon Mommy, Uncle Topher and Mommy's friend, Mahsa travelled out to Tengeru a town a little outside Arusha and up a big hill, to our friend Freddy's house. We went to meet his family and see his big beautiful property up on the hill overlooking Arusha. What a fun time we had up there! Freddy has four children of his own, Charlie (9), Otis (7?), Lulu (5) and Nyla (4). They have such a fun and colorful house with sooo many kid things. I really loved the musical instruments that they have. They have guitars for everyone in the family AND a keyboard. I think the keyboard is super cool! I loved making music on it. They also have two great dogs and a kitty cat. Everyone is super easy going and fun. I really liked it up there and I hope I'll get to go back and play with those kids again sometime. What a nice family!

Wow...what fun and colorful chairs, just made for kids size!

Uncle Topher is more of a cat person than a kid person.

So many fun choices in this house!

Lulu is looking for a treat!

Freddy with his adopted daughter, Nyla. She came from the same orphanage that I did!

Playing with Otis....he's so fun!

Boy, I am all tuckered out....so glad Mommy is driving us down this mountain so I can take a snooze!!!

Ella!

What a busy day. Mommy invited Ella and her family over for a lunch play date. This morning we were busy getting food and toys ready to go. Ella slept a bit late today so we waited a bit and played outside just the family. Then, Ella and her Mommy and Daddy (Inneke and Dirk) came. I really like to play with Ella. We had such a fun day. We swung and we played with my toys and we explored the yard....it was very fun! I hope that they can come over again another day. They are definitely welcome any time they want...thanks for coming!!


The family playing outside before Ella and family came over.

Uncle Topher is so great at playing with me.

Welcome Ella! It's so nice to see you!!

Playing together is so fun. We can share the same toy and it is more fun with two.

I love to hug Ella!

Really.....I just love to hug Ella....I'm so glad she came.

Walking off into the sunset.

Ella wanted a ride....so she got on and I pushed.

We stopped to smell the flowers....it's never too early to learn that lesson.

We were both such good sharers today. Thanks for feeding me a bit of banana bread. It is sooo tasty.

Friday Antics

Well, today was another friday. My cold has generally cleared up....I still have a bit of a runny nose, but I don't think I'm contagious any longer. And, I feel fine as long as my Mom stays away from my drippy nose. So....play group it was today. This is the last play group that I can get to for a while since my Mommy is leaving me next Thursday for 3 weeks! (I'm not even going to bother stating how irritated I am about that). So....I went to Natasha and Henry's house for playgroup today where I saw old friends, met new friends ate bananas and made mischief with Henry. (we really like the garden hose...because we both love water, but of course poor Henry has a cast on his little broken arm and must stay away from water, oh we were mischievous). But, Mommy took the best photos of me....don't I just look like an angel? hahaha!!!

sleepin in

OK, well the past few days Mommy has let me sleep in because I've been feeling a bit under the weather. I thought it was cool of her, but now I take that back. This morning I just had it. How dare she let me sleep until 8:30, and then get me up and immediately think I'm going to sit down to breakfast??



I want my morning wake up bottle in Mommy's room with the computer tuned to the Grandparents channel. When that didn't happen this morning, I was so sad. Not in a bratty, throw-a-tantrum kind of way....just in a really sad-that-my-morning-is-getting-messed-up kind of way. Mommy gave in...made herself a bit late(r) to work and called the grandparents with me. whew!

Green guck and messy messy diapers all over my crib

Oh my....has it been a day of mess. Day two of my very minor cold. The faucet on my face has turned off. However, I'm pretty sure a gremlin is slowly seeping its way out out of my nose now. Poor Mommy....I think we should take a minute and feel really sorry for her, because she is one that has to make sure she cleans up the gremlin coming out of my nose. It's gross.

Actually, I think we should take a minute and feel very very sorry for Jenny. She helps Mommy take care of me during the day and she and Hope help to clean up the house and cook for me. Today, during my afternoon nap I had quite a big accident and my diaper just didn't feel very good. So, I decided to undress, and take off my dirty diaper and smear it around my bedding. You can only imagine....photos NOT available.

What a day!

Gosh,

Well, Mommy let me sleep in today and thank heavens for that....I needed the extra sleep to get through this day.

Since I was a bit under the weather yesterday I slept until after 10am this morning! WOW! Then, I had to get up and get going because Mommy had arranged for my birth Mom to come over for lunch today. It is a bit confusing when she comes and to be honest, I just wasn't feeling that well today and wasn't up for company. I rally wish Mommy had called to cancel, but she didn't. It was not the easiest of visits. Still, we ate some food, had some fun with the swing and then we took her home and got to see some of my other relatives. Below are some photos of the visit with Lillian, my birth mom as well as a few photos with other family members in my birth Mom's house that she shares with my aunt and uncle).

sicky sicko!

My nose has gone on vacation. In its place, it has left a faucet. It runs all day long. The problem is that it also kind of hurts and is red and its making me very cranky. So....I don't have too much to write about tonight. I'm just going to go to sleep and hope that tomorrow my nose has returned to its usual place on my face and the faucet can go back to wherever it has come from.

Swinging in the afternoon

My New Swing

First thing this morning, we all went out to the garden and found the perfect spot to hang my new swing. Mommy bought it for me as a belated half birthday surprise! I love to swing at the Blue Heron where we go sometimes for lunch. They sell the swings there, so when we were there yesterday and I was swinging and laughing and Mommy decided that I just HAD to have that swing.

We hung it in the jacaranda tree right in the middle of the garden. Uncle Topher and Osmund climbed up into the tree to hang it for me! How cool is that? I wish I were big enough to climb trees like that! But, at least I get to swing in them.....

drinking soup through a straw

Mommy discovered that it is much less mess to "drink" my cauliflower soup with a straw! I think it's totally weird, but kind of cool....and she is right, we don't spill nearly so much.

Playgroup

Today we went to playgroup at Linda Kyle and Aidens house. It was lots of fun and lots of people were there. The last time I went to playgroup I was a little tentative, but this time I dove right in. I still wanted to keep an eye on Mommy (can't let her wander off too far....you never know what kind of trouble these crazy grown ups can get into if left alone). But, as long as I knew she was close by and I didn't have to worry about her....I was able to have a great time with my friends. Sophia, Henry, Gabriel, Amelia, Aiden....they were all there plus lots of others. We had tons of fun! Can't wait to go again next week!!

Squash on my nose

I was going along....eating my butter beans, squash, tomato, rice and egg dinner when Mommy went and got silly. She thought it would be funny to put my dinner on my nose instead of in my mouth. What was she thinking????

Reading...

A few months ago I just didn't see the point of books. When Mommy picked up a book and put me on her lap I squirmed....I squealed and I did everything possible to get off that lap and onto the real fun! I did not see the point of sitting still and reading.

Well, I've been reformed. There is no better nighttime routine than when Mommy has left an extra half hour after bath time to read. We read 4 or 5 books a night. And, I sit enthralled by the books. I love it!

Funny things I say

I just want to write this down for posterity sake.

When I am going to be in trouble or if ANYTHING drops on to the ground, I say, "uh oh". I say it if I know that I will be in trouble because I know that my Mommy thinks its really cute and her heart melts a bit and I can see that its harder for her to be mad at me when I say, "uh oh". And, I say it if anything drops to the ground (even if I didn't drop it....if a piece of trash falls off the lunch table, or Twiga rolls over and a pillow falls off the couch) because I am hoping people will pick it up. Mommy thinks I may have inherited her slight OCD tendency.

I say apple when I want fruit for dessert. It can mean apples and it can mean bananas or mango or something else sweet at the end of my meal. But, when I want that taste, I say "apple".

My most favorite word is "elala". It means elephant which is rapidly turning into my favorite animal. My favorite stuffed animal is an elala and I hug him and walk all over the house with him. He sleeps with me in my Elala crib.

I love my dog Twiga and I love animals who are pets. When I am out at other peoples house and there is a pet there I call it "Twiga". I just assume everyone names their pet Twiga after my pet dog. Why wouldn't they? She is just the best dog ever and I love her and want to pet her every chance I get. I never hit her or pull on her hair anymore....only pet her and hug her and lay my head down next to hers and put my hand in her mouth for her to lick it. I adore Twiga....and I hope everyone has the chance to have a "Twiga" in their lives.

Statistics

Mommy was surprised to see that according to the scale and measuring tape, I haven't really grown this month. My stats are exactly the same as last month. Mommy is really surprised by that....but who knows. We checked it and double checked it, but that's what we've got!

So, accordingly, that puts me at the 36th percentile for weight and at the 22nd percentile for height.

In any case....it doesn't really matter. I'm cute as a button anyway!

My Big Day!!

Wow....we went all out today for my half birthday! It was quite a day. We started slowly and got a chance to talk to my Bestamom for a long time this morning. I love my morning time with my Mommy and my Bestamom.

At lunch time we headed to my favorite place in Arusha! The Ilboru pool!! Boy, mommy knows how to make it a good day. First Mommy and I swam, and then Linda and Aiden arrived and we all had a really fun afternoon together. Aiden and I are good playmates...about the same size and energy level. He's SO fun. After lunch and another swim, we went to our favorite (ok, our ONLY) coffee place in town for dessert and drinks. Our friend Alex joined us and I got to have my first taste of CUPCAKE. It is seriously yummy! Why hasn't anyone introduced me and cupcake before? I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship.

So, all in all....what a day. Have I mentioned how much I love life and being part of my family? I'm 18 months old today....one and a half years to be exact and I can't wait to see what is around the corner.