Soaking it all in

This picture about sums it up: cooler temperatures...green grass and beatiful scenery...and rest--all of which we've been taking in and enjoying since arriving in South Africa about a week ago. This area of the country is so beatiful--farms and orchards scattered across green hills. The town nearby where we are staying has just about everything, including grocery stores with delicious food that we've missed in Moz as well as a mall and restaurants...all of which we have already enjoyed. However, by far, what we have enjoyed the most is just watching the boys soak it all in.

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Christian had his second birthday on our way down from Nampula to South Africa. While we were staying with some friends in Maputo we celebrated (on a somewhat smaller scale than the last birthday we attended!) with pizza and cake. Christian' loved the day's attention!

Right away that night he tried out his 't-ball' gift. The timing was great since now that we are in South Africa he has a large yard to continue playing in. Predictably he has a powerful swing...and not such a good aim.

Running around with his shirt off, his curly blond hair, and the bat, we've taken to calling him 'Bam-Bam.' (Flinstones)

The Birthday Party

This past Sunday we were invited to a celebration of the first birthday of our neighbors' baby girl. We've gotten to know the family a bit since moving in six months ago--particularly the children as our kids sometimes play on the sidewalk out in front of our houses together. The parents own a used car parts shop in town and are often gone long hours so although we've spent quite a bit of time with the children and the "nanny", we haven't been able to get to know the parents as well as we would like to.

If when you think of Mozambique, you think of mud huts and thatched roofs...and, for example, our neighbors (on the other side) who raise large quantities of loud foul in their yard and regularly slaughter goats...and if you think of Nampula as being a heavily Muslim area with women wearing long skirts and covering their heads...you would be completely right! And last I heard, Mozambique was still ranked up there as one of the most impoverished countries in the world. But there are also the more privileged and less religious Mozambicans who make up this country and culture and this birthday party turned out to be quite an interesting cultural experience that had us adjusting some stereotypes!

We knew that the invitation was for our whole family, and understanding the generally relaxed sense of time here, we arrived at the location for the party a little past the time given. We were told that the party would be held on the ground floor of one of the larger buildings here in Nampula that houses several businesses, shops, and a cafe. As it turns out, the location of the party was a night club--which appeared to be locked up when we arrived. After about a half hour, the host family with the birthday girl arrived! And we were escorted into the night club (turns out we were the first guests) where we waited for another half hour for the party to start.

Cohen and Christian had fun throwing around balloons that were being used to decorate the room. It was an interesting atmosphere, to say the least! Lights were dimmed and other colorful lights were flashing...Heavy liquor lined the walls surrounded by clusters of balloons. The party was being set up by the same people who typically run the night club...and let's just say that their attire was more along the lines of their night job rather than your typical capulana and conservative dress!

And then the music started. Apparently the night club didn't own any children's music so they played what they had...the lyrics of which would be completely inappropriate to repeat on this blog...we were thankful that our children lacked any comprehension of most of the phrases! Maybe to balance out their lack of children's music, the night club people projected a Disney cartoon beamed in by satelite onto one of the walls...although it was quite impossible to hear.

After a while, the other children began to arrive...probably about 30 or so in total...some with their moms and dads, others with their nannys...and I'm quite sure some were just dropped off at the door (if the chaos were any indication!)

Cohen and Christian got right in with the rest of the kids and played with the baloons...but I have to say that they mostly seemed in a daze with all the over-stimulation of the lights and music and children running around unsupervised.

Speaking of over-stimulation...the birthday girl (remember, she is turning ONE!) seemed a bit overwhelmed. She readily went to a face she recognized and clung to Stefan while chewing on her fingers.

The food was pretty amazing...tray after tray of sweets and cookies and cakes and salty snacks and chicken pastries...In the end we didn't get much visiting done with the mother or father of the birthday girl afterall...but it was a really interesting experience. And we were glad to have been invited.

Oh...and did I mention? It was an open bar....!?!?!?! And we're not talking orange juice and milk!

Head injury

A unique thing about Christian that you may not know is that on any given day he will likely be sporting a number of cuts and bruises in varying stages of healing on his head. It has become sort of a "normal" thing in our house to hear a thud followed by a screech, followed by Cohen running to tell me or Stefan that Christian "hurt his head." Again. And of course, every time, my heart leaps up into my throat and I wonder if this time it is really and truly serious.

When these injuries first began to take place right about the time Christian became mobile (It seems he went pretty much from a squalling baby lying on his back to running and climbing--altogether skipping the crawling and toddling stage, although I'm sure it was in there somewhere), I felt like surely we must be failing in propper supervision and correction of the boy. It certainly hadn't been our experience with Cohen, who although has had his share of little boy injuries in his 3 and a half years, just doesn't tend to always be hurting himself. But it seems we are having to adjust to the idea that no amount of supervision for our youngest son is going to be able to protect him from the trouble he gets himself into. The boy just does not STOP! His combination of curiousity and boldness seem to be more of a factor than any amount of supervision. Which is scary, becuase I can only imagine what will be interesting and motivating to him at the age of 8...or 14 for that matter!

We all had to learn the hard way to insist on icing whenever Christian came up with a new "owee" (We had one particular bruise that took months for the coloring to subside!) As you can imagine, a toddler is not too keen on having ice on his head for 20 minutes. So it has sort of become a family affair. Whenever Christian hurts his head, we all got together and take turns holding the ice on while we try to entertain and distract him by singing or reading books or talking. Cohen has gotten good at helping out and Stefan and I frequently pass the job off to him.

Oh, son! You wear your mamma out! Good thing you're so cute.