Upon seeing...

... Mita's newest hair-do, GRITS exclaimed, "Mita, you are so beautiful!  I love you!"  A few minutes later, he said, "Mita, you are so cute!"

And, upon seeing his falafel dinner, he said, "Ooo... thank you, MamA.  You are such a good cooker!"  His yogurt sauce smile would have been enough.  :)

A new 'do: Nigerian approved!

Progress?

There is still such a long, long... long, very long way to go.  Ay!

Brothers

This morning, GRITS said to me, "This is my best brother.  I love BubU so much!"

Here, GRITS has wrapped up his best brother into a burrito-baby and is "taking care of him."

God of the flying blessings

"Praise God from whom all blessings fly!  Brothers and sisters..."  This is what GRITS has been singing this morning.  He even changes the notes so that the song resolves at "sisters," considering he can't remember the rest and he doesn't want my help.  I'll happily take this version over nothing, so... "Sing on, my children!"

Una idea linda

<<Hay un poema que me gusta mucho.  Dice que una hoja seca no es una elegía, un canto a la muerte, sino un preludio, una promesa de la primavera lejana.>>  (del libro Con cariño, Amalia por Alma Flor Ada)

Introducing...

Mahalet!

We (I) like to name our dolls after social workers that we know.  It just kind of happened once, and now it's a tradition.  Our last doll, Hannah (pronounced the Ethiopian way)... well... GRITS got sick one night and Hannah had to go... for health reasons.  Pobre Hannah!  But now everyone is happy to have Mahalet join our family.  The only problem is that GRITS is quite distracted by her hair and wants to know what's wrong with it!  He just won't accept her hairdo as legitimate.

Happy siblings!

On the catwalk, on the catwalk, yeah...

For the sake of Bethany Christian Services, our family donned a December-themed ensemble of outfits and walked the catwalk.  Here is GRITS, practicing his modeling walk.  He was definitely the most into waving to the crowd and smiling... well, other than PapA, as you can see in the second photo.

The Montessori Martinet(te)

A logophilic friend of mine once said that I seem to fit the description of a martinet: "a very strict military disciplinarian or any very strict disciplinarian or stickler for rigid regulations."  Oui, je dis, c'est moi.  Well, finally, I've found where I belong!  Montessori.  There are very specific ways to do everything, with meaning behind it all, and I love it. 

Here is GRITS doing his Montessori "table washing."  One is to wash from left to right, top to bottom, as one writes and reads English.  Once you get to the right-most side of the table, you are to pick up your hand to begin again on the left side.  Thankfully, my child loves to do his table washing, which helps me out three times a day.  Learning is so much fun!

Fly twins!

Here they are, ready for church.  All morning, as we get ready, they practice saying, "Yes, Teacher!"  Oo, do these kids love going to Sunday school!

A little sibling love

Broomball, anyone?

                    If this kid isn't dressed to beat all of the Robertsons and Mla-Mlap, I don't know who is! 

Why is it dark in the night?

That is one of G's most recent questions to me.  I hesitated, then decided to try to explain using my fists for the Earth and the Sun.  Yeh...  So, I asked for a few minutes and whipped together the following.  Of course, I'll (read: Rob'll) need to work on a more accurate model and we'll begin our formal lesson with what it says in Genesis, but for now...

Daytime in Milwaukee / Nighttime in Ethiopia

Daytime in Ethiopia / Nighttime in Milwaukee

(He listened to me politely for my minute-long explanation and then asked to go back to his scissor work.  Of course.)

What GRITS has been saying

"Let's roll out!" -  as he slides away, riding the way-too-small-for-him Tonka truck

"... that's for sure."  -  after just about any sentence

"A México."  -  He stood up after playing on the floor for a bit.  I asked him where he was going and this was his answer.

"Cuando yo sea hombre, yo voy a tener cuatro hijos.  Y querrán tocar el televisor, pero yo les diré que no."  Yo TUVE que preguntarle entonces qué nombres les va a dar.  "Mmmm, Mita, Asher.... mmmm... Graham y Calla!"  Well, I guess we know who he likes!

Color matching Mita

Here is another activity that the kids have been working on.  (Gracias, PapA.)  It was a rough start for Mita with this one; but this morning, it clicked.

The smile of satisfaction!