Through Kai's Eyes - part 4

 Hi everyone!

It’s been a while since I’ve written, and I have quite a bit to tell you:

I am almost 2 – this is important. Something terrible happens at 2. I’m not sure what it is but everyone talks about it: “terrible twos”, and I am a bit worried. As a result, I find myself a bit more, um, how shall we say, high strung? Defiant? Needy? Opinionated? I’m still waiting to see what terrible thing happens when I turn 2.

In other news, mom is ok. Her last post got a lot of worried responses. I am here to tell you, she is fine. She still cries a lot, but she laughs a lot too. Auntie Rachel once said a day without tears & a day without laughter is a day wasted…mama says she is embracing this. What is embrace? Other perk of mama crying - she looks funny when she does and so I laugh – and then she does too. We’re a good team. She is also still a lot of fun – she sings a lot, she’s teaching me how to count to 10 in 4 different languages, she’s helping me learn the differences between shapes, and she’s letting me help her sew. My job is to push the reverse button – I am very good at it.

We also do a lot of fun things – we go to my grandparents house so I can play with Augustine, we go to my friend Miss Joelle & Miss Julie’s house so I can play in their kiddie pool, and we go to Miss Sierra’s house so I can play with her kitten. People say we are ‘so cute’ (and they always say it in a really high voice. Weird.) We also build towers, have toilet paper roll fights, play hide & seek, watch the trucks, and drink juice. I love juice. And I say it like this: ‘ju eas’  (like eas-ter). That’s how Scola says it, and I think it sounds nice, so I say it that way too – ‘ju-eas’.

Mika is really fun. She started laughing, and she laughs a lot. She and I like to cuddle, and read books together. She is learning that she doesn’t have to always be with mom, and will let me help her when she’s upset. I tell her ‘shh shh Meetah’ and she is ok. She is also very pretty – mama & papa are teaching me to tell her ‘you look pretty’ every day, they say it will build self-confidence. I don’t know what that is, but no one ever tells me I need it, so I must already have it.

I haven’t sustained any major injuries lately, but when the mosquitos bite me, I look like I have measles. That’s what mama said. She calls me measles sometimes, which I don’t think is very nice. But the mosquito bites always go away, and I don’t have malaria. Big yeah.

I go to a weekly play group on Wed mornings with my mom. Me & the other kids sing songs, play with stuffed animals, and instruments, and then play outside while our moms talk. It is so much fun, and I am learning to sing the songs all by myself. Today I sang a song, and mama started to cry because it was ‘so sweet’. She said I sing beautifully. Of course I do – she seemed surprised. Other than Wed, we just do other fun things all week.

Papa is doing fine. He opens the door every morning and walks out, but every night he walks back in so that’s ok with me. We have a lot of fun when he is home, even though he and mama sometimes seem to have a lot to talk about. They still seem to like each other – I am a lucky kid. So is Mika. Papa’s work people are always excited to see me, which is nice and they are very nice to me & Mika. Mama wanted me to tell you we had a few enjoyable social events with work people last week, and she feels very welcomed. So, there’s the message.

I need to go to bed because it’s getting late but here are a few lessons I’ve learned:

·      If you use enough dish soap (aka the whole bottle when mama isn’t looking) you don’t need water to get something clean & you make a lot of bubbles

·Mika’s poo tastes funny. Mama said that was a ‘big oops’ – the place where the rags hang was apparently a temporary dirty cloth diaper drying area. I was told to wipe my face off. Not my fault. For the record - I did not intentionally wipe my sisters poo across my face.

·      Not every person is named Augustine, Scola, or Ndemi – there are also some named Peter.

·      If I puff out my chest, mama thinks my seat belt straps need loosened when she straps me in. Then when she is driving I can get most of the way out of my car seat. Excellent.

·      If I scream “I love you, mama!” she isn’t as mad when I wake up Mika. Which is what I wanted to do in the first place, she’s boring when she’s asleep.

·      Scola will let me do almost anything. I eat so much peanut butter and cereal when mama is gone.

·      Everyone here loves babies and little kids. On several occasions, I have chosen to sit with other people at restaurants when my parents thought I was nearby – these other people are always friendly, and share their food and drinks with me. Mama seems a bit embarrassed when she finds me seated comfortably at a strangers table (what is a stranger?), but I think it is an excellent way for me to learn other languages as I have had dinner with Germans last week, and Ethiopians tonight.

·      Blue tooth headseats are awesome & I look great when I use one. Which I do. I just can’t figure out where it is so I tend to get dizzy when I use them, something about constantly turning one direction to see where the noise is coming from?

I’m sorry I haven’t written in a while. Mama says she is too. We’ll keep doing our best, we’re finding our rhythm.

If you have any questions for me, please leave a comment & mama said she’ll pass them along so I can answer them in my next post! I don’t always know what you guys want to hear about from my perspective, but I’m happy to share!

Sorry there aren’t any pics with this one – mama’s a slacker when it comes to the camera these days. She’ll get better soon.

Til next time! - Kai