Greetings-
I guess it’s been nearly two months since our last update. We’ve been busy here, but we’re doing well.
Luke started walking a few weeks ago. He still prefers to crawl when he needs to get somewhere in a hurry. He also seems to have a few words – mama, dada, this, that, and thanks. Annette says Luke is a walking detergent commercial – dirt seems to jump off the ground and stick to Luke’s face/hands/knees/elbows/all other manner of skin and clothing.
We were at a festival yesterday at the international school here in Nairobi. A boy a couple of years older than Luke apparently started pushing Luke around. Luke took it in good humor for a bit, and then the other boy’s mom realized what was happening and pulled the boy off and made him apologize to Luke. She was amazed that Luke was seemingly unaffected by the aggression, until Annette told her, “He has two big brothers.”
Chris continues to get himself acclimated here. We moved him into a lower class at the preschool, as he was having some trouble adjusting in the three- and four-year-old class, which is what Little Mark is in. Annette and the teachers talked it over and agree Chris acts more like a two-year-old than three, so the lower class will be good for him for a while. His teacher says he’s doing well, and we think Mark, Jr. might be enjoying some time on his own at school. Chris is crazy about water; he likes to help wash the car just so he an stand under the hose. He gets upset when it’s not bath night, which is every other night.
Chris likes playing with a talking Lightning McQueen car from the move “Cars.” Anyone that’s seen that might know Lightning McQueen is a car and his catchphrase is “I am speed!” Chris was playing with the car for a while the other day. After a while, he ran into the kitchen and yelled, “I’m on speed!” A rather unfortunate addition to his English repertoire.
The boys have a Curious George book set that they get out many evenings, when each of them gets to pick a story before bed. Each time Little Mark gets it out, I start the story by saying, “This is Curious Bob.” And Mark yells back, “No, it’s Curious GEORGE!” Chris got the Curious George book out the other night, and I said, “Is that Curious Bob?” Chris, who had almost no English about 8 weeks ago, looked at me very earnestly and said, “No, it’s a book!” I stand corrected.
Annette’s mom was here for about a month, and we took her and Chris on their first safaris at Nairobi National Park, which is the one we visited when we first got here; I think I sent some pictures. There’s a photo here of Grandma with a giraffe in the background. We realized Chris and Grandma had different priorities as we heard the following dialogue for the first thirty minutes:
Grandma: “Giraffes!”
Chris: “Trees!”
Grandma: “Zebras!”
Chris: “Trees!”
Grandma: “Ostriches!”
Chris: “Trees!”
We’ve gotten into the habit of going to the horse races after Mass on Sundays. The boys really enjoy it, as do we. They get popcorn and there is often face painting and a bouncy castle. The horses are also very accessible. We can stand right by the track to watch a race, then walk to the parade ring to see the horses and jockeys take photos, then wait for the next race’s horses to take their laps around the parade ring. Last week, we were all standing around the parade ring watching the horses for the next race walk around. Some other spectators were watching to make last-minute betting decisions when Little Mark, who didn’t realize the horses walked in numerical order, said, “I think number one is going to win since he’s already in the lead.”
We let the boys make their own bets today for the first time, one bet each. Little Mark won in the fifth race, picking the winner (horse #7) and getting 250 shillings back on his 50 shilling bet. Tonight when he was saying his bedtime prayers, he ended with “Thank you, God, that we got money because number 7 won.” Annette and I tried as hard as we could not to look at each other and burst out laughing, then talked later about when we need to talk to Mark about subject matter for prayers.
Annette’s Mom seems to have enjoyed her visit in spite of the uncertain political situation here and a couple of illnesses on the kids’ parts. She got to see their school and meet some of their playmates. Annette showed her many of the restaurants we enjoy here. They made it to the horse races one Sunday. We didn’t attempt any travel given the political situation, but it looks like things are settled and we’ll try next time. There’s a photo here of Grandma and the boys at the horse race.
Enjoy the photos, and we’ll try to be in touch before two more months pass.
Best,
Mark
