Venice

No, not the city.....my brother!  His name in Venice and he came to visit me today.  He knows we will be leaving the the United States pretty soon, so he came today to see me and say goodbye.  It was really fun to see him.  He's soo nice and good at playing with both Aki and me.  But....especially me!  ;-)

Bye Venice....we'll miss you.  Stay in touch!

Hats!

My brother is obssessed with hats.  I don't like them so much....but I do like my brother.  So, if he wears a hat, well....I'll wear one too! 

My First Steps

I did it!  I've been working so hard and today, I took my very first steps on my own.  I'm soooo proud of myself!

Happy Valentines Day!

Aki and I made a Valentines Day card!  We hope you enjoy it....

Will you be our Valentine?

Mommy and her two favorite Valentines! 

It's ALL about Control!

I have food issues.  I know I'm only 15 months old, but I have food issues.  I've had them since I was 2 months old.  It is the biggest sticking point in my relationship with Mommy.  She wants me to eat healthy and plentifully and I would like to starve to death please.  I nearly did at the orphanage, and then Mommy had to come along and get healthy food in me so I started growing. HMM!   She may have won the battle, but the war is not over yet.

My latest trick for the last month or two is just to refuse to swallow.  Now most people couldn't do this.  Eventally after a few minutes the muscles in their mouth would give out and then would either have to spit the food out or swallow.  NOT ME!  I can hold the food in my mouth for hours at a time.  HA! 

I have perplexed all the adults, Mommy, Gogo, Jane, Jenny....no one can figure out what to do with me.  Get ready Mommy.....I'm not even two yet....just think of all the fun when I'm a teenager!!

A mouse in the house

This is Africa.

There are lots of 'things' in the house...all the time.  Bugs, lizards etc. You learn to live with them (if you are Mommy), or you just always assume that's how it is (if you are me).  So, every so often it is necessary to have the lizard poop removed from the walls and a good clean out done of every corner and crook as there will inevitably be dead bugs back there.  Mommy however, noticed that there has been quite a lot of poop lately.  After the mouse in the toilet experience a week ago or so, she has had it in the back of her mind that there MAY be a mouse in the house.  With a lot of poop arond lately, she keeps asking Jane and Jenny (who clean the house and take care of us every day and thus know the house as well as Mommy or Aki or I do) about whether they think there is a mouse.  They kept saying no, but I could tell....Mommy was not convinced. 

This morning, Mommy came out of her room for our breakfast time...and looked at the window sill and stated with GREAT certainty that it was not lizard poop there but mouse poop.  Still no one was convinced.  Mommy walked into the pantry and noticed Twiga staring very intently at the box of extra dishes that sits in the corner.  The landlord to the house provided dishes and since Mommy already owns her own dishware, she put away the landlords so as to not break any of it for the next person.  The box has been there since I moved here. 

Mommy called out to David and Gogo to come and insisted that Twiga had found our mouse.  So, the adults closed all the pantry doors and Mommy stayed outside with Aki and I and we waited.  Sure enough...the mouse was found. David wanted to beat it to death in our pantry with his shoe....but Mommy stopped him (whew!!!).  Instead the little mouse was taken out of the compound and let go.  Bye little mousy.....have a nice life, preferably FAR away from our kitchen!



The Evidence Mounts

The Culprit is Found

Goodbye Mr. Mouse - please don't come back!

Lots to do

Well, we are just on hold, waiting to see if the additions that the home study social worker provided to USCIS will be enough and we can get our visas and get on with life!  The problem is that when the ok for the visas comes there will be a lot to do very quickly....we will have to travel again to Dar to do our US approved physicals, get our paperwork in order there, get back to Arusha, make sure our house is packed and the movers have all come to get our stuff (and there is a LOT of stuff) and get on the plane. 

So, there will not be much time to do the things we always were planning on but never got around to, or to say goodbye to the people that we love.  So....even though we don't have our visas yet, we are doing our goodbyes now.

Today, we have numerous things to do.  We went to Cradle of Love because Mommy had clothes and other baby stuff to drop off for the kids there.  And, we hadn't seen Davona in such a long time.  We had a quick chat with her at her house and then we were off again.  Here is Davona with Staci and Mariah (her adopted daughter and her hopefully soon to be adopted daughter). 

Then, we headed into Moshi for an Indian feast at Uncle Gogo's favorite restaurant.  After that, we got lost in the bush for a while. True story.  We were on our way to Maji Moto, a hot spring oasis in the middle of the bush that Mommy used to frequent when she wasn't soooo burdened down and was a bit more free wheeling.  But, Mommy has never had to drive there and it really is not easy.  Like, 'turn at the bush that looks like a pumpkin and go straight for a few minutes until you see a ravine, cross it and drive straight' kind of directions.  And, there is no road, just intuition to get you through.  Anyway....we did find maji moto after a while and Uncle Gogo and Aki got in.  We'll try to go back again sometime soon. 

Anyway....busy days!

Drowning in a Sea of Kangas

Day 2!

For the second day in a row....I was the tag along.  Now, I must say that David and Arnold (my adopted brothers) are generally really loving to me, and try to make me happy when they can and include me.  BUT, they are 6 and 8 year old little boys and they get carried away with their games sometimes and I get left behind.  By today, I was M-A-D about it. 

Joining In

I have experienced what I expect will be the regular scenario for many years to come.  Akira, my big brother, has pals....and I tag along.  I am not lucky enough to truly be a part of this gruesome threesome of Aki, Aiden and Ella....but I guess I actually don't mind tagging along.  Sometimes I get to join in with the big kids.  But, mostly the adults fawn all over me....not too shabby if you ask me.

Today we hosted Aiden and Ella at our house along with their mommies and Auntie Aleks.  It was the last time that they would all be playing together.  We had a lot of fun and I really loved hanging with the grown ups.  However, I sure did get mad when my brother and his friends ignored me or left me out of their games.  Linda said, "Wow....she's really telling him off huh?".  Well, Linda is right!  When I don't like something I say it LOUD AND PROUD!

Nairobi AGAIN!

I thought I got just one shot to go to Nairobi, but now I've been twice!  Another quick trip in and out of the city to visit the US embassy and try to get our visa papework underway.  I don't know exactly how its going (I'm just a little girl only 15 months old after all), but Mommy doesn't seem too happy about it. 

Well, I had fun visiting Nairobi anyhow.  We went swimming in the Stanley pool.  I LOVE to swim.  I'm quite the daredevil and am not scared of anything.  BRING IT ON, I say! 

It was an awful lot of driving though....so Ms. Reviewer at the USCIS in Nairobi....if you are listening.....can you hurry it up and stop giving my Mommy such a hard time!  This is getting old!

Who I am at 14 months

I am not that weak, quiet, passive, shy little baby that came home to my forever family at 5 1/2 months too small and weak and sick to even lift my head up.  No way!  I am a different girl all together at 14 months...and watch out world, I'm here to stay!

No longer timid, I scream when I don't like what is happening....this means that I scream my lungs out about 20 times a day directed at my big brother who is either tormenting me or being tormented by me and trying to get away.  Either way, I scream!

I LOVE big boy playtime and am less interested in playing with girls my own age.  Mommy has tried, but I just let her know I'm not interested.  I want to fly airplanes with the big boys.  I LOVE to make the sound of the hippo.  Akira has a cool book with all the safari animal sounds.  I have learned to trumpet like an elephant and to laugh like a hippo.  I also like to 'ca ca' like  bird. 

I can say thank you and mama, uh oh, and elela (elephant).  I point to Akira's pictures on the wall and exclaim, "elela".  Mommy tries to tell me that it is Aki, but I know better....
I also have started to say gogo (my Uncle Christopher's nickname from Aki). 

I really love to give kisses and when I feel like giving a kiss, I make my lips into an 'm' and say "mmmmmmwah!!!" and that is the signal to my Mommy that I would like to give a kiss on the lips please.  I am so pleased with myself afterwards! 

I understand a LOT of what my Mommy is saying now...and I'm as mischevious as my brother ever was.  I am cruising all over holding onto people and furniture.  And, I'm constantly trying to stand without any help and balancing on my own.  I love to try to stand for 10 seconds or so and then fall into my Mommy's arms and give her a big kiss....and a bigger laugh!  I'm having a great time being 14 months.....just wait till 15 comes along!

Dear Huggies:

I have a grevience.  Don't get me wrong, I like Disney characters as much as the next one year old. For heavens sake, my Auntie Resa even works at Disneyland.  I have a feeling that, much to my Mommy's dismay, there will be an abundance of Disney in my future. 

BUT....I believe you can still have an excellent business relationship with Disney enterprises while still maintaining some decorum.  Just, please, isn't there someone at Huggies who can think about the dignity of babies everywhere?  Why, oh why would you choose to put Winnie-the POOH on your diapers???

I'm not against any of the gang over in the Hundred-Acre-Wood.  In fact, every night Mommy sits in Akira's bed and we all listen to her read a story of their adventures.  Owl, Christopher Robin, Eyeore, Rabbit, and especially Tigger.....so many cool characters to choose from.  Why, then, would you choose a character nicknamed, "Pooh" to put on some diapers???

I am now subjected to the most humiliating of daily experiences.  My brother, a recent Winnie-the-Pooh addict, is soooo excited every time he sees anything with Winnie-the-Pooh on it.  Now, he insists of running around, pointing at my diapers and yelling, "pooh Mommy, pooh".  How humiliating is this situation for poor little me?  At least Mommy has caught on now.  For the first few days, she didn't understand that he was talking about Winnie-the-Pooh, so she kept smelling my bum to see if my diapers needed changing!  Man, talk about a bear of very little brain, what about my Mommy....not the brightest bulb on the tree if you ask me.  Finally, she caught on and when Aki points at my diaper and yells pooh she understands that he is talking about the bear and not anything else.  Still, what about others out there in the world?  Maybe everyone doesn't know that there is a picture of Winnie-the-Pooh on my diaper and they think I've just done something smelly and inappropriate in there. 

Please Huggies executives, Disney Marketing team....anyone out there with connections, get the bear off my diaper!  Aren't there about 30 different Disney Princesses that the feminst crowd my Mommy runs with are always complaining about? Can't I just have Ariel on my diaper and become needy and clingy at an early age??? 

Sincerely,

Clara Shei Violet Bowman