First Lost Tooth!

Yesterday Ella lost her first tooth!! What a surprise to randomly look into her mouth before I headed to work to find FOUR teeth where only two should be, and her two little teeth really loose! What the heck?? On my just turned five year old???!!!

Sarah pulled out the loosest one right before I came home and I’m betting that the second one will come out today. Ella loses teeth like a champ – says it doesn’t hurt her at all!

Obviously this is a badly out of focus picture but despite that you can STILL see her two big teeth that have pushed up behind her little ones! And to think that I had not noticed this before! And she hadn’t noticed that her two little teeth were loose either!

Our neighbor, Janet, lost her two teeth this way and the big ones straightened out without a problem after the little ones had been pulled out. So I’m not too worried about Ella being permanently disfigured and sporting funny bottom teeth.

The big kick for me was our own, newly created Entebbe H’s version of the tooth fairy. The Ugandan version of the tooth fairy is that a rat leaves things in exchange for kids teeth. I was all ready to go with the rat story as I don’t like fairies much and Ella simply doesn’t know what one is. Sarah had been telling her about the rat tooth fairy anyways so what the heck. Somehow however Ella got it into her head that it was a raccoon that left money under your pillow in exchange for your teeth! Forget the fairy or the rat – we have a money bearing, tooth collecting raccoon at our house!

It was funny to see it dawn on her, while she was talking to her neighbor friends about this wonderful raccoon who gives you money, that Granny actually catches and SHOOTS the darned things and “makes them dead.” I asked her what we did after we shot them, thinking that it would bring back fond memories of throwing their corpses off the bridge into the river below, which is quite a thrill for a four year old. Instead she answered uncertainly, “We.... ate them?” Um, no. We’re weird but we’re not that weird!

It was then hilarious to see her actually start to think about a raccoon crawling around her head searching for her tooth at night when she was sleeping. Especially since there were some MEAN coons in Montana (one bad butt mama coon chased my sister through the barn and up the ladder into the loft!) last year which were rather dirty and stinky that we had to shoot and dispose of. Should she live in terror that it’s one of these coons or not? Nah. She convinced herself that not only was it a small, nice, CLEAN coon but that it could talk as well. None of the coons last summer could talk!

Ella, who knows that Santa Claus is just a game, has herself firmly convinced in the tooth raccoon. The more she thought and talked about it, the more convinced she was and the more questions she had – most of which she answered herself!

After a lot of thought and pondering this is the conclusion that she came up with:

The little raccoon is small and fuzzy and clean and bathes with soap. She can talk (of course!) and comes quietly at night because she’d afraid that she will be shot. She is a NICE raccoon who will NOT rip off your face but you must hide yourself, along with your face, in a blanket and sleep very quietly otherwise the shy, talking raccoon will be scared and run off without leaving you your money for your tooth.

This explains the basics but the more she thinks about it the more questions she has about this tooth collecting coon. Like any responsible, all knowing mother I simply tell her, “You’ll have to ask your Granny when you talk to her on the computer next. She knows all about raccoons!”

Ella standing by “her” first coon kill this summer (in her nightie no less)

I must admit to still being in a state of shock that my BABY, who is only five, has started losing her teeth!! What’s next? College?

Best Buds

Watching a movie together

These two are the best of friends. A large reason of why I adopted again (besides the fact that babies homes here are chalk full of motherless babies and toddlers) is that I felt that Ella needed a sibling. To be honest, I never realized just how much she needed one!

These two are inseparable!

Kids who do not develop healthy attachments with their parents are usually unable to develop healthy attachments with anyone – their siblings or friends included. We have seen this in one family that we know who adopted a three year old. The child has had attachment difficulties with their parents and consequently has no loyalties to their siblings, nor is a very faithful friend. This kid is constantly looking for “someone better” and has no real loyalties to anyone and is rather insecure.

Which is why I am DELIGHTED to see my children and the relationship that they have with each other. For any parent this would be nice to see but with mine it’s even extra special given their history. These two are TIGHT. Ella is starting to prefer Frankie’s company even over the neighbor girls who we all LOVE and who are more her age! Frankie of course loves his sister and shadows her everywhere (much like I did when I was little with my sister who was 2.5 years older).

Saturday was the first hot morning we’ve had since getting our table, so the youngsters had to get their sunglasses on in order to eat their breakfast. Pretty intimidating, aren’t they?

Bodyguards or thugs?

There sits my pancake and cup of coffee, waiting for me in the sun of my front porch ;) What a life!

The Fam. This is the way we live. On our porch. With our toys. And our dogs!

Sanyu Baby LOVES her kids! I have never felt that Sanyu was “my” dog (like Bridger is), which is odd since I got Sanyu before the kids came along and I’m the one who feeds her. She most definitely prefers the kids the best! Woe be to the hapless person who tries to do them harm while Sanyu is on duty! Both of these silly mutts are quite protective of their kids.

Ella had a stomach bug last week so she spent quite a bit of her time on the couch watching movies. Mainly one movie, The Gods Must Be Crazy. This is both kids new favorite! Frankie likes to run around now with a pretend gun (or “gum” as he often pronounces it) shooting things, saying “I bad guy!” Ella prefers to think that he’s spraying bug spray (????). Once L gets something into her head it’s hard to get out so we don’t argue : -)

Frankie's chubby little baby hand

Spronkie even made an appearance for the camera!! I think she likes her new roommate, Ms Dave. Oddly enough, Ms Dave likes to help her eat her fish. Weird, eh?

The life of Ms Dave

Miss Dave is quite the little character. I've had lots of pet rabbits before but none that lived in the house nor who were quite like Miss Dave!

She had her house renovated (would you call this a "high rise" now?) and moved in with her new roommate, Spronkie the Hedgehog. With my trusty cordless drill, I made a few alterations on the shelf above them (that holds our microwave, food, and water filter) so that now the crate tucks right under it, quite nicely. During this procedure I learned that two year olds are handy to have around for wiggling into small spaces and retrieving dropped drill bits. Rabbits are good for NOTHING during an operation like this, as all they do is hop around trying to lick your drill and your feet.

We also got some SAWDUST to put in her cage, rather than just the sand and dirt that I was using before. Let me tell you, our lives are CHANGED now!!!! The dirt was REALLY stinky, no matter how often you changed it (rabbit urine is STRONG smelling stuff!) and it was hard to get dry dirt because of all the rain. So our house stunk. Bad. Sawdust is SO much more absorbant. I put baking soda in there to try to cut some of the urine smell, and some vanilla in the sawdust to give it a nice, flavorfull aroma. Nice!!! I am SO happy with the new changes in Ms Dave's living conditions! And so is she!

I was amazed that she hopped in there voluntarily last night, climbed up on top of Spronkie's house, and fell asleep!!! I think she must enjoy the smell of vanilla, waifting through the air... ;) Usually it's quite a battle trying to get her back in her cage.

She's in her cage during the day when I'm gone but after I come home we let her out and she's free to hop around the yard. Then in the evening she hops around the house. She has a few bad habits, like peeing in the bathroom, but we just keep the bathroom door closed when she's out.

Out for a hop in the great out of doors!

What do you keep on your coffee table? We keep a bucket full of cars, a bible, a cup, an empty popcorn bowl, a rabbit, a candle stick, a pile of papers....

Dave is big enough to jump up on the couch now. She likes to jump up there and keep who ever is on there company!

Ella's been sick for this last week so spent a lot of time on the couch watching movies - which Dave liked!

One of her favorite perches in on the back of the couch. She's got herself some big ears!

Anyone up for a movie?

Where does she come up with this stuff?

Yesterday Ella was not feeling well so we took a walk around the neighborhood before bed time. As we were returning home we saw two white women walking down the road. Not totally unusual as we live so near the Botanical Gardens, zoo, and near an International Airport.

Ella spotted them first and said, "Look! Two white people. They look funny. They talk funny [insert garbled noise - perhaps an imitation of Russian?]. I don't think I like them!" All said with a smile, twinkling eyes and a chuckle.

Um, WHAT??? It's interesting to see the little turdlett testing the waters a bit- can we make fun of or decide we don't like someone based on their race? Or their language? Or because we don't know them? Because they are different than us? Does Mom indeed prefer one race over the other? Should I? No. Of course not!

I wanted to laugh, as she was marching along clutching my white hand, disappointed that she couldn't web cam with her beloved, very white, grandparents. But all I said was, "Just because you think someone looks funny, doesn't mean you shouldn't like them." I'll save the lecture for when she's older...

Because she had an upset tummy, she was given dry toast for dinner while Frankie and I had fried sausage and potatoes. Frankie of course saw me giving her her dry toast (prison food, in my mind) and wanted some too. She told him, "You have potatoes, Frank. Potatoes are man food!" Haaaaa!!!! Man food??? What the heck??? So I sat down and ate some man food too, right alongside Frank!

Seriously, the older this kid gets the funnier she gets. What will she think of next??!!!!

Birthday Celebration

Saturday was my birthday and we had a small celebration. I have never been a big fan of large celebrations on this day but now that I have a five year old and two year old, who LOVE birthdays no matter whose they are, I am forced to acknowledge the fact that March 20^th is indeed my birthday.

At the beginning of the month, after carefully and patiently explaining to Ella why we weren’t having a big party for my birthday (grown ups don’t have big parties every year like kids do) I finished up my lecture and she looked at me with big eyes and said, “You’re not having a party because nobody likes you?” Ha!!! Great listening, Ella! She thought about that for a day and then firmly told me, “I’m just gonna get your phone and call people to come to a party anyways!” After that I totally dropped the issue of my birthday until the dawn of its morning. To her it is unfathomable to not want a wild party on ones birthday, just like it is unfathomable (and sad) for a family not to have a dog. She pities the dogless family and the adult who doesn’t have 30 people at their birthday party...

Back to my birthday... Saturday morning found me relaxing on my front porch sitting in my pajamas at my new table, sipping a cup of coffee and chatting with my youngsters. Upon hearing the news that it was birthday, Ella had quickly and enthusiastically (big surprise there) picked a book and wrapped it for me. I had just started getting ready to go make them some breakfast (sucks that kids still have to eat on their mothers birthday) when low and behold Prossy and Sarah popped up, singing happy birthday and with a cake in tow! What awesome timing! So we all gathered around our great little table, ate cake and drank tea and coffee! The problem of breakfast was solved!

We polished off the cake and Sarah and Prossy left. Prossy then came over later in the afternoon and brought some delicious pork, which she cooked up for dinner later. Then we vegged out and watched The #1 Ladies Detective Agency series until late into the night. We all love those series! Ella is a big fan as all the people are brown and the #1 lady detective is big! Or of traditional build... ;)

My birthday cake and carefully wrapped birthday gift

Ella with the book she wrapped for me :)

Sarah and Ella

Prossy and Frankie

Ella quickly took charge of cutting and serving the cake

My children are very well trained. Here they are lotioning my feet!

A party would not be a party without some balloons. I think these were some balloons that my Mom brought the last time she visited. They were huge!



Bridger was eager to help Prossy with the birthday pork preparations. He's always so willing to lend a helping hand in the kitchen!

The delight of my new table

Yesterday was a day of home improvements and the start of Ella's 17+ years of formal education (kind of.)

Wednesday night I was sitting out on our porch at about 9:30pm during a thunder storm, enjoying the fresh air rolling in, my nervous dogs (Bridger HATES thunder!), the smell of freshly mowed grass (smelled just like hay!), watching two frogs hopping through the yard and the neighbor passing back and forth in his pajamas, making phone calls. The thought occurred to me, "We need a table and chairs out here so that I could be sipping coffee." This thought escalated into visions of my when my Mom comes this summer and the two of us sitting out on the porch sipping coffee and playing Cribbage and RummyKub together, in the beautiful, fresh air. Now, our house is fairly small and the weather here in fairly perfect pretty much 100% of the time so it makes sense to spend a lot of time outside on your porch, which we do. Our porch is basically just an extension of our house.

I got off of work early yesterday (thanks to computer problems - yikes!) and was on a mission- finding the perfect plastic table and chairs for my front porch. If you've ever been to Entebbe you'll know that John's Shop is the place to go for pretty much everything. Imagine my delight when they had exactly what I wanted in a table! No trips to Kampala for me!

After collecting and setting up my new table and chairs, I got a call from a guy who had just come from Montana who my Mom had sent some little work books for Ella, with. So before the kiddo's were even up from their nap I charged over to his hotel to get them, while Sarah stayed with the kids. This worked out perfectly as now Ella actually has a place to do school!

Not only does the table provide a nice place to sit and do your work, but I think it will provide some added protection from thunder storms! The thunder can't get you if you hide, right?

We ate dinner AND breakfast on it and I was able to sit and sip a cup of coffee this morning, as intended :). Ahh.... life is good when you have a new table on your porch!

Boy was she thrilled with her new books!! Now she can do "school" like her best friend, Janet. She is however, not the most academically minded child. She likes the coloring, cutting and gluing of things but when it comes to writing letters, not so much.

While he might come across as a rather dim bulb (fat and happy and compared to his sister, quiet), I'm thinking that Frankie just may end surprising me and being my academic genius. I'm afraid I've woefully underestimated his brain cell abilities! He'll point to a letter on something and tell me what it is, totally out of the blue, and yesterday he picked up a bug and told me it was green - and it was!!! The thing is, I don't work with him on colors OR letters! At all. But I work with Ella and he just watches, absorbing it all.

I LOVE his look of concentration. He'd catch me smiling at him and start to wiggle his shoulders and "dance!" Yup, strange kid :)

He's smiling for the camera again :)

Ella, sitting in the "shade" of our baby lemon tree (the stick with leaves on the top, sticking up to her right.) The cool thing about this tree is that it's right in front of our house and no one planted it! We throw our dish water into this circle of flowers and evidently there was a lemon seed in it once and up grew a lemon tree!

Our darling 19 month old neighbor, in an outfit that Ella's Granny made

A sight every mother of preschoolers likes to see... :)

First time out with half a dozen youngsters, two dogs and two adults : -)

Yesterday we went with our friends and neighbors for a walk in the Gardens. Let me tell you, it was beautiful! A perfect evening to take meandering through the gardens, thanks to Hannah and her short legs. I love to meander and love walking with small children because then I have an excuse!

Maddie, Sophia with Sanyu, Frankie, Hannah, Ella, Janet and Bridger

These two are about nine months to one year apart yet Hannah’s almost as big as Frankie!

Awwww..... Is this what you’d call puppy love?

They enjoyed standing in the middle of the road yelling, pointing and laughing at each other. If either ever get married, I think they’ll have it down ;)

The Terrible Two, Double Trouble – I could think of a lot of good names for these two! Don’t let their sweet smiles fool you.... Ella looks like she’s cookin’ up a plan. These two are hilarious!

This was the first time out with six children and it really looked funny! They were swarming around Melinda like little chicks, or flies or something.

Madeline walked along collecting firewood for some odd five year old reason : -)

Frank's taken quite a shine to Madeline. She doesn’t try to baby him (like Sophia) nor boss him around and treat him like a slave or minion (like Ella), or poke her fingers up his nose (like Hannah ;). She just plays with him and is very non threatening.

We are so thankful that our friends and neighbors are back! And for the glorious Entebbe weather. I will NEVER take it for granted!

Adoptive families get together!

Over the weekend our family attended our first ever Families For Children coffee morning. It was great meeting with other adoptive parents and children, as well as hearing about some upcoming probable changes in Uganda adoption laws. Very encouraging! Much more adoption friendly for those of us who live in Uganda (which includes Ugandans). We didn’t see any kids that we knew but one adoptive mother did recognize Frankie! There were quite a few children there adopted from Nsambya Babies Home.

Since I avoid Kampala like the plague and we rarely go there, we made the most of it and went out to eat at Spurs, which serves some really good American food. Our own dear little Frank’s chowed down on his first hamburger while his Aunt Prossy polished off her second ever cheeseburger. The kids jumped on the trampolines and then Frankie got his face painted!

The paint had worn off a bit here but he had a little pink cat nose and whiskers and was supposed to look like a tiger. Here he pretty much just looks like an Indian on the warpath! He enjoyed roaring the entire way home.

We also went to Game, which Ella called Walmart the entire time. She is going through a really enthusiastic stage and she rode in the shopping cart whooping down the isles, “WooHOOOOOO!” and didn’t quit until we got home - an hour drive later! The day this child ever consumes alcohol should be an interesting one ... ;-)

Frankie has taken to lifting weights. I want him big and strong so that he can start carrying and lifting heavy stuff for me ;)

It’s been really hot lately (because I bought the kids long pants a week ago!) and since the swimming pool is STILL being renovated (since October!) and our water pressure is crap so we can’t use a sprinkler, the kids get in their swimsuits on the trampoline and I throw buckets of water on them. When I get sick of fetching and carrying endless buckets of water I just give them some rags and a bucket of soapy water and they have a blast scrubbing the trampoline.

I’m going to enjoy these easily occupied preschool moments while I can!

Ella takes it all very seriously

Frankie washing the tramp in his white underwear. After dining at beach restaurants watching people frolic in the Lake, I have come to the firm conclusion that no man should wear white, wet briefs, - especially a black one! To do so in front of me and Prossy is to reap a lot of ridicule, sneers and condescending (if not funny) remarks. Frankie will learn all of that in the future. But for now I’m letting him innocently wash his trampoline in his white briefs.

Ms Dave’s been doing her share of hopping around and GROWING

Watching a movie while seated on a pillow next to her dog, absently rubbing her dog’s tummy....