beach, dog shadow, and sorbet

Blog Jan. 30, 2008
We dropped off our friends, Alfonso and Liz, at the bus today to return home. It was so very nice to get to see them and hang for a few days with them. It was mostly beach time. Liz came with her objectives very clear cut... her skin had to darken through a great relaxation at the beach and slathering of oils and gels to bring the sun more in touch with her skin. She succeeded and is now recovering but happy. Alfonso joined her in this goal. And he achieved it as well. We also went to a couple ruins...the ones in Coba and the ones in Tulum. Johari loves the beach so it was perfect for her as well. She can play in the sand contentedly much of the time or she requests "water" time. In which case we go play in the surf. She runs in and out of the water. Windsurfers landed on the beach a few times. The 'kites' or sails that were pulling them along became Johari's play tent when they landed on the beach. We stayed the night in Tulum last night so we could hang out a bit more.
This afternoon just before she went down for her nap, Grandpa, Granny Em and I taught Johari "Ring Around the Rosie". She loved it. She would have had us doing it for hours if everyone had been willing. She will be ready to play "Ring Around the Rosie" with Mia when she comes to visit. And maybe Jordan will enjoy some "Ring Around the Rosie" with her as well.
Yesterday evening we went into town (Tulum) before dinner so that Liz and Alfonso could take care of a few things. There was a big political rally going on. A final rally before an election of some sort which made the vibe on the street more like a party with everyone out to socialize and music playing in the background. Johari loved walking down the sidewalk with lots of people around, music playing and the nightlife. That girl likes to have fun!
She is definitely scared of shadows, day or night. It may be lessening slighly. She calls shadows "dogs" since that was the initial scary shadow that set this whole thing off. Grandpa feels sorry that he ever made that dog shadow, but who knew... All I can say is that it is a good thing that we will be going back to Seattle soon where gray skies lessen the chances of as many shadow encounters until that fear wears off.
A few days ago, Johari had a blast wanting to play with this kitten at Lol Che. She would follow it, very excited, and tell it to come to her. But if it started to seem like it would chase her or come towards her she would sign that she was scared and run to me. I was playing with the cat with a stick. Johari wanted to hold the stick too, but when the kitten would bat the stick, she would drop it scared. She had fun. It was a funny back and forth of her desire to play with and her fear of not knowing what it would do. She had a good time.
She loves to have her little bit of lime sorbet with her grandpa in the evening now. She asks for it often. It is a sweet treat for her. A grandpa treat. We won't be continuing the tradition when grandpa is not around, but it is a grandpa´s right.

burnt hips and fun at the beach...the other

Blog Jan 25, 2008

Today we had a lovely day. We spent a long morning at the beach. Johari had woken up very early for some unknown reason, so she fell asleep on the way to the beach. I waited while she snoozed for a while. When she got up we donned our beach gear. Johari has decided topless is definitely the way to go for her. Smothered ourselves in sunscreen. Dumby me left my own legs unprotected because my experience is that they always seem to stay lily white, sun or no sun. But my hips are now burned. You live and learn or at least we hope that we learn from these things. First we went to play in the surf. We kneeled in the water and then we even went in a bit deeper. After some playtime in the water, we went to sit under a tree. She played in the sand for a while. Scooping sand and pouring it between her shovel and her sieve. She seemed content doing this for quite some time. Then we went back to the water. She had a blast with the water this time and gathered more courage. She was running in and out of it. She had abandoned the need to be holding on to my hands with each splash of water. She is even fell down into the water and I scooped her out immediately. It didn’t phase her. She danced and ran in and out of the water. Good times!!! She didn’t really ever want to go away from the water.
When we got back we had lunch at Lol Che restaurant and there were some tour bus loads of Finnish people having lunch as well. A girl who was 3 months older than Johari was in the mix. Johari took to her right away. They immediately started interacting. And when they were both done eating they had a grand time playing with each other. Holding hands and running back and forth together. Hugging each other. It was wonderful. And it was interesting as well. Because if I watch her with Mary Carmen it doesn’t go like this. It is much more serious interaction with a much longer time for them to warm up to each other. Why? Well, my dad says there is this theory in anthropology of the Other. And that children recognize the “other”. So he would say that Mary Carmen is from a very different background compared to the little Finnish girl. Since the Finnish girl and Johari probably come from similar cultures they connect rapidly and interact easily. I don’t know what I think of this all. I mean I don’t necessarily want to believe this is true. I think that it may have to do with Mary Carmen is not put down on the ground. She is not walking yet so she is always held on someone’s lap. And then the interactions with adults are different than she may be used to at home. More serious. More quiet between people. Just my own interpretation of course. Because with some of the older kids she has warmed up to them, maybe not as rapidly as with this little girl from the tour bus. She likes Mary Carmen and wants to go see her often. But they definitely need more coaching to hit it off. My dad told me of a time when they were in Albania with my brother when he was little and how he would take a while to warm to the Albanian children and then they were eating in a hotel one day and there was a little German boy that my brother immediately ran off to play with. What does this mean? Kids are sensitive to the subtle differences in how people act and interact with one another. And if there are cultural differences that dictate how to interact, it would probably have some effect on how easily the child comes out and dives into play.

Johari is definitely scared of shadows right now. Hopefully this will dissipate with time and with better communication about it in the future. A dog shadow made with hands has scared her twice. And in the evening she was scared of a large dragonfly on the wall. More fears keep coming out. It is good that she can communicate her fears with her signs. I really am grateful for that.

In the afternoon I couldn’t get her to take a nap. She just wouldn’t rest even though she was crabby tired. I had to walk her to sleep. Then she took a good nap on my back.

pyramids, swamps, and scams

Blog 1-24-08
Today we went to a small group of ruins that I had never been to. It also had a boardwalk through a swamp and ended up at the shore of the sea. Johari climbed her first pyramid. She at least climbed a few of the steps a few times. She and I went up to the highest part which was a low pyramid. Then along the boardwalk there was a look out tower. I put her in the Ergo and climbed to the top of the lookout tower. It was a beautiful view. A scary descent, but not so bad. Just kind of like climbing up and down a ladder with your kiddo on your back.
Well, I got scammed today and then recovered from the scam. Here is how it went. I went to get gas at the station. And the guy filled it up. I knew that I had two 200 peso bills ready to give him. The other guy who was doing my windows suddenly said the tire on the other side of the car was low and wanted to show me. So I got out of the car to look at it. I had given the guy that pumps the 400 pesos. When I came back around, he showed me a 200 and a 20 as all that I had given him. Thinking maybe I had slipped up somehow and been wrong, I paid him. Then while sitting waiting for air, I realized that I had been ripped off. What was I going to do? What was I going to say? Was I just going to give up? I definitely had a back and forth in my head. Give up and do nothing or don’t let myself be taken advantage of. So I gathered my strength and got a little more pissed at being ripped off and I went back to the guy and told him that I gave him 400 pesos. He immediately gave me back 200. He lost out on 20 pesos in the end.
I have started reading the book Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt. Definitely not bursting with joyful moments so far but not overly depressing either. It is interesting.
We are having a 2 Signing Time DVD day since she didn’t get an afternoon nap. Typically, we have been watching Signing Time altogether after dinner sometime. It is nice to get altogether and watch the DVD. Johari makes sure that each person does the signs even if she doesn’t necessarily do it herself. That girl really likes to direct and run the show once she gets comfortable. She gets people to walk and go places and play with her and eat their food and sit in different places and kiss and hold hands and give her all of their olives and strawberries.

more in mexico

Today, we went into Coba and went to the fancy hotel in town there. Johari and I went into the swimming pool. We had a good time in the pool. She didn't want to wear her bikini top. Who needs it, right? And we don't have swimming diapers because Target didn't have them when we left. They were out of season!!!! Isn't every season a possible time to go to the swimming pool for little kiddos. So the regular diapers soak up all possible water when one wears it into the pool. The diaper becomes extremely bloated and heavy!!! Johari definitely loved hanging out in the pool. And it is nice in many ways because there is some shade over parts of the pool. There is a ledge underneath the water around the edge that was the perfect height for Johari to walk around on when she was overtaken by her need to be independent. She has probably been going through waterplay withdrawl since we don't have a bath here. We just take short showers. The pool was a fix for her waterplay craving. Then we had lunch at the hotel restaurant. It was good food and Johari ate more than usual and tried more things. She looked so content looking out at the pool while she sat laid back in a recliner high chair and gnoshed on her food.
Mary Carmen had a baby doll today. And Johari was more than happy to take care of it. She nursed it and put it in the top of her dress to carry it around and bounce it and sit in the chair and so on. Babies...that girl loves them.

Mexico Beginnings

Blog 1-18-2008

Johari’s hair needs no product help here in the warm, humid weather of Mexico. It stays curled up tight here. But homemade salt dough to play with does NOT work in this weather. It just gets stickier and gooier. Not a warm weather play invention.
She has met Mary Carmen, the baby that is about 1 year old. Mary Carmen is pretty serious so far. And amazingly Johari is pretty serious around her as well and very shy. It is hard to believe considering how much she loves to play with babies. I guess it is all a lot to take in and see if she is comfortable with. We went down to the restaurant Lool Che here today. The one that is on the property where my dad’s house is. We had lunch there and Johari really enjoyed it. Rice, beans, guacamole, chicken, chips, and TOMATOES. She was really diggin’ those tomatoes.
She likes to direct people. So on the walk back from the restaurant, she was telling us who should take turns holding whose hand and when. She had us rotate through various hand holding matches.
Her grandpa got her a little plastic table and chairs which she sits at some, but more than sitting, she likes to push and carry the chairs all around. Or put one of her babies in it and push it around.
1-19-08
I learned how to pat tortilla dough into a tortilla today. It is as good as playing with play dough, it is just you have to get it into a perfect circle every time. Johari watched while I worked with other women on making tortillas. She held a bit of dough in her hand and then sucked on some cooked tortilla.
She found a toy truck to play with. And she began to warm up to the kids. They are preparing for a wedding celebration tomorrow. Soooooo much cooking to do! They are making a pit to cook a stew of many meats in the ground. They slaughtered a pig early this morning. Which means that the lunch meal had a mound of fried pork skins to accompany the black beans. Johari chewed on a bit of the cracklin’ and ate a few of the black beans. She wore the Mayan traditional dress today. It kept falling off her shoulder and baring her chest. Oh, well.
Her grandpa got her a beautiful handmade high chair to use while she is here which is making it easier to feed her.
It rained heavily all night. I think that made it so she slept pretty well. It also made everything incredibly muddy today. Mud can’t stop playing though.

1-21-08
Yesterday was the big wedding celebration out here at Lol Che restaurant. Johari had a good time. She played with a few other kids. She ran around. She watched and listened to the Mariachi band. She danced to the DJs music. She enjoyed the food, much to my surprise.
She is constantly talking about dogs and signing ‘dog’. She says Lola a whole lot too. It is as if she associates all dogs with Lola. I am not sure why. And babies are another great topic of conversation (of sorts). The other tale that she recounts over and over is how grandpa took her to see a horse on the property and how the horse has a ‘hurt’ on its leg. And the horse eats grass and drinks water. She has also started using the sign for ‘scared’ a lot. Some of it seems like it is used in a context that makes sense but some of the time, I am not sure what she is referring to being scared.
Today we went to the ocean for a short visit. It wasn’t exactly beach weather, kind of cool and overcast and a bit drizzly. But she enjoyed playing in the sand with her shovel and sieve. And then we went to put our feet in the water and she ended up getting wet and being naked and playing the surf. She liked it a lot but got cold pretty quickly. Mama didn’t think to bring an extra set of clothes so she had to just wear a diaper for the rest of our errands. You live and you learn. Next time we carry an extra set of clothes.
Johari is introduced and known as “Joya” to the Itza family here. Joya is jewel in Spanish.

An excursion to visit a friend in Victoria

Hey Grandpa what are you reading?

Taking care of one of her babies

Playing with her friend Julia

Johari and I went up to Victoria B.C. this weekend to visit a friend that I worked with in Tanzania, Gladys. It was wonderful to see her after 4 years. She arrived in Canada from Tanzania 3 months ago. What an overwhelming transition, I imagine. The millions of choices that one has to make in 'Western' society.

Gladys

I was thinking about how hard it is for people from many countries to travel anywhere else. The struggle to get a visa just to visit anywhere else. And yet with a U.S. passport, we take it for granted that we can just go most places without much work. We just have to show up and we can get right in. Shouldn't we all be free to travel the world. A world without borders that would be pretty incredible.
I also got more insight into the situation in Kenya, being that Gladys is Kenyan. She explained the situation to us more.
Johari has picked up a little cold. Hopefully it will diminish before we travel.
We had a nice visit with our friends, Cheryl and Jordan, this evening. At the end of our visit when we outside playing in the snow, Johari really really really wanted to hold Jordan's hand although the feeling wasn't mutual. She kept running after her and reaching for Jordan's hand. Before we got out of the house Jordan had wanted to hug Johari. She walked up to her with open arms but then didn't quite get her arms around Johari. Both very sweet gestures for one another.
Johari got a rolling dog from Christina about a week ago. A very cool toy for Johari considering she loves dogs. One day, I took her out to walk this dog down the street. It ended up being frustrating to walk the dog on the sidewalk because the dog kept falling over and then she would have to figure out how to get her dog upright again, take a few steps and the dog runs into the edge of the grass and falls over, work on getting it upright and on and on. Johari kept working at it. She was very determined.

Johari likes to put on her own headbands and several at one time. I like the stilo that she has created.
She is totally obsessed with her baby dolls. The other day, she wanted to bring 4 baby dolls with her. She was struggling to carry them all. So I put them in her backpack so she could carry them all. But then she did not want the backpack to be removed from her back. She likes to take care of all of them. And have them participate in activities. She gets them to wave "hi" and clap their hands or their feet. Sometimes she has them dancing. She can't let go of them. On the ferry ride home from Victoria, there was a very nice playroom onboard. A little boy in the playroom wanted to take care of Johari's baby as well. He was sweet to the baby but Johari had a hard time being alright with someone else having her baby. She is a protective mama. Not just any joe-schmoe kid can care for her baby. She only trusts me to do it at times and her grandma once in a while. Otherwise she has a heavy responsibility caring for all of her babies.

a few more...

Waiting to cross to Canada

Napping while we tour around Vancouver

Christmas day fun

Chillin' on the couch

some pics from the last couple of weeks....

Helping to do Great Grandma's Hair

Great Grandma gets to try the glasses

Ewwwww....drool

Eating oranges in the sun

Piling up her toys

busy people....

It has been a while since I have had a chance to blog or journal or anything of the sort. We went to Ohio over Christmas time to see Johari's great grandma. We had a good trip. Traveling with her went smoothly. Visiting a house that is not kid-friendly is more of a challenge. But we had a nice time anyway. We came back and our friend, Danny, was visiting. Johari and I went up to Vancouver for about a day and half with him and his friend. We stayed the night in a youth hostel. Pretty interesting place to take her. It would have been fine except that there seemed to be a bar or night club underneath the level that we were sleeping on. So she an I went to bed around 9 and she was able to sleep through it all. But I was not. I tried to sleep that whole time, but didn't really get into a real sleep until 2 or 3 in the morning when the bar shut down. The next evening, Johari and I rode the Amtrak home.
She seems to be getting her two upper canine teeth. The fangs are on their way in. It is always a slow process but I see one poking through. She will soon have her smile completed to dazzle the world with.
We made some new friends....what a blessing!! Cheryl (the mama) and Jordan (the 2 1/2 yr old girl). We have hung out with them a few times. We went to a children's museum the other night together. And while we were walking into the mall, Johari kept reaching to hold Jordan's hand to walk with her and Cheryl's hand too. Johari did give Jordan a little push while we were in Petco and looking at lizards. We have to work on that...that is, not doing that. But they are both great people and fun to hang with. I am very happy to have met them.
We also went to the art museum a few days ago with the Stee family crew (Hyon, Dan, Lua, Sung-Jin, and Jung-Gyu). And to Pike Place Market. It was a nice outing. Tiring but good. The art museum has a play room for the kiddos which is nice.
I was just realizing what is happening in Kenya. I am not in touch with world events enough. I try to listen to NPR when I am in the car but don't get in the car every day. I am worried about my friends in Kenya. I need to try to get in touch with them or their family members in the U.S.