Another maybe first word?

It's possible that Emma is saying "Oh Look!" It's a lot like the "kitty cat" where she could have said the word but it could also just be that she is miming our sound. This afternoon she woke up from her nap, looked at the cat, pointed and said very clearly "oh look!" Then she looked at us to make sure we were paying attention and said it again, still pointing. Also - just a photo of her enjoying outside with her Uncle. Lulu is under the bush to the right of them.

The New Outdoorsman

Emma is going to be an outside kind of gal. Whenever she is fussy, all one has to do is go outside and she settles, even just a quick walk up to the gate of the complex will settle her. The wind in her hair and the sun on her face makes her so happy. While I was hanging washing the other day I put her down on the grass which is a bit sparse and dry. Which is perfect for a small person to play with dirt, stones and sticks. She gets such a kick out of wondering around the garden looking in hiding places for the tortoise. Her Uncle has declared that Emma has named the tortoise "Lulu". She also named the bushes, trees and birds Lulu but apparently most especially the tortoise is Lulu.

Where are the wild things?

Emma has taken to growling when she is playing with us, or when she wants you to play. This morning Granny was lying on the couch. Emma spied her from the other side of the couch and cruised along 'til she reached Granny's feet, growling all the while. Then she grabbed Granny's big toe and bit down... luckily just in play but the growling was too adorable. With all these teeth we are going to have to play close attention when Emma goes ggggrrrrrrr gggrrrrrr.

Emma Update

Emma is babbling away in her own language all the time. The other day at two in the morning when she lay between my Mother and I while we hoped she would go back to sleep her words were: "Lordy, lordy, Lordy." In her carseat she cries repeatedly; "Ehhhhhhhhhh" and when she sees the cat she says perfectly; "Ittickya At" Which we translate for her into kitty cat. She will sit on your lap and have long conversations where only she understands the story and she loves to sing along with "how much is that doggy" and "jingle bells".

She also stands on her own a fair amount, and of course cruises around holding onto furniture. Walking is not far away and she gets quite a thrill from holding your fingers and walking, especially if you are chasing the ittickya at.

Ugh!

My Mom's cat was playing with this behind the curtains: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scolopendra_gigantea

I went into a Mothering frenzy and beat it to death with my flip flop, much to the cat's dismay. (It was a good toy) Then I looked it up online and it turns out that I could have preserved it and sold it on ebay for 18 pounds! Then I read further and it turns out that the thing hunts and eats birds! Now I stalk around with my flip flop close at hand all the time. *shudder* We didn't have bird eating centipedes in C'ville!

Home again, home again, jiggedy jig

Well my radio silence this time has not been due to Mpala's terrible internet, or Emma's neediness but rather a much happier event. My Mom and I have been plotting and pulled off, a surprise visit to Namibia. My sisters had no idea I was coming until I walked up and said hi.

It is so wonderful to be home, although the first thing that happened was that I was sick enough to be hospitalized. Thankfully only for an afternoon but it was trial by fire for one sis and my Mom as they had to take care of Emma who was most displeased with no Momom. I was just grateful that it happened here and not at Mpala where I would have been an hour from the nearest doctor, let alone nurse and IV drip!

I have been getting Emma (and myself) back into a routine and just relaxing with my family which has been a kind of heaven. Nothing beats your mother's cooking does it? Strawberry pudding, pineapple pie and veggie lasagne... mmm. I haven't even thought about Spiro in a whole week!

Oh the torture!

We were home at Mpala for just 3 nights and we were determined to see Ellies. Each whisper, crunch and harrumph outside had us scanning the trees with our torches but to no avail. Naturally, we were told on the morning we were leaving that they had come through late in the night. So do we stay up late in hope? Or just presume that as we are there for a year eventually we will see them so regularly that we will be bored, as promised before we moved here?

Touche, my Dear.

It's 5am and not yet light. Spiro positions himself on the tin roof above the bedroom and scratches the back of his ear with his foot. Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap. Emma stirs but goes back to sleep. Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap. I get up, fetch the hard juggle balls and throw them at the ceiling. Spiro goes silent and waits. I get back under the mozzie net and snuggle down. Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap. Emma rolls over and says; "let's play!" Spiro 2 - 1 Tasha. Nuts!

a week in Nbo

In Nairobi one can do many things, one can risk one's life and limb daily on the insane roads, one can go to the movies, one can wheel and deal at the market or one can touch a giraffe's tongue.

We have done all of these this past week. The best strategy with being on the roads seems to be to grip some part of the car and shut your eyes tightly. This applies to the driver as well. Mutatus, people, bicycles, heavily laden and leaning to one side trucks all act as though they are the only vehicle on the road. The result is a calamitous mess. Bush gardens move aside... for bowel loosening, adrenal gland stimlating excitement, visit Nairobi.

Last week Keir bravely babysat and D and I went to the movies. So exciting for me! I got to sit in the front seat of the car! I haven't done that in months! Then the A-team was excellent! A fabulous shoot-em-up movie. When I got home Keir was at the door with Emma to greet me. She yelled in excitement and literally leapt out of his arms. Poor Daddy. Maybe I am a little more fun than I thought?

On Sunday we went to the market to buy a few gifts. The British side of me really struggled with the pulling, chatting, and pushiness that went into the sales. Each person on the market has the same goods to offer so it comes down to who can make you pay attention and stay at their stall. I am so used to quiet and impersonal shopping of the USA that it was too hard to make a decision and I ended up only buying one scarf, and that cos D was buying some!

Emma update

3 of the 6 teeth have broken through so we are halfway there! Her favourite toys are things that are not toys but are sharp and metal, like keys.

Emma's fun the past two weeks has been figuring out how to hold more than one thing in one hand. Once she got it right she was all about it and quickly worked on getting larger things in one hand.

She has also started saying Ugh! and sometimes throws her hands up over her head and says it. Maybe in imitation of our disgust over the stinkbug eating. She has also added other ggggh sounds to her vocubulary, so that she sounds permanently grossed out by something.

She has really got the hang of the high five and I am now teaching her to wave hello and goodbye. She had hello this morning but just can't figure out goodbye, she is usually too distraught that whoever is leaving.

You little stinker!

We had stinkbug invasions in Charlottesville. So much so, that we decided we could not beat them and should just accept them, and started calling them Sheildbugs instead. Well we thought we had left them behind. Doesn't it seem fair that if we have leg climbing squirrels, we should be safe from the smaller, stinkier pests? Well here we are in Nairobi, and there is a stinkbug. Just one, but let me tell you, where there is one, more will follow. Last night it was hanging around the sink waiting to commit Hari Kari in the dish water.

This morning Emma was motoring around the kitchen as she is wont to do while we make breakfast. We suddenly caught sight of her face, which was pulled into a contortion of disgust while drool was rolling down her chin onto her pyjamas. I immediately inserted my pinky finger into her mouth to see what disgusting thing she had found on the floor. Yep, you guessed it, the stinky, stinky and now masticated bug! UGH! UGH!

Emma update

I was zerbetting Emma's tummy the other day, making her laugh with a wide mouth and lo and behold! 6, yes 6! teeth are breaking through her top gum. Poor girl, no wonder sleep is a thing of the past.

Quiet behemoths in the night

I was cooking dinner and needed a plate, so I went into the other room and there in our front yard were Elephants! They grazed so silently, like grey ghosts in the after dusk light, that I almost missed them. I grabbed Emma and switched off the lights and we stood at the window and absorbed the munching, sighing and huffing sounds.

There were all sizes, from tiny babies to grandmothers that blocked out the moon rising behind them. They had no fear and came almost onto the porch to reach the sweet grass growing under our downspout. The herd moved slowly, taking what they wanted as they went past the house and into the bush. This is supposed to be a common occurence and it really makes living at Mpala a priviledge.

Battle won, but not yet the war

Spiro flicked his mangy tail at me from a tree outside the open dining room window. I said; "bring it on babe" and banged on the window glass. He ran away. Tasha 1 - 1 Spiro.

Home is where the heart is

I was reminded that I had written about the house but it was lost, so most of you don't know the juicy details. It has two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen and a great room. All the rooms are large and airy with cement floors and wood ceilings. The furniture is sparse but adequate and mostly solidly made of pine.

One of the bathooms is just a loo and you have to put your foot against the door to keep it closed. The other is a full bath with a shower. The water is heated by solar power and as it has been unseasonably rainy we only have hot water at lunchtime before the thunderclouds roll in, and then only enough for one person. K and I have been trading off lunchtime showers on every other day.

The water is either from a borehole or is rainwater. The rainwater we boil before we drink and the borehole water is filtered as it has a high TDS (total dissolved solids.)

We do have a fridge with a tiny freezer but have to prepare food mostly from canned or fresh as the power to the house goes out from 10am til 6pm and then again from 10pm til 6:30am. The stove is gas and works really well. Everything bakes much faster that in ovens I have had previously so you have to watch carefully. Also the oven only has hot or not so hot as temperatures...

We have already claimed the house as our own, hanging the Velvet Elvii and spreading the mexican blanket over the couch.

The best feature of the house is the verandah. It is wide and the full length of the front of the house. There are two comfy chairs or a table to sit at. The view is outstanding, looking over hills green with acacias and then the foothills of Mount Kenya in the background. On clear days you can see the Mountain herself. You can often see Giraffe and Zebra in the distance. I am looking forward to putting some railings around the verandah so that I can hang out there without chasing Emma off the edge into the grass.

Uhoh!

There was a vervet on our verandah! Quite a big boy. I promise he won't go up my trousers. Heck, he could WEAR my trousers! He did go into the bathroom while we had the window open and door closed, so we know he is going to be a problem. Grrrreat.

Priscilla

Priscilla is the domestic who comes each day to clean. When I first heard that we would have a maid, I poo-poo'd the idea. After all, what else am I going to do with my day right?

The first day she came, she cleaned the floors. Then she did it the next day too. Washing floors is my absolutely most dreaded chore and she does it every day! What Heaven! What Bliss! She also washes the dishes and our clothes. That is really all that she does but wow, it makes a difference. No housework hanging over my head! No worries about what Emma is going to pick up from the dirty floors. (including Ghecko, mouse and squirrel poop) What is amusing is how now everyone has to take their shoes off at the door. You can imagine that the average Kenyan man is not so keen on that. It makes Priscilla giggle when I ask them to.

On the other hand, she has some definite opinions on how Emma should be raised. She has four of her own and we met three of them the other day. Firstly, Emma does not wear enough clothing. She should have a balaclava, a jersey, and jacket, socks and shoes. It's really hard to explain to someone who doesn't speak English that Emma is used to much colder climates and that the weather here is just balmy to us. (jeans and t-shirt most days) I have broken down however and unearthed shoes because I will agree that the cement floors are chilly. When Priscilla leaves I usually take the extra jersey off though as Emma gets red in the face and grumpy.

Emma already adores Priscilla and gets excited when she hears her voice at the door. Crawls speedily over to see her and then won't come back to Momom. Just one more person who is more fun than me, it's something I am getting used to.

Priscilla is the source of the name for my arch-nemesis. She can't pronounce squirrel as she speaks mostly Turkana and Swahili. Squirrel comes out as "Spiro". Spiro was a character in the Gerald Durrell books I read avidly as a child, (and still give me great entertainment as an adult) so it seems appropriate to name him that. My second choice was Voldemort.

Emma update

Emma is enjoying the really large space we have and is fully making it hers. We have set up two shelves of a bookshelf that comtain her toys and books and she has the best time unpacking them each day, like each toy is a whole new discovery. She also makes up little games for herself. She puts a toy on the shelf, then moves to stand on the side of the bookshelf and reaches around grunting like it is really hard to get the toy, peeking now and then to see how close her questing hand is. In the afternoons she likes a snack, a piece of apple or some cheerios in a bowl. Those she turns into a game too, but mostly it's a Momom game; "look Momom, I dumped all my cheerios on the floor, now you have to pick them up so I can do it again."
She is really close to standing. Quite often she will be leaning against a chair or the bookshelf and will let go to transfer a toy from one hand to another without noticing she is balancing on her own. She has also tried to stand up in the middle of the floor from downward dog, but so far these just result in faceplants and crying. I am teaching her to high five and it sets us both giggling. Me cos she really doesn't get it yet and her because she likes the little slap against her palm and my giggles. Then there is the opposite side to her, the dark side. At nearly nine months she has assessed that when we are having dinner, this is the best time to stick her fingers in the plugs/outlets. She spies it from a distance, crawls as fast as she can over there and pulls herself up on the wall. Then she looks back at our disapproving faces with a wicked, wicked grin and touches the outlet. She knows "no" and has chosen to ignore it. A swift smack on the hand had zero effect (maybe she thought I was high fiving with vigour?) So we hold her hands down against her body to make her stop. Anyone who has seen us try and horseshoe her into a carseat or stroller knows that Emma does not like to be restrained. So for the most part this is working. At least until we are trying to eat again, and she feels neglected.

She is definitely enjoying having me around all the time and has become super clingy. Crying when I leave to pee in the morning, even though she has Dadad, who, let's face it, is way more fun that I am. She is completely uninterested in the Dik dik or the birds and I can't wait for a Leopard or Lion to meander through our yard and see if she says "Kitty Cat!" as she was trying to hard to do at Grandma and Grandpa's place before we left.

Things that go bump in the night

Every night since our arrival we have heard the ominous and intimidating "whoop whoop" of the hyenas. Through the night you can track them as they move closer and then further away from the house. Mpala's director told us not to leave the house in the dark and wild zebras couldn't make me step off the porch when the hyenas start their evening's chorus. In fact, we lock the doors at sunset and don't open them again til sunrise. It feels silly to be paranoid but if my not so smart German shepherd figured out how to open unlocked doors, why not a hungry, (and in my demented mind; slavering) hyena?

Also, something is occupying the space between the roof and ceiling. I think actually a few somethings. There are squeaks that are likely bats, scritchings that could be birds and one really annoying, bouncy, thumpy thing which I think may be my arch nemesis.

Also we have a number of geckos occupying the spaces behind the curtains, pictures and dressers. They are at war. It is not a silent war. Who knew that they could even make noise? Let alone this much noise! Hissing, cackling, thuds and crashes abound each time Jason (the biggest, fattest one) faces off with one of the others. As far as I am concerned, there is no reason for his aggression, there are certainly more than enough bugs to go around!

sightings

A small bull Elly on the road in.
Impala also on the road in - appropriate
Dik dik, which they call Diki diki here. A couple of pairs live around our house and we see them all the time.
squirrels. grrr.
Zebra and giraffe who are slightly different from the one's we are used to.
Thompson's Gazelle, which are like sprinboks on steroids.
Goats and cows.

Many birds which will have to wait to be identified 'til we have a bird book.