Save the best for last

Do as I say, not as I do

Well, this day did not start out so great, at least for me. It was another 5:15 a.m. wake-up. (I actually heard the little guy start to rouse at 4 a.m. and prayed fervently that he would go back to sleep.) In the moment, the early rise itself is not too bad for me, as I am definitely more a morning person. It's the trying to keep a 4-year-old quiet in a house with 10+ people at 5:30 a.m. that really feels like a challenge. The tiredness really starts to hit me 5 or 6 hours later. Today, it was hitting all of us in the late morning, and let's just say that all 3 of us were not in the best mood.  

We walked to the market area about .75 miles from our house to pick up a few items (including yet another couple of bouncy balls to kick around, as the last 4 have gone over the wall, never to return) and also to break up the monotony of the day. At 11 a.m., the sun was beating us down as we each carried our load back to the house – Mark with a 35-pound boy and me with bags of pineapple, a giant avocado, passion fruit, snacks and bottled water. And we only killed less than an hour to boot. Ugh.

We all had a rest period in the afternoon, and after that things started to look up.  We made a dinner of spaghetti and watermelon, and while I cleaned up, the little guy took in a terrible old American action flick, dubbed in Luganda, on TV with some other Ugandans here. Not sure how much he was picking up, but Mark said he was enthralled by it.

After they dispersed, the three of us had a fine time just hanging out in the living room, playing with the toy motocars and tossing a stuffed monkey back and forth. The little guy has a few sentences under his belt now, included tonight’s oft-repeated "I want the monkey, please!"

Also tonight, he needed to go to the bathroom and when he peed in the toilet bowl (as opposed to all around it), I said "Thank you." Then out of the blue, he said, "Thanka you veddy muchah," with an accent that sounded like a mix between Ugandan and the Count from Sesame Street.  We've been specifically teaching and emphasizing saying "thank you" but not with the "very much" at the end, so he must have just picked it up by listening to us. I was laughing and praising him so much that of course he said it about 15 more times.

The biggest news of the day came right at the end. The little guy was in a pretty good mood when it was time for bed and gave me a first kiss tonight (I think he gave Mark one yesterday). A few days ago, I wasn't sure if he was even familiar with the concept, and thought he might be wondering what the heck we're doing when we're always putting our lips all over his face. We had been told that the kind of demonstrative affection that we're accustomed to with children is not the norm here. Considering that, our little guy is pretty affectionate with us, always wanting to hold hands and be held. And tonight he started giving out the kisses, on the cheek and on the lips.  Super sweet!

After I turned out the bedroom light, he said, "Mommy!"  I replied, "Yes?" And he said, "Thanka you veddy muchah!"