Artiste

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Esmé's Mommy here:

Anyone who knows me knows I am not a very artsy person. However, I don't want Esmé to be the only kid on the block without a masterpiece on the wall by the time she is 18 months, so we've been improvising.

Usually art class consists of giving Esmé a piece of paper to scribble on, and then Mommy takes it and makes the craft out of it while Esmé eats crayons. This week's theme was elephants, as you can see.

Today Esmé decided to color on the wall while I was working on the toilet paper roll elephant. (Yes, I do give her blank paper, but she usually prefers tile art.) Here is what she came up with. Very nice purple and brown, with smudge aftereffects, don't you think?

And then while working with play dough, I remembered the imprint ideas I'd seen on other blogs and had the bright idea to imprint baby doll's feet. Esmé was all over that one. We had a couple of trial and errors, but here are our final imprint sets, Esmé's on the left (in case you were wondering).
Now, if someone could tell me how to get MySpace back in English, I'd appreciate it. It's all in Portuguese now, and I'm just not there yet on my language lessons!

Party Time!

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Here it is as promised - the exciting story of my very first birthday party, right here in Mozambique. It started out with the delivery of 35 live chickens for a BBQ here at Daddy's shop in Machava.


I am going to break all blogging rules and post LOTS of photos, though we've made them small so hopefully they will load okay on your computer. I left out the chicken guts ones in case I have any sensitive viewers . . .


Guests
Including Ouma and Oupa and my cousins and the expat Maranatha team, all the Maranatha shop workers were there, so there were about 80 people total. Here I am making the rounds.


Here I am visiting with Jorge (the shop supervisor) and some of the other shop workers.




I am with Ms. Cathrine, talking on her phone. I like to play with her.

This is Uncle David.


And my cousin Marquelle.


And my Auntie Susan.


Food
There was lots of food, from BBQ chicken to veggie crumbed schnitzels, mixed vegetables, a rice dish, mealie pap, fresh bread, cabbage salad, and sodas. And there was lots of peach cake - Mommy baked for two days straight - with custard for dessert, but I didn't get to try any of that.


I decided to help the cooks dish out the food.


I ate some of the veggie crumbed schnitzels.


Here are some of the workers eating.


This is me with Daddy getting into my cupcake and candle. I couldn't blow out the candle because it was too windy to light it.


Entertainment
For entertainment, we brought out my skateboard. Some of the guys decided to try it out. Some of them did okay.


Some of them didn't do so well.


Then I got on and whizzed by everybody. I am a pro, you know.


I am starting down the ramp in front of the shop.



Going faster. And faster. And faster. This is starting to get scary!


I didn't fall though. Daddy got me at the bottom. I did it three times. I am good!


Then I did my stand-up routine for everybody.


Then everyone else got to play tug-o-war. I wanted to play, but Daddy thought I might get stepped on so moved me out of the way . . .



By this time I was really tired, so we went home.

Birthday Cake
After I had a long nap, my cousins came over for supper. Here I am getting ready to blow out my candle on my carrot cake. There was no wind to help me this time, though, so Daddy helped out.


I DID get to eat some of the carrot cake. It had raisins, too, so it was VERY healthy . . .


Here are my cousins and me behind the cake. Don't I look much older than before?


Presents
Mommy says birthdays aren't about getting presents, but presents sure are a lot of fun. After supper, I opened my presents. I wanted to play with each one and had to be coaxed to open the next one. Stacker cups are cool!


Here I am showing my cousin Janelle my garden counting book. This came from several people - Auntie Barbara gave Mommy the material, Mommy cut and basted it together, and Ouma sewed it up.


This is a pretty doll blanket Marquelle knit for my doll.



There's got to be some way to put this swimming suit on! I tried over the head and over the feet, and it doesn't seem to work any way I try!


And this pretty dress just doesn't seem to fit right. Maybe I need to lose some weight or get my head tucked.

Now shoes I can handle, though.

Videos

Wow, what a fun day I had! Mommy took lots of video, so she will have to get some software to edit it one of these days and make a cool memory video for me. In the meantime, we are posting two videos for good measure.

The first is of the shop guys singing Happy Birthday to me. The second is of me skateboarding down the shop ramp.

Chariot

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Wow, this sorting out of birthday photos is taking as long as calling the election results in Zimbabwe! (Come on, folks, stop looking for sticky ballots on the bottom of pigs. Let's move the country past the ignomious fame of having the worst inflation rate in the history of histories.)


To fill in time, I thought I'd tell you about my chariot. This Schwinn is the way I get from place to place in this country. Excellent suspension and big wheels make the potholes and sandy roads a walk in the park . . . The double occupancy seating provides room for a diaper bag and lots of toys. And the screen provides mosquito and other unmentionable flying bug protection.





And I'm not even being paid for this infomercial!

Bye-bye Ouma and Oupa

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I had a very cool birthday yesterday! I am a year old now!

Mommy is still trying to sort through all the photos and videos, so we can't blog about the party yet.

But I just wanted to let you know Ouma and Oupa left early this morning to go back home to Cape Town. I miss them already. Here are some photos of me with them on my birthday.

Birthday Letter

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My Dearest Esmé,

It’s hard to believe it’s been a year since you splashed into our world! It was two agonizingly long weeks after we expected you to arrive, but though you may have been slow off the mark, you lost no time in catching up and exceeding all our expectations. You continue to amaze us every day!

It’s been a year to savor. We’ve been applauding each new milestone and accomplishment, but I’ve been secretly wishing time would slow down so I could enjoy each moment longer.

Happy Girl. When your first smiles popped out at 6 days old, even I was skeptical. All the books said it must be gas, since babies don’t smile until at least 6 weeks . . . But it quickly became evident that you were a smiler from the start, interacting and brightening the lives of everyone around you. You learned very early that when you smile at the world, the world smiles back. Even when you were suffering at your worst with allergies, it didn’t take much to get that smile to come out.

Friendly Girl. Never shy, you're usually the first to reach out, the first to smile, the first to be a friend. I love watching you engage those around you, both babies and adults, as you try to find out more about them. You pass them your toys and your food, excited to see their reaction, then quickly take it all back. We shall have to work on that!

Inquisitive Girl. You are constantly trying to figure out how things work. It’s not enough to stand on the skateboard – you want to watch the wheels move and figure out what the screws are for. Instead of smiling for the camera, you reach for it to check out the parts and see what it does. At times your inquisitiveness seems to conflict with our desire to keep you safe, but don’t let us squelch your desire to learn.

Confident Girl. You traveled halfway around the world to Mozambique at 6 weeks old without a fuss. You love doing new stunts with your Daddy, trusting him completely. At three months, you were standing upright on his hands. At nine months you were standing on the skateboard by yourself as it moved. He introduced you to the water, and you bravely took on the surfboard and boogie board with no worries. When you fall, you get back up – no cries or fussing.

Beautiful Girl. I remember staring at you in the hospital and thinking you had such incredible, long, dark eyelashes. They are still beautiful, framing your big baby blue-gray eyes. You have a perfect little nose and mouth, perfect little ears, perfect fingers and toes. And when your brilliant smile comes on, all those perfect parts meld into the most beautiful girl in the world.

Happy birthday, Esmé. May you continue to increase in wisdom, in stature, and in favor with God and man.

I love you, my little sunshine girl.

Your Mommy