Anticipation

Tomorrow is Miles's 6th birthday party. He has been looking forward to this for...months. In the beginning, I tried to explain to him that his actual birthday is April 3, but that we needed to have the party early since his birthday fell on the holiday weekend and so many friends would be travelling or have family plans. That explanation didn't go over too well. He's at an age where things need to be exact. He wanted to turn 6 on the day of his party...or else it's all a big lie, isn't it? The truth hurts sometimes. So now the word is that Miles is turning six when the candles are blown out on March 27. End of discussion. (...actually don't bring up the subject, but if he asks, you know what to say.)

As usual, I'm a wee bit stressed about it. I was going to say it's our first time entertaining at 4 Moon Close, but we did have cocktails one evening for donors to meet visiting MC people. No power. Generator hum would have been obnoxious. Had some candles lit all around. Brought in some more chairs and tables from D's office. Of course, people stood the whole time anyway.

Tomorrow about 12 kids from Miles's class are going to come dressed as their favorite hero/heroin/villian. I don't have anything terribly special planned: just two hours of kids running wild, maybe a game of freeze tag or musical chairs, a chocolate cake... It'll be the first time parents have been given the option to "drop off." That actually makes things easier for me. It's hard to entertain kids and parents simultaneously....especially with no David.

Yes, you may have heard the drama unfolding this week. D went back for Barbara's memorial last week. His flight out of Tallahassee on Tuesday was for some reason rerouted to Tampa, so he couldn't make his connection in DC back to Africa and had to stay two more days in Tally. Then on Thursday during his Atlanta connection, left his jacket on the plane with his passport, went back for it, they wouldn't let him on the plane, they looked and didn't find it, plane left for another city...D was stranded. So he went up to be with my parents in Chatt while all that got sorted. Luggage claim tickets were also on passport so baggage (with gifts and party things and other important stuff) were lost somewhere on the atlanta-dc-jo'burg-harare trip... It was all pretty wretched. I feel so much for my husband. It doesn't get much more stressful. No way he's making it back for M's birthday...so no surprise shooting off the rocket he got for M or meeting M friends or parents of M friends... Very sad.

But Miles wanted the show to go on...(birthday tomorrow without daddy or birthday in 3 weeks with daddy?...hmmm, let's think, 3 weeks is like an eternity...let's go with tomorrow!) And as I learned this morning, David's passport and luggage have been found (passport in Harrisburg, PA...what's the story on that??). So the gifts will arrive, and more importantly D's return won't be further delayed. Can't wait to have him back!

But back to Miles... He has entered the helpful, conscientious stage of childhood which is such a pleasure. He opens the stairs gate in the morning, fixes his bowl of cereal, and even helps make his sister's breakfast sometimes. He cleans up after himself and takes pride in knowing how to do things, protecting his sister on the playground, and setting a good example for Eliza. Yesterday afternoon when I was feeling that usual pre-afternoon-tea/coffee downward drag, I said I don't like being alone, the only adult with just children every day and night. And Miles hearing me from the other room said, Don't worry, Mom, we'll help you out! (Ah, the sincerity!)

And now for some party putting together! Lot's to celebrate...

Laying Down the Law

January on Moon Close

That's our street: Moon Close. Pronounced as in, the moon is close to the Earth. That's what dead end street are called: sth close. This is our temporary home. And now that we have a few more pieces of furniture, it really feels like somewhere we could live, but alas. We must move by June. I'm glad to have the chance to look around some and make a more educated choice about where we will actually live here. Although the market is not good. It will be all a luck of timing. But so are most things!

What Moon Close has going for it mainly is the garden, as you can see. For the kids, it's been heaven after living in a flat for the last 5 years in Khartoum and Amman. We feel very lucky to have this place while we do! Eliza loves the trampoline most. Being in-ground (something you see everywhere here but I've never seen before), the trampoline is easy to on and off of, and you don't worry too much about their falling an additional 4 feet or so if they fall off. Miles loves the swing most. It is tied to a very high branch and so has a huge arc. Instead of sitting a waiting to be pushed, Miles grabs the swing, runs, lifts his legs and just goes spinning. He goes straight for it every morning and afternoon after school. The way he hangs on, it's got to be a great work out.

This is Shepherd with the kids. He's the son of Tari, the housekeeper, who lives in the cottage next to the house. He just turned 5. They all play together in the afternoons and on weekends.

All the rooms, except our bedrrom and the kids' shared bedroom have looked like this until this past weekend when we got a couch in the living room. The kids don't seem to mind that there's no furniture, but they do seem to mind the size of the house. "Mommy, where are you?!?!"

Imagine a wall full of 12 "Cat-in-the-Hat” faces all pretty much the same and then there's this one really colorful one. Yep, that’s my son.

To follow up on the parental drama of my child settling into a new school... I'm happy with the support at the school. Miles is making a lot of progress, and everyone is pleased. I used to wonder how the behavior of my infants and toddlers would manifest in their personailities as children, and now I'm starting to find out. Miles's intensity as a baby (he used to cry horribly instead of fall asleep when we put him in the carseat) is coming out in the strong desire to do what he wants to do. The good side of this is his strong character, uniqueness, creativity, vivid imagination and energy. The bad side is that it's a real struggle for him to do what he's told which means, for one, that he can't enjoy or get from school all that he could. So we are trying some different approaches with Miles than the usual parenting techniques to get him "focus his energy." More on that later, if you want. I am just so grateful that he has a super sweet side of him, a great sense of humor, a curiosity to learn, and an intellect that allows us to really communicate.

$5 from the toothfairy

This photo was taken this weekend when we were at a private animal refuge estate. More photos of that to follow since I finally got my camera battery charger!!!

A few more from the Real Life

Miles is soooo powerful that he doesn't even need knights! Or gods.

We will be working on our dance technique in Zimbabwe.

Catching Up

I need to catch up on posting some videos before we relocate to our slow-connection life in Harare!

Expressions of persuasion: Miles and his mother.

Eliza's fairy song:

Fairies. Fairies. The fairies fight a tiger.

The fairies fight it. The fairies do it.

Fairies. Fairies. Fai-ai-ries.

We do the fairies. The fairies kick.

And the tigers gr-scream.

Fai-ai-airies. Fai-ai-airies. Fa-ai-airies.

That's what it's all about.

Miles' World

Mom, look at Super Strong Thing's muscles! Who do you think is stronger: Super Strong Thing or Inpunchination?

Super Strong Thing

Inpunchination

The Creator

Boyz-n-Girlz

The play-date after school went something like this:

Miles (shirtless): Maria, do you want to play super strong thing? He keeps jumping from building to building. And he only lands on the tops of trees, and his feet are twice the size of buildings. They're 67 meters long! And his hands are 28 big! 

(He has to go shirtless these days since the Hulk and the Thing are shirtless. Apparently, no shirt can contain the bulging muscles of the super-super-super strong. BTW, we've never let him see any superhero movies or tv shows - he plays totally from images in his pre-school-level comic books and what he's picked up from friends on the playground. It almost feels like child abuse to deny him, but David feels even more strongly about the no-watching-violence thing than I do.)

Maria (clutching a tube of sparkly pink lipgloss): Eliza can't use this. It's only for big girls. (Eliza jumping up and down and whining.) OK, she can use it, but only on the top lip, not the bottom. (Eliza smearing it on her nose, top lip and bottom lip.) She put it on her bottom lip! (It's hard without a mirror, I suggest.) But I can put it on perfectly without a mirror!

The play-date went on to another friend's house, more of a mom gathering with the children doing their own thing wildly about the property. There was some joint play, but at one point the 4 girls played dress up: not the superhero kind, but the pink, sparkly, make-up, high-heels and tiara kind. Miles spent a good portion of the afternoon alone in his classmate's big brother's room, playing out imaginary fights between his many action figures. 

So is this how it's going to be from now on?

Miles at 5

OK, ready to use the toilet? 

Shield? Off. Sword? Dropped. Laser light sword? Dropped. Sneakers? Kicked. The bottom half of a Spider Man suit? Down. Superman underoos? Down. Satin cape? Removed. Red silk scarf? Removed.

Putting clothes back on? Optional. Recommended that all be instantly forgotten and new game of nakedness initiated.

Birthday in Review

I used to think Kindergardeners were really small. Miles is pre-K, but he seems so big. This birthday felt like more of a milestone than the last few. Enter the world of big boys!

Miles got an early gift of Spiderman pjs since the space pjs with the feet I'd bought him for xmas he'd insisted on wearing every night, if not all day every day. He called it his "Space Spiderman Suit." So, for days he's been wearing his new Spidey Suit (even under his school uniform, just like Peter Parker!)

I definitely splurged this bday because it really is so different from the others. He's more excited by things, had opinions of what he wanted, and was genuinely, magically enthralled about his gifts. He got a big castle with knights, a book with abbreviated classic stories on heroes (we read a story on Hercules slaying the Cacus monster, for example), a rocket-ship with alien and astronauts (possibly liked more by his sister), and a nerf basketball set (he got four baskets in a row first time ever playing - the highlight of my day, he said).

The weather was great, as it was indoor/outdoor at our place. I limited the number he could invite, and he only wanted boys (another weird first). In retrospect, the mix of boys was pretty diverse, though they are still at an age where they don't really notice these differences (they all speak English, though for some it's a second or even third language): Lithuanian/Scottish, Iraqi, Jordanian/Spanish, Portuguese/Spanish, Jordanian, and English. 

Fe (with a little help from me) made a nice spread for the parents: taboule, fruit salad, chicken spring rolls, and crudite with spinach dip and cheesecake. (What do you feed such a diverse crowd at 2 in the afternoon??) The kids had decorated mini-pizzas, lime jello with jelly-worms, chips (the highlight of the party for Eliza), candy and cake. 

In keeping with the Alien Hunt theme, the kids were sent on a wild rampage, complete with capes or astronaut suits and swords and flag waving... The premise, as dictated to me prior to the party for my re-telling, was that we were on a spaceship headed out of the Milky Way, beyond even the Andromeda Galaxy to a yet unknown galaxy where planet Yikkup is located (Miles's fantasy planet). Next to Yikkup is planet Sirrius where we were to discover an evil alien...(this is the abbreviated version). 

The plan was that I was supposed to distract them while David hung an alien pinata I made (yeah, first time since 8th grade art class that I tried my hand at paper mache). Then he was supposed to create a trail of fluorescent slime... But they were too fast for us. They all went charging up with their various weapons ready to destroy it until the heavily breathing mother/master-of-ceremony showed up and made them takes turns in alphabetical order to be fair and in a valiant effort to reduce injury. 

Each got 2 tries with a broom (no blindfold), then we went for another round of three swings each, during which the pinata fell to the ground without breaking (aaaaaaagh....my plans for the dramatic spilling of red guts-like tissue paper with candy and prizes thwarted!!!). The whole time, it was all we could do to keep the other children back. They kept running in with their swords. It was a miracle no one got whacked in the head with the broom. Finally, David just had to give it one explosive hit, and they went running in - the usual death of pinata scene. There wasn't any fighting over who got what (I'd worried about that). I think because it all happened so fast, and they all got something, and immediately put it in their bag I'd gotten for them so it was kind of a mystery what anybody had. 

We quickly followed with pass-the-parcel which also kept them pre-occupied. That was supposed to happen earlier, but I'd luckily forgotten. I'd also forgotten how to play it, but we figured it out. It's a British thing, I think. The package is passed around while the "music" plays (in this case, the adult singing stops), then the child who has the package when the music stops gets to tear off the outer layer of wrapping paper and get a treat. There are lots of layers with an especially nice treat in the center (in this case a Ben 10 Four-Arms Alien action figure!!).

I was very happy that Miles never once threw a tantrum over not getting something. He wasn't in any fights and really seemed to enjoy himself all day. He told us in the morning that he wasn't 5 until he blew out the candles on the cake, and it wasn't until that time (though actually the wind prevented us from lighting more than one) that I remembered how last year he'd refused to admit that it was his birthday or that he was turning four. We even had to sing happy birthday to Eliza instead of him that year, and when people told him happy birthday, he'd scream: it's not my birthday!! But apparently, his excitement over getting "bigger" outweighed his anxiety over change this year.

Click here for the photos: Party slideshow

My videography was atrocious, but that's what happens when you have to simultaneously prevent kids from running into the danger zone. It was very fun though (as is evident by my hysterical wheezing). 

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.

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.

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