Haircuts and Island of Flies

Miles told me the other day that when Addy Daddy hugged him good-bye at the airport, he said, You still need a haircut. And I had to admit, he was right. Miles's shaggy, cool haircut just didn't fit his straight hair. And Eliza's "do" required barrettes at all times or else it was in her face. Almost every day Eliza would rip out her hairbands at school. It just wasn't working. Without Fe here in the mornings to do her thing, the only alternative seemed to be -- bangs.

So weekend before last, both the kids got cuts. M's is more conservative. No more sideburns. But he looks cuter, less shagged out, more his age. I was a tad shaken at the site of Eliza with bangs. It appears as though her baby blond is disappearing the way Miles's did. Now it's just long on the sides, like a flapper from the 20s.

Any guesses as to why I took this photo?

 She just decided the other day that she wanted Henry down from his protected post, and she carried him around for days. Luckily, it didn't last too long or else he'd need another surgery. 

The need for baby doll fell away soon after we returned to Amman, due probably to its temporary misplacement. She never really took a shine to the new one, though she plays with both of them a lot. The old one (a hand-me-down from Samantha) went missing for a few weeks in February. (It was at a friend's house.) It was a quiet withdrawal. Eliza would ask for her baby and look around, but she never really fell to pieces in desperation (which she is apt to do these days over the tiniest of incidences, i.e. she wanted to flush the toilet herself!!!). One morning (she was in bed with us again), she said upon waking in a very calm tone of realization and acceptance: I lost my baby doll. I almost cried. But baby doll is back.

Here's Miles at violin last week. (I love his teacher. She's Cuban.)

Here's some typical play between the kids. Miles focused on creating his fantasy; Eliza along for the ride. You can imagine why Eliza's vocabulary includes such words as Saturn, annihilate, and capture. (This was pre-haircut. You see the problem.) 

M:  ...to save the island from bad...all the flies hunt...they get in the island...they get past the rivers...and the sharks...

E:   What's the ?? ...take the bugs?

M:  and they attack the flies with their energy...

E:  why?

M:  to keep you away from the flies...to keep you away from the flies...

M: ...and away...keep them away to the flies...don't know that the ?? do to them...they eat...

E:  Let me see. that.

M: they eat their island and they eat and they eat their island. They're eating the island of flies.

E:  They're eating the island of flies? ...yuck.

Miles in Class

Same Mother's Day -- the woman sitting is Miss Dina, the English teacher and the woman with the tired shuffling walk to help with Miles is the Arabic teacher, Miss Juliana. At the end of the last video, Miles is catching a kiss that I blow to him and blows one back to me but I accidently cut off his kiss to me. V cute. He does this often now when I drop him off from school....I have to catch them and put them on my cheek like he catches mine.

More Active Appreciation: Eliza's Class

They didn't exactly line them up in rows and put on a performance. It was supposed to be more of a demonstration of the kinds of activities they do with the kids. At any given time, there were one or two kids wailing. All the little kids wanted to be sitting with their moms instead of participating in the demonstration.

The woman with the long dark hair is Miss Iman who is the Arabic language teacher. She is always talking to Eliza in Arabic which I asked her to do and appreciate since it does seem to have helped Eliza to understand quite a lot. Miss Iman's daughter Jude is in Miles's class, and she always comes down to play with Eliza after her class before I pick them both up...to E's chagrin... I think J sees E as her personal doll to be carried around and pinched a played with. In fact, E seems to engender that behavior in other kids, as well.

I wish I could load up more, or a longer one, but it appears to be more than our connection can handle. What you missed are her singing some Arabic songs, recognizing shapes by their Arabic name, and an activity where she identified the color of the circle being held up and a classmate wearing the same color.

Mother's Day in Jordan

Thursday was Mother's Day in Jordan, so mothers and grandmothers were invited to the nursery school to see kiddie art and what the little ones are learning. Here's Eliza in her class just getting settled down with English teacher Miss Lana reading them a book. (The photos are mixed up because I couldn't move them around without Safari shutting down for some reason...)

Here's Miles with his English language teacher Dina who is reading a book to them. Miles is next to friends Seifedin and Max.

Eliza playing with another girl's umbrella.

Eliza's photo of Miles' class before they got started. She refused to sit still, and was nicely taken away by her teacher Miss Lana. Note this is half of Miles' class, they split them into two groups, since they have too many students to be able to fit them all, plus mothers, in the room.

How teachers deal with children that are not paying attention and wrestling around with others: the cherished seat right next to the teacher!

Singing their songs. Classmates: Sophie, Max, Zain, Miles, Sarah, Wael and Omar.

Before being removed from the room, the teacher allowed Eliza to try and integrate with the KG1 children.

Ready for a little mischief. Eliza and our neighbor Rifat in the foreground.

The Bug Series

Miles has asked that I include his recent Bug Series on the blog. These are three he selected from the book he's assembled. All three have blasting powers.

The first in the series is Explosion Bug which attracts other predators with its explosions.

The second in the series is Dirty Smell Bug which smells yucky because of its "ban" of yucky prey.

The third in the series is Heatblast (inspired by a Ben 10 alien) which is a fire thing that blasts fire out of his hands so everybody can be safe home and no bad guys can ever be seen again.

Night-time Performance

Transcription:

1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Once I caught a fish alive 

(segue into made-up song)

Two tige-e-ers

This my-y ba-a-rette 

(in fact, it's mine, note slight challenging expression)

1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Then I let it go again

(with a little prompting from mommy)

Why did you let it go?

Because it bit my finger so.

Why... Sing with me!

Which finger did he bite?

This little finger on my right. Ow!

(segue into pretending she's a cat cleaning herself)

I want it baa.... (she's referring to the aforementioned tiny hair clip on which she'd been chewing)

...insert practical, callous mommy's unnecessary explanation for the obvious...as well as delegitimizing, modern-parenting apology...followed by successful distraction

That one. I want you to read the ant one. "Hey, Little Ant."

(...mother not hearing her daughter give the actual title of the book can only speak from her less specific memory...the one about the ants?)

yeah...the one about the ants

Nightmare on Al Torrah St.

Miles: Mom, I had a nightmare last night! There was a sloth with the face of a clown...fish that was chasing me and Max and Wael.

David: Was it its speed or bright cheerful colors that you found more frightening?

Me: Or was it scary to just see a sloth and clownfish together?

Miles: Yeah, together it was scary. But I got away! It ate Max and Wael. They made a hole in its tail and escaped, but they were covered in orange saliva.

Drawing: "A Sloth named Greener: a Massive Predator"

Family Event: The Flip

My first posted video! And Miles's first ever video! And Eliza's first ever flip over!

(If only I didn't have to listen to myself. How does David manage hearing all that incessant prattle? I vow to reduce my noise in all future videos if not in life in general. Wait. Am I prattling now? Doh.)

Kids' Photos

A few of these were taken by Miles & Eliza's friends as they passed the camera around. But most are taken by M&E. The camera is marketed as a kid's camera, but most of the resulting photos are poor in quality at no fault of the photographer (grainy, blurry, etc). If anyone knows of an inexpensive camera that's easy to use, durable, has a good screen for seeing the photo taken and can make a good picture, let me know! 

Winter to Spring in Jordan Photos

Link to slide show.

Violin Lessons

Miles started violin lessons this month. While he still has difficulty sitting still. He apparently "gets it," says his very sweet, cute Cuban teacher.

On the Drive Home from Nursery School

Me (in upbeat mom voice): Eliza, what do you do today?

Eliza: I threw something at someone.

Me (exaggerated inhalation of shock): No! You shouldn't do that! What did you throw?

Eliza: A parrot.

Me: Who did you throw it at?

Eliza: Ms. Iman

Me: Did you apologize?

Eliza: Yes

Me: Were you nice to people?

Eliza: Yes, I was nice to everybody.

Miles: I went outside....I fought Jude. I have more muscles than she does. I have more muscles than Makenzie. I have the most muscles!

Me: You have the same number of muscles. But if you eat all your vegetables, you can have bigger muscles, and that will make you stronger. But you shouldn't fight. What happened?

Miles: I poked her in the eye.

Me: That's horrible! 

Miles: I went outside. The teacher made me. She didn't take me to the baby room (it's a punishment to be sent down to the nursery if you're "acting like a baby") or to the office. She just took me outside the room.

Me: What did she say?

Miles (in firm tone): You stay right there!

Me: Then what happened.

Miles: I cried. (in a more mumbled tone: Then I shot a sticky web over the room...over the sticky garbage...ffshyew! ffshyew!!) Then I went back inside and was nice to everyone.

My Nearly-5-year-old's Thoughts

1. What is something mom always says to you? go to the potty when you have to  

2. What makes mom happy? when i go caca in the toilet  

3. What makes mom sad? when Eliza goes caca on the floor  

4. How does your mom make you laugh? when she tickles me  

5. What was your mom like as a child? crazy  

6. How old is your mom? 10 and 12 years old  

7. How tall is your mom? 67  

8. What is her favorite thing to do? play with me  

9. What does your mom do when you're not around? play by herself  

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for? magic tricks  

11. What is your mom really good at? putting bows in Eliza's hair  

12. What is your mom not very good at? playing super hero shoot ships  

13. What does your mom do for a job? take care of me  

14.What is your mom's favorite food? I don't know  

15.What makes you proud of your mom? when she turns on the tv  

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be? Ben 10s mom  

17. What do you and your mom do together? we play super hero flying away ships  

18. How are you and your mom the same? we are both people  

19. How are you and your mom different? we're not the same size  

20. How do you know your mom loves you? because I was born

Hate to focus on the negative...

That Miles has made it to almost 5 years without seeing half the bumps and bruises of Eliza makes me feel that it's not totally my fault that she nearly broke her nose this past weekend. (I left my robe on the floor and turned out the lights when she was in mid-stride to my bed at 3 a.m. She subsequently tripped on the robe and landed on the end of her nose on the edge of our wooden bed frame.)

Courageous at time. Clumsy at others. Plodding on ahead, alone and in the darkness--that's my Eliza. We are supposed to keep a record of how the bruises change over the course of the next few days.

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3