Gentle Bells update

It has been a while since I've mentioned Gentle Bells. Two years ago, so it is definitely time!  Fortunately, my dad and his friends Craig, Dick and Mark were in Kenya earlier this month and they were able to get all the details. 

In short:  the school is doing really well!  The gardens - which are always a challenge to cultivate because of poor rains - are doing well, thanks to some training the teachers have had through an organization based in Kijabe; there are several water tanks to capture what rains do come; the preschool, which had stayed on the old property has now been relocated to the 'new' 5-plot, and so much more. 

I'll let the pictures, courtesy and copyright of Mark Gadue do the talking, and fill in where necessary...

In Kenya, the flag must be raised ceremoniously every Friday. This includes the children singing the national anthem.

Children, water tanks, Mt. Longonot.  A place like Mt. Longonot can really never have too many water tanks, especially now that there is a thriving garden (beans, maize, potatoes, kale, etc).  I know that new and bigger tanks are always on Esther's wish list.

The feeding program, which includes a breakfast of porridge and a lunch of beans and rice every day, is going well.  By feeding the students, they are more likely to come to class, and are better able to concentrate during the day.

The biggest development for Gentle Bells is the partnership we've made with the One Laptop Per Child organization.  They build very simple or basic computers that almost look comical, or like a big video game.  This is ideal in a place where security is such an issue.  These computers, which are hugely beneficial to the students because they have regular programs like Word and Excel on them, are not very appealing to the 'thugs'.  Getting a collection of these laptops and memory cards for the students was Dick's personal project, and it was a huge success!

Dick, delivering the computers to Esther.

In no time at all, the students were masters of these computers.

Algebra. Ugh.  I guess everyone needs to learn it...

Mark, the designated photographer took well over 1000 photos on their week-long trip, so I could be back with more information in the weeks to come.  This has only scratched the surface, really.  In addition to supporting Gentle Bells, the Kijabe Children's Education Fund (the board) is now supporting a school the two largest slums of Nairobi, Kibera and Mathare.  There's one other school that they're connected to as well.

We are in the painstakingly slow process of updating and changing the website, but in the meantime, check it out! And let's hope it isn't another two years before I'm back with an update.

tea time

When I was first living in Kenya, I quickly learned the importance of chai.  This is the very milky tea that Kenyans drink (sometimes with ginger, or a mixed spice called tea masala).  In the hospital you could really set your watch by tea time (10 am and 4 pm), and it was always amusing to me to watch the hospital staff wander around aimlessly at 10 in the morning if the milk truck hadn't come yet, and chai was late.  Never would occur to people to go back to work and wait til it showed up.

Anyway, I've come to love this tea, and shipped home a lot of tea and the tea masala when we came last year.  My dad, who was just in Kenya, brought many more bags back for me.  I think we're in good standing now.  Needless to say, we drink a lot of tea around here, and Kyalo wanted in.

And who am I to resist him?

I serve him a very little bit of decaf tea in the afternoon, sometimes with a cookie or animal cracker to dip in it.  He loves it.  He calls it, "Ah-dtea," and asks for it a lot...sometimes first thing in the morning.

 anything is fair game for dipping!

It hasn't always been easy.  For a little while I'd let him sit on the floor to drink his tea, but that usally resulted in him dumping it on the floor and drinking it from the floor.  {Awesome}.  So, we turned this into a high-chair only activity, which worked for a little while.  Lately he's taken to spilling his tea all over the tray and splashing in the puddle, so I think we may be taking a little break from tea.  Still, it fills the afternoon nicely, so maybe not.

Nemo

Well, I got my wish: a blizzard on a weekend! Blizzard Nemo blew in to New Jersey early afternoon on Friday; Dexter was home by 2 PM, I made a big batch of chili, and once Kyalo was in bed, we started season one of Homeland.  Two things would have made this absolutely perfect: a fireplace and a big bowl of popcorn.  Of course, I think popcorn makes just about everything perfect.

On Saturday, we woke up to a real winter wonderland, and what is now the first real significant storm either Dexter or Kyalo experienced.

 

I'd forgotten how beautiful and quiet a good snowstorm makes things.  Well, quiet until the neighbors pull out their snowblowers and quad bikes.  

Kyalo was particularly thrilled to see so much 'noh!!! and we were outside by 8 or so.  

 our little Michelin baby

I said we'd pull out the snow suit when the snow covered the grass!

I never did hear a final amount of what we got, but I'd say something close to a foot which was just right.  My parents up in Mass probably got 2+ feet and that's a lot of shoveling!

In case you're wondering why Kyalo's not wearing a hat, it is because his hats and my scarf were in here:

which we can file under "Mama's not thinking ahead," since I didn't get them out when Dexter came home on Friday afternoon.

 rosy cheeks

 laughter

 trying to capture the snow in his hair

Kyalo even helped with the shoveling

we're working on the snow angel concept

It was c-o-l-d so we weren't outside too long in the morning, and Kyalo was NOT happy when I took his cold self back inside (he was wearing pjs under the snow suit) to get properly dressed and have breakfast.  I think he cried for 30 minutes, and kept saying, "Go."  Only hot chocolate could make him happy - for a bit.  We got back out there later in the day - when the sun was shining so it wasn't quite so unbearable.  And today we spent a long time out in the snow again. 

I'll be honest. This seems like the perfect amount of snow for me now.  I'm glad we're not getting through winter without any storm, but I'm also glad that it hasn't been out of control, either.  Getting into snow gear is hard work! 

Now, I'm ready for spring and cherry blossoms!

22 months

We are nearing two and we definitely feel it!  The days are good, but Kyalo can be a challenge, too.

 cheesin' it up for the camera 

2.4.2013

This has been a busy month for our Kyalo. He started swimming 'lessons' at the local Y.  By lessons I mean I hold him and he splashes around, kinda kicks and drinks the water instead of blowing bubbles.  I wasn't sure how it would be when he burst into tears the first day, but since then he's really loved it.  And after swimming he's so tuckered out he sleeps 2-3 hours, so I love it, too.  The lessons are seven weeks and when that ends we'll do a gym class. I assume this is running/tumbling/climbing, but we'll see.  We have a one-year membership to the Y, so we'll do swimming again.  This Y is so cool - they have cooking, art and even woodworking classes.  I don't think he'll be old enough to do the woodworking class, but seriously? How awesome is that?! I think it would be a fun 'papa and me' activity for my guys.

I'm not sure what he found so funny, but I love the joy that is this picture

His talking is getting much better. He doesn't really have sentences and sometimes words aren't quite finished, but it is pretty easy to tell what he's trying to say.  THE most common thing for him to say right now is, " 'hat's 'at?"  (what's that?)  which can also sound like "whazzzzat?"  He says this All.The.Time.  Over and over and over and over.  And usually pointing to the same thing (my phone, my shirt, his food, his bottle, etc).  We haven't even gotten to "Why?" yet, and I'm already questioned out! Ha.  Another new phrase he says is, "No, my" (mine).  I'm not sure exactly how he picked up on the "mine" concept - I guess it is innate in us - but boy he uses it all the time, too.  In funny situations, too, where he doesn't need to be laying claim to anything.  But he also uses it when Ellen is over and she has the nerve (!!!) to look at one of his toys. Even if he wasn't at all interested in it before she looked at it, he'll rush over, rip it from her, and say, "No! My!"  Winning friends, he is.

 {don't worry - the cap was on, and I took this away immediately after the photo}

Over Christmas he went from "yeah" to "yes."  Which is sweet.  He now says, "pwease" or "peas". The first time he said it my heart broke just a little bit because my little guy is growing up.  And the big and very unexpected change is that he now calls me "Mom".  I'm not sure where this came from, either, since I always refer to myself as "Mama."  He does call me that, but most often it is something like this:  "Mom" "Mam" "Mum" "Mooooooooooooooooom."  Hello?  When did he turn twelve?

 {playing with a new firetruck from Erica & Bo!}

After swimming the other day, a mom was counting with her little boy. He was probably a couple of months older than Kyalo, but already counting up to 20!  I thought, "Eek. Kyalo's nowhere near that."  It is hard -- very hard -- for me to not doubt myself when Kyalo doesn't seem to be doing the same things as his age-mates (talking, reading, counting, whatever).  I worry that I'm somehow doing him a disservice by not being more intentional about some of this, and then I have remind myself that a) he is not yet TWO and b) he WILL read and WILL count and know his colors and all that jazz.  And in the meantime, we'll play with rocks/sticks/dirt/mud/play dough, go to story hour, read books, take swimming lessons, go to music class, and call it learning by living.  But still. . .hard not to second guess myself!  Who can relate?

 {love}

Kyalo hates to have his teeth brushed.  It is a real ordeal (chasing him down, screaming, tears, etc) to keep the growing number of pearly whites clean.  Usually we give up and just let him suck on the toothbrush.  That'll do the job, right?  My Dentist husband says so.  He also HATES to have his fingernails clipped, which is too bad because I'm basically the fingernail Nazi.  That, too, has been an ordeal. I've taken now to clipping the nails while he naps and that seems to be doing the trick!

If I had to say one word to describe Kyalo, I think right now I'd say 'loving'.  He really is so sweet and loving. For a little while he would - for no apparent reason - give me a kiss on both cheeks and my forehead.  It felt like a blessing.  He gives hugs easily and freely.  He'll run up and give me or Dexter kisses random places: a foot, a knee, etc.  Probably this is just a phase, but I love it.  I figure someday soon I'll ask him for a hug or kiss and he'll say, "aw, Ma, do I have to?"  so I'm relishing them now.

That isn't to say that this time is easy.  He is two months away from two, after all, and he certainly shows that.  He still throws his food all the time.  He'll pick something up that he shouldn't, run away from me, and then throw it.  He whines and fusses and bites when he doesn't get his way. 

This post has gone on far too long, and if anyone other than Grandma is reading this, you deserve a kiss from Kyalo.  Obviously, since my days are 100% (and sometimes feel like more) Kyalo, I could go on forever.  I like to write them down here to remember them by.  It is amazing how much I already forget!

snow day

As far as I can tell, this winter has been a total bust.  OK, I know it is only February, but c'mon, we've hardly had any snow...a little snow in November, a storm at the end of December (which we had to drive through) and then...nothing...!  We've had bitter, bitter days, and in my mind if we're going to have below freezing temps we should at least have a little bit of snow to look at.  Last night, it started to snow, and while we didn't exactly wake up to a winter-wonderland, there was a nice little dusting on the ground, and enough to make Kyalo happy.

He was very excited when Dexter went into his room this morning, opened the blinds and said, "Guess what we have?!"  "  'NOH!!" Was Kyalo's excited reply. They chatted about the snow for a while, and it was so cute I had to get out of bed and join the conversation.  The weather report tells me we might even get more this week, but I wasn't taking any chances...we needed to get out there.

But first, Kyalo needed to help Papa do a bit of measuring.

(They would later hang something that we've had since Kyalo was a newborn.  Better late than never)

Measuring done, we bundled up and went outside.  I toyed with the idea of his snow suit mostly to just let it get some use, but finally decided that if it is less than an inch there's no need. 

Big thanks again to Brooke for the hat and mittens {and also the pjs he's wearing in the top photos!}- we lost one of his own mittens when we were in NYC, so this is especially great.  I heart hand-me-downs.  Pretty much Kyalo's entire wardrobe is handed down to him (the jacket came from my aunt Ellen's neighbor!). 

When the snow completely covers the grass, then we'll dig out the snow suit!

 22 months today, by the way

He moved as I was taking this picture, but I still like it :)

Unfortunately, the mittens didn't last too long. I guess he felt he needed to really experience the snow.  What he learned is that snow is very, very "doh" (cold) and we didn't last much longer out in it.  Tears ensued.  It took papa a long time to warm that hand back up.  But I think he enjoyed it, even so!

The neighbor's gnome (? dwarf?) with a little covering of snow.

Maybe I'm crazy, but I am still hoping for at least ONE good storm before the winter ends.  But as I told Dexter - I'd like it to be after he's safely home from school, our fridge is well stocked, and we have a good movie to watch.  That's not asking too much, is it?

small update

It feels like a long time since I've visited this blog. . . I've missed it! I don't have anything special to report just yet, just a few random pictures from the past days.

Here's Kyalo, practicing his flossing. This is a good thing, since he h.a.t.e.s to have his teeth brushed. You'd think we were washing his mouth out with soap!

he's a natural

I mentioned recently that my friend Jenny & I would begin to try out a babysitting swap, which we've done. I think it is going pretty well - of course, I've left Kyalo with her for several HOURS two different days while I went to the dentist (Dexter).  I do not recommend going to a dental student because they have to do sooo much. I had EIGHTEEN x-rays taken.  I'm pretty sure I got radiation poisoning! I'm grateful that I could leave him with someone, though.  Ellen has come here one time, and they had a nice time playing together...

and by 'playing' I mean making an utter mess of things!

I'd be glad for recommendations of things to do with them, should anyone have something that would be good. . .

Today Kyalo was able to wear a sweater that a dear friend knit for him. I can't remember now if I got it at my baby shower, or soon after he was born.  Either way, we've waited a long time for this moment.  The last time Dexter put Kyalo in it the sweater was still way too big.  Now it is perfect.

 1.27.2013

 looking like the almost-two-year-old that he is!

I love the color, too. Gorg.

Thanks, Linda, for this beautiful sweater!!

And that's that. 

move it!

Our house has turned into an after-work dance party hot spot, it would seem.  The last few days we've been playing various music on Pandora and dancing up a storm.  This is primarily to keep Kyalo occupied and out of the kitchen (and away from the tempting knobs on the stove) while I cook.  Without a doubt, his favorite song is "I like to move it, move it!"  Dexter likes to play the video for him from the film Madagascar and they have a good time trying to copy the moves.

We've been trying to catch Kyalo's rather. . .unique. . .dance moves on video.  Today, a different - but kind of awesome - version came on, and he was dancing up a storm, even singing along (ish).  I quickly whipped out the camera and videoed away. . .except, I forgot to press the record button.  Typical.

This video from this evening is the best we could do.  I may try again...the full move is really too much.

We're not sure where the shoulder shrug move came from, but we think it might be the next big thing!