7 February 2018

You and Mopsy

Joyce is one of your best friends at school.

You and me and Abby Jones went to a birthday party for one of Abby Jones' little classmates, Emma.

You and Nora love to swim together.

The three of you love to play together, and with Dina and Naomi, also.

This is our first mother/daughter Jabreen date after returning to Malindi.

In the London Heathrow airport, and you're still smiling big!

You love all your cousins!

Ruth Michael, you have now lost two teeth. I can't believe it, but you really are growing up. The first tooth you lost happened when we were in Sevierville, TN with my girlfriends from college. You lost it trying to open a play dough container. We all got on our hands and knees to try to find it but never did. What was funny was that we had been eating popcorn and so there were little bits of popcorn all over the floor which, of course, looked like a little tiny baby tooth. That made the search even more interesting. In the end, we decided you had probably swallowed it, and we left a note for the tooth fairy under your pillow explaining what had happened. You got $1. The next time you lost a tooth we were back in Malindi and you were at school. You made sure you held on to this one, and you were so proud to bring it home. You put it under your pillow that night and the tooth fairy forgot to come! I told you that she gets very busy sometimes, but she would definitely come the next night. You got 200ksh, and you used it to buy a pack of M&M's. You know what you spent your first tooth fairy money on? You used it to buy a birthday present for your little sister. You wanted to get a card and a present and a bag to put it in so I helped you. You are so sweet and thoughtful! You were really nervous about going back to school in Malindi after being away for so long. We brought a bunch of American candy back (Twizzlers, Sour Patch Kids, and Swedish Fish) and you passed them out to your classmates. That day you won musical chairs and that had made you so happy. You said all the kids raised you up above their heads and they were chanting your name. Sometimes you feel like you are small or slow compared to some of the boys in your class, and that makes you feel down, but you still do really well with school, and you were selected to take part in the swimming gala. You are an excellent swimmer. You love your life here in Malindi. You go to school and come home around 3pm. On Fridays we get mahamri for breakfast on the way to school, and you love that. The first thing you wanted to do after we got back to Malindi after being away for 3 months was go to Jabreen and get mahamri and chai. You are a Kenyan girl. When you get home from school, you want to go play with Nora. You love to watch TV, but I don't let you do that unless your homework is finished. I try to keep it to 30 minutes on school days... either Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood or Ruby and Max. Mostly you love to play upstairs with your toys or outside on your bike or at the beach. I don't make you take naps anymore, but by the time we finish supper, you can hardly keep your eyes open. Oh yeah... you got pet rabbits! Yours is a grey one named Mopsy and you love it.