Good Negotiator or Manipulator? You Decide

Last Wednesday evening I was cooking chicken soup and thinking about how close I was to the end of a very full day. I was looking forward to settling into bed with a good book and a glass of something refreshing. 

Tom had left for Lusaka the day before and would be away for a couple nights. 

As I chopped and stirred in the kitchen, Peter stopped by for a chat. The following conversation took place:

Peter: Mom, do you ever sleep alone?

Me: Sometimes.

Peter: Does it make you sad to sleep alone?

Me: *knowing full where where he is going with this* Why do you ask?

Peter: Well, I just thought since Dad is gone, I could sleep with you.

I was glad I had my back to him as I stirred the pot of soup because I was cracking up.

Peter has been asking to sleep with me for a few weeks now, but I always tell him no because "Mommy and Daddy need their privacy". And after I explained the meaning of privacy Peter had seemed to accept my decision. 

I guess he understood better than I thought and had simply bided his time. But rather than just ask me outright, he made it sound like he'd be doing me a favor. 

What would you do? Would you give in to the psychology that Peter employed?

Of course I let him spend the night with me. Creative thinking should be rewarded when possible. And it was fun to spend extra time with him.

One Year Ago: A Crazy 35-Hour Day

Three Years Ago: Some Mother's Child
Four Years Ago: Honey, Honey (another humorous parenting story)

It's All in the Wording

This morning I wasn't feeling well. While I rested in bed Peter came to play and keep me company. 

Troy didn't think this was a good idea and suggested to Peter that he leave since "Mommy has a headache". 

Peter: "Mommy doesn't have a headache. She's just lazy."

Me: "..........."

Peter: "Yeah, Mommy told me she is lazy today."

Me: "Dizzy, Peter! I said I was dizzy."

Good thing we cleared that up before anyone else asked Peter why Mommy wasn't working today.

No Self Esteem Issues Here

In the mornings, before breakfast, Peter likes to come into our bedroom for a little quality time. Sometimes he'll climb up in our bed for a cuddle, or just chat, or play in the adjoining office.

The other morning, I woke up to some dishes clanking and soft mutterings coming from our office, and realized that Peter was trying to make Tom and I our morning tea.

I quickly got up before he broke something or got hurt. Under my supervision he carefully filled our glass kettle with water, put tea bags in each cup, put my 'sugar' tablet in, got the milk out of the fridge, and (with my help) filled both cups with hot water.

As the tea steeped on the desk, Peter looked at me and said, "Daddy is going to like that I made his tea all by myself. He is going to know that I'm a Good Kid!"


Exactly Two Years Ago: Looking for the Headless Horseman
Nearly Three Years Ago: In Everything Give Thanks
Exactly Four Years Ago: Village Church
Exactly Five Years Ago: Fab Friday Foto--(Hyphenation Rules)

Movie Magic & More

The other day as I finished dinner preparations the kids all filed into the dining room for their dinner. I don't think I can properly convey the noise that 23 preschool children fresh off the playground can make as they file into a cement building. Let me just say it is LOUD.

In the midst of all this chaos Johnny walked up to the counter that divides the kitchen and dining room. He called over to me as I chopped vegetables at the island.

I could barely hear him over the din:

"Mommy, I wanna something something lucky dips."

"Sorry, what was that?"

"I wanna something something looby pips."

"What?"

Finally I asked Johnny to come into the kitchen. He stood next to me and I leaned over to hear him better.

"Mommy, I wanna give you love's true kiss!"

Awwwww!

"Ok, sweetie, how about I give you a hug?"

Any guesses which movie he's been watching?

***********

The other morning I was looking after the twins during shift change. It was early in the morning and a few of the children were gathered around the cradles with me.

Luke was fussing a bit so I was settling him down.

Peter said, "Look, he's like Spiderman!" I tried to figure out what he meant by that.

Then he showed me:

"His hands are like this!"

A moment later Peter said, "Now he's a bad guy".

"See?"

"His hands are like this!"

********

Even Jasmine has been picking on poor Luke. She pointed out that he looks like a comic book entity called The Watcher.

What do you think?

Poor Luke is gonna develop a complex if this keeps up.

Exactly Two Years Ago: My Girl Can Kick Your Tail
Exactly Three Years Ago: Super Story part two

Kids Will Be Kids

Today we had unexpected guests drop by. We took them for a tour and then they got a chance to meet the kids. As usually happens when a small change to the schedule occurs, the kids take advantage of this to run around and get some special attention from our guests. 

Peter came to find me. He has been especially cute lately. The other day I gave him a hug and rubbed his back, but he looked up at me and said, "Mommy, I wanna KISS you". How could I resist that?

Today he followed me around as I helped our visitors find lunch and soft drinks in the kitchen. He peppered me with questions: What is this? What is this? Whatcha doing?, etc.

Don't get me wrong. I was loving every minute of it. As I served ice into glasses, I gave him a sliver for his tongue and he learned the difference between hot and cold--especially when I dropped an ice chip down his neck.

Peter was standing right next to me as I chatted with our guests for a moment, when I glanced down and saw this:

I couldn't figure out what had happened. He hadn't gone anywhere. How had he managed to get into trouble so quickly?

Then I saw his hand.

Turns out our new kitchen lady had placed the sugar bowl on the coffee mugs shelf (makes sense, right?), which happened to be exactly at his eye (and hand) level and it was just too much temptation to resist. 

He wasn't quite sure what happened. He saw sugar. He ate a handful. It was delicious. Mommy wasn't happy. 

Truthfully? I had a hard time not laughing. He had to learn it isn't OK to eat sugar by the handful, but he sure was cute!

Lawyered

Yesterday as all the children gathered in the dining room in preparation for Children's Church, Tom noticed Johnny and Peter in the corner, huddled together, looking at something.

As he drew closer he saw that they were playing with Jasmine's new iPod touch. It had been left on the table and now sticky little fingers had found it.

Looking more closely, Tom saw something very funny: Johnny was using Peter's fingers to move things around on the screen. 

Having seen enough, Tom said in his best and most gruff voice, "What's going on here?" 

Johnny jumped back and said, "I never touched it! My fingers never touched it!"

That kid has a future. I just don't know in what exactly........

Kittens and Babies--Nothing Better

 Our cat, Chai gave birth to her first litter of kittens. She had two kittens, we think a boy and a girl.

 We took them outside for the first time today. Peter and Moriah were there to witness the event. 

 

 

 Moriah wasn't crazy about the kittens. She is most definitely not an animal person. She tolerated them well enough though.

Peter liked them. He even let them climb onto his lap. He wasn't entirely sure, but he petted them and said, "Nice. Nice".

But, wait! Who is that coming up from behind?

"What have you done to my babies??"

 "Are you OK, my babies? Did this human child hurt you?"

I've been amazed at what a good mommy Chai is. Instinct is a beautiful thing!

Exactly Two Years Ago: Older Brothers--Who Needs 'Em?

Sundays in My City--Update and Flashback

 Unknown Mami

Thanks to the prayers of many, the announcement of a winner (and new president) in our recent elections went off without a hitch. The former president conceded gracefully and his supporters accepted the majority choice without any violence.

Saturday we were able to head to Mansa and get all our shopping done. On the way we gave a ride to two Peace Corps volunteers who were also traveling to Mansa and on the way back our closest Peace Corps volunteer neighbor rode home with us. It was nice to have some company in the car.

Shoprite was being restocked as we shopped so we were actually glad we had delayed our trip by a day. We may not have found anything on the shelves otherwise. 

I was looking through my photos and found a cute one from July that I hadn't shared with you yet.

During Mutomboko Tom was just chilling on the front step watching people walk by. Peter decided to join him, and I served them both a drink. Seeing them sitting together--both with long sleeves and long pants--just having a dad and son moment was really sweet.

Right after this, I took Peter with me as I went to check on the pit roasted pig. As we rounded the building at the edge of our property, he got a look at the arena next to us where there were dozens of cars, trucks and buses parked in the field. 

Peter loves cars and trucks and got so excited at the huge variety parked right next to him that he started to hyperventilate: "Cars! and trucks! and cars! and trucks!" It was adorable.

And, it reminded me how we need to make a plan to get the kids out of the house more to accompany us when we go shopping or run errands nearby. We don't get out much ourselves--Jasmine's trip to Lusaka was her first since the beginning of February--so we can forget how isolated it can be out here.

I have another 'Baby Peter' story to share in a couple of days. I love that kid! And, speaking of kids I love, I'll have some new photos of Joseph to share with you also.

Exactly One Year Ago: Life Skills--Feelings Edition

Two by Two

Earlier this month I finally got my hands on a toy I've been wanting for years. A hand carved Noah's Ark set. 

I've seen them for years at the little markets in Lusaka but they always asked outrageous prices. This time the vendor wanted $80 for it. I told him I was willing to pay $20. He refused. No problem. I walked away. I've waited this long, I can continue to wait. For the next hour or two, as I explored the market with Meg, this same man followed us around and kept making lower and lower offers.

$75! 

No, $20.

$60!

No, $20

$40!

No, $20

Finally, he got down to $25. 

Seeing his willingness, I did my part and came up to $22. Sold!

I love that the pieces are a mix of African animals like lions, hippos, elephants and crocodiles.....

and farm animals--things we have right here: ducks, chickens, and rabbits. My favorite pieces are the turtles.

The first time Tom and I showed this toy to two-year-old Peter, Tom said that the Noah and Wife were Mommy and Daddy. Somehow this didn't quite work for Peter as he began calling them Jesus and Mommy. 

Tom also thought there should be a baby Peter to match the mommy and daddy so he called the  turtle Baby Peter. The name stuck and now as Peter digs through the animals he hunts for Baby Peta. One of these days we'll have to set him straight....

The entire time he played he just wanted to put the animals in and out, in and out. Once they were in and the ark was closed, he began pushing it around the table with a 'vroom vroom' sound. I had no idea that the ark was equipped with an outboard engine.

Playing with the kids is one of the perks of my job. I love it!

(Almost) Exactly One Year Ago: For the Win

SIMC: Birthdays, Birthdays, and more Birthdays!

With 21 kids in residence, it's bound to be someone's birthday nearly every week. We had a team of volunteers out here this week so I asked them to bring a few presents for four of the kids so we could hold a joint party for them. 

With all we had going on we didn't get to hold a proper party but we did serve cake after dinner one night. 

For reasons that I'll have to tell you about another time, our cake turned out lopsided. We began calling it a Dr. Suess cake. Then since we had some colored sprinkles provided by our visitors and it began looking better. Then we pulled out the birthday candles (also sweetly provided by our guests) and by happy coincidence they were perfect for the cake. Starburst candies (also provided by....yep, you got it!) gave the finishing touch.

 Peter was first up--he turns 2 on August 27. He was so excited he kept patting his cheeks and grinning from ear to ear. After I helped him blow out his candle (we lit one for each of the kids), he was presented with the little tow truck from the movie Cars. He loves cars and trucks (I'll have to tell you a story about that soon) and so he loves, loves, loves his new toy.

Denny was next. He turned two on August 11. He was quite uncertain about it all. I helped him blow out his candle and he also got a Cars character. He got the race car--Lightning McQueen, I think.... Afterward he went and sat down and let Nathan play with it. I think all the singing and excitement was a bit much for him.

Next, Elias had his birthday song. For his present, he got a supply of art things--markers and pads of paper to nurture his artistic side. Look at Johnny pursing his lips--practicing for his turn. :)

In the middle of singing 'Happy Birthday' to Johnny, the power went off but we lit his candle, sang to him and then lit more candles so we could see to cut and eat the cake. Just a normal day in Africa.

Now, hop over to Unknown Mami's blog and see what's happening in other cities around the world.

I'm Not the Only One Missing Someone

The other day, Peter came into our room for some mommy-time. I keep one of my favorite pictures of Tom next to my desk. Peter took it down and chattered about "Daddy and Monkey" for a while

Then I handed him Tom's little key chain Lego guy and he was very happy with that. He kept pointing to the hat and saying, "Daddy, Daddy" over and over again. 

 

Two years ago, when Tom was in the States, he visited a Lego store and found this little guy for his key chain. It's Indiana Jones and aside from the geeky shoulder bag, it is quite close to what Tom looks like.

The following year, I decided I needed my own mini-me. I don't have such a distinctive style but I settled on this female character from Prince of Persia.--Not because she was wearing a cape (obviously!)...but because her lovely brunette hair was braided so beautifully. 

So, the other afternoon, Peter was playing happily with his little Daddy Lego guy, when all of a sudden, he leaned down and kissed the little Lego man. I guess he misses Tom nearly as much as I do. Eleven days to go!

Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real

Pretty

My kids captured a picture of this bird in the field next to our house.

I have no idea what it is? Do you? 

Happy

I'm sorry to do this again, I know I already posted about it, but this picture just makes me so happy! Eight years ago, baking cakes for my kids' parties would give me anxiety attacks. Look at me now!

Funny

Can that pouty lower lip get any bigger? Peter didn't want to be in the playground with the other children. He wanted to come up to our house. Have you ever seen a more pitiful sight?

Real

Troy was playing with the dogs on Monday and fell right on his hand. One of my fears in living in the bush is broken bones because there are no competent orthopedists out here. We'd have to travel by bus for 17 hours to get to a hospital that I'd trust to set a broken bone. Thankfully, it was just a badly sprained wrist and seems to be healing up just fine.

Chai and More

We adopted a new little baby into our household. No, not Joshua. Although it looks like God might be working it out for him to join us soon. More about this later.

Our newest baby is from the feline family. She is so sweet and loves to crawl all over the teenagers while they do their schoolwork.

Poor little kitten has an eye infection and seems to be too young to have left her mom. We're putting drops in her eyes and also feeding her with a syringe. She has the tiniest, yet amazingly loud, meow.

Meet Chai. Her name reminds me of my time in India, and one of my favorite drinks. It also sounds Asian and I think Asian names are good for cats.

There are many, many versions of chai but I will share mine with you today. It is courtesy of Expanding the Table.--My all-time favorite cookbook.

Chai: Steep 3 tea bags in 5 cups of boiling water in a saucepan. Add 1 and a half cups of milk and spices (1 whole cinnamon stick, 5 cloves, 3 cardomoms--crushed a bit). Stir in 1/3-2/3 cups of sugar depending on the intensity of your sweet tooth. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove the tea bags. Serve through a tea strainer into your prettiest tea cups. 

We introduced Chai to Moriah (2), Nathan (2) and Peter (18 mos.) today. 

Nathan especially enjoyed her. He wanted to keep pulling her tiny tail.

I love having animals around for the kids. I think it teaches them compassion--occasional tail pulling notwithstanding.

Many of you have asked, after Monday's post, how you can help the orphanage. We have several ways that you can donate if you would like to do that. All donations made to our charity,  Global Contributions, are tax-deductible. The Sponsorship page at our Kazembe Orphanage website will give you all the details. 

Also, if you look up at the right-hand corner of this blog, you can see see a Donate button. That gives you the opportunity to send a tax-deductible donation using Paypal.

We've already had a few responses to Monday's post and for that we are incredibly grateful. We still have a ways to go to reach our goals. I will share more this week or next about how things are going on this front.

In the meantime, we'll keep loving the babies we have--every single one.

It's the Little Things That Make Me Smile

It's always so much fun when we get back from a trip to the States to pull out new toys and give them to the kids. We missed Peter so much; Tom kept going and getting him from his little group and carrying him to the house. "He needs mommy & daddy time. He needs to play," he would say. I wasn't complaining.

Peter loved this little Phonics Bus. Each letter would either say its name or the sound it makes. Sometimes it would play a little jingle. Then Peter would do a little dance by wiggling his seated bottom around on the floor.

He would also repeat the letter at times although he has a long way to go on pronunciation. Right now if I tell him I love him he says "Wa Wuv Wu." I. Die!

See the little, blue car in his hand? He is obsessed with cars or 'beep-beeps' as he calls them. That size car is perfect for him and the pieces won't come off. Aren't toy manufacturers lovely to make such a great variety of toys?*

Today I 'wasted' most of my morning watching the toddlers have water playtime, first with buckets and cups and then in the baby pool. Their giggles and huge grins made my day. I'll try to share photos later but there is no way to properly capture in 2D the joyful activity that took place today. It's something that has to be experienced. And that is why I feel like I have the best job ever!

Exactly One Year Ago: Keeper, Weeper, Sleeper

*This is not a paid advertisement for toy manufacturers. I have not been compensated to sing the praises of toy manufacturers but if any toy manufacturers would like to donate toys to a needy cause they can find me right here.

Randomness in My City This Sunday

I took a few random shots of things that were going on in my house today.

Tom got ready to go out to preach this morning. He normally prefers teaching to preaching holding classes twice a week in our home but every once in a while he'll do a spot of guest preaching. 

I made sure he was well-fed with coffee cake and decaf coffee.

All this stuff has to make its way into that blue suitcase and the small carry-on buried underneath the pile. That's one of my goals for today. If I actually get it done it may be a first ever for me since I normally pack minutes before I leave. We don't leave until Thursday.

We have friends coming to look after things for us while we're in the States. Because of that, our house is getting an extra scrubbing. It's a good thing they don't read this blog--they won't know how long it took to get things so shiny and neat. I am really happy with how this shelf turned out. 

As a side note, that wildlife picture up there is one I crossstiched. It took me two years.

And, of course, I have to throw in a shot of my babe. He was trying to smile around the huge bite of pineapple in his mouth.

Hurry now and visit the others who are posting photos of their Sundays at Unknown Mami's site. There are some beautiful photos out there. 

Exactly One Year Ago: Excuse Me Ma'am, Your Hyperbole is Showing