Ode to the Wee One

Wee is a British term that I love.  Our British teammates use it often and it makes me smile.  Since little t is the youngest on the team, it is usually used in reference to him. Our teammate E is wonderful and always calls the kids on the team 'beautiful children' as in 'go wash your hands beautiful children, it is time for supper'. She always calls little t 'gorgeous boy', as in 'come sit with me, gorgeous boy, so your mommy can have a break'. I love it...the terms, not just the break part!  


Anyway, this post is about the wee one of the house...life for little t these days


Little t is a spitfire, that is for sure.  He is in that crazy fun age where he is into everything and learning new things each day.  I will try to give a full recap. 

Walking is the biggest accomplishment little t has under his belt.  He actually started with a few steps a few weeks back, but just in the last few days it is really taken off.  He still is pretty cautious and still loses his balance and falls down, but he is going everywhere now.  It seems to have really given him a new sense of independence that he appreciates. Tonight was the first team meeting since we have arrived that we actually enjoyed and didn’t leave with all three of us completely wiped out and frazzled.  Little t just walked from person to person and back to A and I to get toys, etc.  So, it is fun.

The kid doesn’t shut up!  He talks ALL.THE.TIME!  He is constantly talking to whoever will listen…or even when there isn’t anyone around. Today I caught him wagging his finger and saying no no no to a stuffed animal!  He always has big stories for Angel khAla and she just cracks up.  A week or so ago, we had the big idea that A and the guard (kAkA) could take little t to the bazaar while I washed diapers and had 10 minutes of free time...kAkA was all excited about until he realized how naughty little t is in the car. The real reason I was telling you this is because little t talked to kAkA the whole time. At one point kAkA turned to A and asked what little t was saying. A replied that he had no idea because he wasn’t speaking English. kAka made the (obvious) point that he wasn’t speaking the local language either and then while nodding his head declared, “aha! Chino-E ast!’ (Oh! It’s Chineese!) Funny. 

The other day I was going to take little t outside which he was really excited about.  I got him ready and opened the door before I realized that I didn’t have a skirt or scarf on, so quickly turned around in the porch to pull those on.  Little t let himself out the door and I could hear him yelling at someone. He was saying ‘Hey’ over and over.  I realized that he was yelling at kAkA who was across the yard. kAkA They proceeded to jump on the trampoline and play with little t’s tractor in the mud before little t decided it was more fun to roll around in the mud….at which point kAkA looked at me and said, “he’s a mess, you take him!”  The highlight of little t’s days are when kAkA plays with him. He loves it.  He especially loves when kAkA bounces him on the trampoline, he just laughs and laughs.

Some of our teammembers who are home right now have a dog in their yard, which has now been adopted by our yard.  Little t loves the dog and just laughs when he sees her.  He also says ‘dog dog dog’ when he sees her or hears her outside.  Another teammember has a cat that he is crazy about. Quite a few afternoons a week we go visit R and her cat Gorgeous.  Tonite in team meeting, little t saw R across the room and was saying ‘cat cat’. He also has started making the noise for a monkey and points to animals on the page.  If you ask him what an elephant says, he lifts one arm up in the air.  Funny boy.

What else? He is learning lots of words and signs.  He signs more, all done and has started eat and please and thank you. We are working on cat, dog, donkey, drink.  He says dad, mom, cat, dog, cheese, tractor, cracker, no, more, naan…can’t think of what else right now. 

I think I have mentioned before that he is totally into movies and t.v. Today he was riveted by Toy Story while I frantically put away the contents of the pantry I took out to clean/organize and tried to make lunch for last minute guests (who never came, mind you) at the same time. So, he sat and watched…and I was thankful. There is a local language kids show on each afternoon…it is slightly freaky with grown men dressed up as clowns and old people puppets….but little t loves it!  He watches and laughs. I figure it is good language and people exposure for him…and for me!

He has decided that he is brave enough to kiss his daddy…that he is not too scared of the beard.  For the longest time he wouldn’t even let A kiss him cause of his whiskers…then he warmed up to where A could kiss his head. Then A could kiss his cheek.  The other night when little t was getting ready for bed, he reached up and gave A a big kiss on the mouth.  There has been no turning back since then! Each night, he has given A a kiss…only when I am holding him…but still. The negative part of this story…he refused to kiss me for three days!  Little bugger!

He is definitely a fan of his Dad.  He squeals every time A walks in the room from work, etc. They have little games they play and he loves making funny faces while A is watching.  They play and talk and do ‘manly stuff’ which usually involves little t carrying a hammer around the house.  Very very fun!

Okay, that is all I can think of for tonite.  Time for bed!