Mavinga

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Those of you who have been following Mavinga's story may be interested in this post on my Auntie Susan's blog. Mavinga is pictured below the day we met.

Anything Goes Face

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We discovered this iHeartFaces blog which features contests of face photos every week. And I just had to enter this photo of Mavinga, my Mozambican buddy, taken the day we said goodbye and left Mozambique last month. Gotta love that face!

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For those new to my blog, Mavinga was the 4-year-old son of our gardener in Mozambique. He came to work with his dad every day after his mom was killed by a crocodile.

Tiny Talk Tuesday

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“Five” is one of Esmé’s (18 months) latest favorite words, accompanied with a high five! This is especially fun while skateboarding!

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Esmé continues to be an orderly perfectionist. She loves putting her dirty clothes into the laundry basket, and carefully makes sure all corners and appendages of each garment are well in the basket before closing the lid. And she carefully lines up shoes and dolls.

She understands so much that we just assume she's figured it all out. The dirty socks on the bedroom floor were obviously bothering her, so we directed her to put them in the “basket” in the bathroom. She went into the bathroom and came back empty-handed to our applause. Only later did we realize that the socks went into the “bathtub,” not the “basket.”

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I love watching the personality emerge! Esmé is a regular cheerleader, generous with her applause when her friends are doing the stunts such as skateboarding. Here is her daddy doing wheelies while she applauds from the sidelines.
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And she’s putting together phrases now. Things like “eat then ball?” after being told she can’t play with the ball because she’s eating. Or “clean hands” when they are messy.
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Esmé is good at saying things in a loud, commanding voice, even if you can't make out the words. Here she is keeping Groban the dog in the corner. (No animals were harmed in the making of this photo.)
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Just a quick unrelated newsflash. Mavinga has malaria but is on the road to recovery. Thanks for your prayers! Here he is hamming it up in Esmé's stroller.

And another newsflash - Ginger the bunny has mange, as we discovered after our 3rd trip to the vet yesterday. (Two times no vet was there, and the third time we used a phone translator to figure things out - always fun!) He had his first shot, so hopefully he is on his way to recovery, too.

Random Things

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Esmé's Mommy here.
Prayers requested for Mavinga, our gardener’s 4-year-old son. He was sick with a fever, and his dad took him to the hospital on Friday. Things so quickly take a turn for the worse in this country – it seems kids we know are dying all the time – and I would hate to see anything tragic happen to this beautiful kid.
Yesterday my sister and two friends got mugged while walking on the Maputo beach. In broad daylight. With other people around. There were no serious injuries and all property was recovered, but it was scary to realize how vulnerable we are here.
On a more positive note – my niece turned 14 yesterday. Here we are at a girls’ night in her honor – watching movies with popcorn and pizza and cake nearby. And my other niece here (who is turning 10 today) gives the most wonderful back massages!
I’ve got a couple of memes to play. Today we’ll start with a simple one since I don’t feel like thinking hard (must be all the chocolate). This one comes from Celita at The Spices of Life: Five random things about myself:

1. Gouda is my new favorite cheese. Sorry, cheddar boy!
2. I’m looking at a heart-shaped bruise on my leg – very romantic blues and yellows. Last week Esmé fell off her bed at a chalet we were staying at, and in my rush to get to her, I ran into the corner of our bed.
3. I ate chocolate ProNutro for breakfast, along with my hot chocolate. I think I am addicted.
4. am going to do my Pilates DVD today. No excuses. Even if I can’t leave the yard to walk or jog or ride the bike, and even if there are no local TurboKick classes and gyms, I CAN experience the joys of exercise. :)
5. I LOVE reading. I collect books because I’m afraid I will run out of books to read someday, and I can’t stand the thought of not having something to read. But I am NOT a librarian type. No. NO. NO! (Sorry, I'm a little sensitive about that today . . . )

I tag people the easy way – the first five people to comment on my post yesterday get tagged today. I would LOVE to hear more of the finer details of your lives:

1. Kori at See Kori Rant
2. Baroness Black
3. Sarah at Tales from Oakbriar Farm
4. Mama Jil at M is for Mommy
5. Sheila at Somebody Loved

Goodbye, Hello

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This was a sad week. My Oupa left me and went back home on Tuesday. I cried and cried as he was getting in the car and riding away. He did leave me with lots of beautiful shells that I love to play with.

But yesterday Grandma finally arrived! We went to the airport and watched her climb down the plane steps and waited and waited and waited and waited for her to get her luggage and get through customs. I smiled and smiled at her, and she sat next to me on the drive home and made me smile some more! We are having lots of fun together! And Grandpa is glad she is here, too.

On another note, I wanted to share some photos of me and Daddy and Mavinga. Remember Mavinga, our gardener's 4-year-old son whose mother died last month? His auntie was looking after him during the day, but he ran away one day. We prayed for him and were so happy to see his daddy carrying him into our yard later that day.

So he comes to work with his daddy most every day. He helps to pick up leaves from under the trees, and sometimes I help, too. And Ms. Cathrine plays with us outside most mornings. Sometimes we do school in my craft room together. He loves to play with my balls and dolls and talks up a storm, even though Mommy and Daddy can't understand what he is saying. I am teaching him words in English like "ball" and "doll," and Mommy guesses he's teaching me some words in his language, too.

Meet Mavinga

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This is my new friend, Mavinga. He is 4 years old. He came to work today with his daddy, Mr. Antonio, who is our gardener. He likes to sweep, just like I do!




Mavinga's mommy died several weeks ago, so his daddy brought him here to the city with him. I would miss my mommy if she died.

Mommy says that Mozambique has one of the lowest life expectancies in the world - just over 40 years. That means there are LOTS of children here missing either one or both parents.