Pixie-Do

Eliza's hair grows slowly. The sides she cut to the scalp in early October are still less than an inch long, but the top was getting too heavy to hold back in barrettes. So we went for the pixie girl look. That said, Eliza has no concerns about her hair. She's got it in her head that no matter what her hair looks like, she's beautiful!

5 Months Difference

This is Miles's first journal entry in Grade One:

 

This is his most recent entry:

How Life was Made, by Miles Brigham

A journal entry at school:  "This is earth five hundred and five billion years ago, a toxic world with no hope of life. Then everything changed. Another planet, Thea, smashed in to the Earth, creating a new world - our world. A smaller chunk of Thea became our moon, and slowly our oceans were formed until life on Earth was ready to begin." (facts remembered from BBC's "Walking with Monsters")

First Sleep-over

Aljosha & Eliza

Earlier this month Eliza was invited for her first sleep-over (or as I would say spend-the-night). It was her friend Aljosha's first time inviting someone, as well. Aljosha is in a grade above Eliza, but they see each other at carpool and every Sunday when his family (Bettina, Clemens, Janalou - Miles's age, & baby Noah) come over to our house for tennis lessons. As with Miles's first time sleeping over, everyone ended up in bed with the mommy (no tears), but it was a good time by all.

Sweet Friendship

Maria

A few weeks ago, Miles received a photo of a drawing by his friend from Jordan, Maria. It was a volcano with a skull & crossbones on it. After a year and a half of not seeing each other, Maria had thought about what Miles's interests were and drawn this and sent it to him. This was after I had sent Falastin, her mom and my friend, a message telling her that Miles still considered Maria his girlfriend. In Jordan, at ages 4 & 5, they decided they would get married when they grew up.

So Miles then made this (ballerinas on stage) which we sent to her. She has since made another volcano picture (above). 

 

Proud Moment

At guitar lessons today, Miles's teacher asked him out of the blue, What's your favorite song right now? And Miles said after some thought, Phantom Limb (The Shins).

Miles started taking guitar lessons weekly from a local musician named Prayer. At Miles's first lesson, Prayer played one of his own a songs, and I was fighting back tears. He's good. I really feel like it's a privilege for Miles to study under him. They meet in small room above some run-down shops.

Miles has learned "Twinkle Twinkle" and "Mary Had a Little Lamb," but he prefers chords. He has learned E, E minor, C, D and A, plus a few more "original" chords that he calls Shazan, Decul and Donko (his favorite, it's really cool). He is starting to get interested in actually practicing, too.

Miles in a lesson with Prayer

Minor (though weird) Ailments

This Christmas we stayed home and were lucky enough to never come down with one of those awful, seasonal bugs. However, everyone in the family had something weird happen, the strangest of which was poor Miles. January 1, he stepped on a bee at a friend's house. His foot swelled up and stayed like that for three days. 

On the 6th, he broke out in hives, which has never happened before. By evening, he looked awful. We gave him Benedryl every four hours. He had no complaints of difficulty breathing or tightness in the throat or chest. He actually felt fine until the next afternoon. The Benedryl never had any effect, as far as we could tell. We called our doctor who made a house call (it was Sunday) to give Miles a shot of steroids. (He has inherited this from his mother, apparently.)

It still took two days for the hives to totally clear up, and on that second day, Miles woke up looking like this.

puffy face :(

We took him to the doctor again. Miles had a little fever but none of the symptoms you really have to worry about: the wheezing or lightheadedness. He was told to continue with his course of oral antihistamines (Zyrtec, this time) and steroids for a few more days.

Everything cleared up and then THIS weekend, the hives broke out again, but went away with Zyrtec. To top it off, he stepped on a bee AGAIN yesterday, but this time, we had the Zyrtec and put ice on it immediately. He was having some trouble walking this morning, but by the end of school, he was running.

Next step: the allergist. ($)

Friends & Fun

A lost/unfinished blog from November.

So you think slugs are gross? How about giant 8-inch-long FAT slugs that hang out on your back porch (right where you walk) or climb up the walls of your house or the INSIDE walls of your hallways? I'm not a big fan, but the kids think they're great. Miles's second unit of study in grade one was "Wings, Stings and Wiggly Things." They grew their own silk worms, went on "insect safaris," and learned to be fascinated instead of grossed-out by all the little creatures.

Yeah, that's a slug.

Our pool is nice but FREEZING cold. It's funny how so many houses have pools in this country, but I have never been swimming. It just doesn't get hot enough here. One day, I will find affordable insulation to cover the pool. The kids, however, like to spend a sunny day on the weekend, playing in the pool for as long as they can.

This is our tortoise, Cindy, who we inherited from the family we replaced. She's very low-maintenance, just eating what she finds in the garden. We see her only occasionally when she ventures out of the thickest parts of the bushes.

Eliza & Cindy

Everybody loves Mambo. When the kids wake up or just get home from school, first thing, they need a good old snuggle with the cat.

Mambo & Miles

Our children got into the terrible habit of watching TV while eating dinner when their mother realized that "Aang, The Last Airbender"- the Nickelodeon animated series - was the best show on TV for kids, as far as she was concerned. OK, there's fighting. But there's a war going on! And Aang must travel to the Earth Kingdom, the Water Tribes and the Air Nomad temples to learn how to bend the four elements so he can save the world. And by the way, Aang, our hero, is a humble, fun kid who wisely finds a way to battle evil without ever killing. The show has philosophical and stylistic similarities with anime, but it's more accessible for an American audience.

Anyway, after Halloween, Miles decided one day to dress up as Aang.

Focused meditation.

Panache and Miles with the day's avocados.

Aang, the last Airbender

When Santa Came...

Sorry, grandparents. Between figuring out a new camera (Nikon D90, yea!!) and a new photo management system (Picasa), I have been slow to respond to the blog requests. Add to that an unreliable Zimbabwean internet connection and the distractions of the holiday, and you get...well, get ready because here come those blogs!

A special thanks to our secret Santa who received packages from amazon for weeks that had to be unpacked and re-packed in suitcases that also had to be bought. There were customs officials to get by and all the uncertainty and stress of traveling across the world on Christmas Day to arrive in a country you've never been to... Thanks, Brian! You performed your voluntary duties with the utmost holiday cheer and added much needed kinfolk to our nuclear scene. We can't wait to hear about your adventures with 15 single women and 15 single men in South Africa's wine country, on safaris and shark diving (do tell!).

The kids start back to school on Tuesday. I don't know where the time went! Highlights for the kids this Christmas have been having a tree and Santa visiting them here, and getting so much time to just relax at home. 

Imire Dec. 2010

When David's cousin Brian visited us for a few days right around Christmas, it gave us an excuse to go to Imire again. This time, we just went up for the day and brought Miles's friend Vaughn, too. Imire is a private game park about an hour and a half from Harare. We were lucky - no rain, and we got to see almost all of the animals they have at the park. These animals have been at the park for years, so the guide has plenty of interesting stories and facts about them to share.

Highlights: