Maadi Mention: La Sombra

Our little Twitterverse has been abuzz with news about a new little Mexican restaurant that recently opened its doors right here in Maadi.

At first we thought it was a hoax. A Mexican restaurant? In Maadi?

Wintertime

All week long Rachel has been pining for wintertime, which she thinks is an actual, physical place not unlike the North Pole featured in such films as Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph. I tried explaining to her several times that we don’t really get wintertime here, but everyday I hear something like this:

“Are we going to Wintertime? It’s very cold there. I’ll need my coat. Egypt—us—don’t have snow. Or cold. Dada likes snow. I like snow, too.”

Or this:

“Are we going to go to Winter? When are we going to go at Wintertime? It’s going to be so cold at Winter. I want to bring my blankey. I want you to carry me there.”

Miriam at 6 weeks

Tomorrow Miriam will be six weeks old. We met with Dr. Omar today and he weighed her twice.

“She’s 4850 grams!” he announced, handing her to Andrew and sitting back down at his desk to record the number, “Wait a minute. What was her birth weight?”

“3200 grams,” I said.

“Will you put her back on the scale for me?” he asked.

He and Andrew weighed her again. 4850 grams.

“We have a new record,” Dr. Omar announced.

Donuts

Yesterday while I was napping, Andrew had this Brilliant Idea to make donuts…something like so that we could tell his mom that we had not only survived, we had made donuts to boot.

…Not that she doubted we would survive. Truthfully, I think we were the ones who were doubting. But look, we made donuts!

Counting’s not silly

Recently Rachel mastered how to show the number two with her fingers—like the peace sign. She’s very proud of this. She also can make a three, only she uses her pinky, ring, and middle finger for some reason. She’ll show anyone who will look.

And if you’re lucky, she might even count for you. This is a real treat.

She can count to eleven. Almost.

You’re not the boss of me now!

Lately Rachel has been on this bossy kick. A few weeks ago Andrew asked her to do something and she looked up at him and said,

“You’re not the boss! I’m the boss!”

To prove just how boss-like Andrew is, we sent her to her bedroom.

While of these emblems…

Last week the sacrament hymn was While of These Emblems We Partake (#174). After we had finished singing it, Rachel, instead of folding her arms and reverently getting ready for the prayer, exclaimed,

“That’s a funny song!”

This week we sang While of These Emblems We Partake again (only the other tune, #173). Rachel was even more embarrassing. Of course. She always manages to find a way to outdo herself.

Sleep Deprived

Since Grandma's been gone there has been more screaming, yelling, crying, lecturing, and messes in our home than I ever thought imaginable. Rachel has even threatened to run away--thank you, Rudolph--luckily she can't open the front door yet. And it's only been, what, three days? Wow.

Remember the cat

A while back my friend left a comment on my blog about her mother’s advice to “remember the cat.” Andrew and I have been joking about that ever since, whenever I need something. Like breakfast. Or sleep. Or not to be touched for 2 minutes of the day.

I was holding Rachel over the potty a few days ago and for some reason she wouldn’t go potty, even though she had given me all the signs that she needed to go. I was sure she had to go, she just had to relax enough to do it. Then the phrase “remember the cat” popped into my head and I had a stroke of pure genius.

Test Run

Grandma left for South Africa earlier this evening; she’s going to visit her sister, Dorothy, who is on a mission in Port Elizabeth with her husband Raymond (they work with the Perpetual Education Fund). We have mixed feelings about having her go.

It’s been wonderful to have her here, but I think we’re both kind of excited to see if we really can handle life (+2 kids) without her.

I did get the dishes washed tonight so it just might be possible.

Frankly, the only reason we are excited to see if we can handle having her gone is because we know that she’ll be coming back after a week, so it’s only a reality test run. We get her back for the rest of December, thank goodness. Perhaps by then we’ll really be ready to take the reigns. Maybe.

Rachel handled the parting better than I thought she would, although she did try to stowaway into the cab with Grandma. She knows, though that Grandma is only going for a week to visit her sister. She’ll be back soon. No tears were shed, surprisingly enough, and Rachel went to bed willingly.

We’ll see how tomorrow goes and if we end up eating something more than oriental noodles.

Have a fun time, Grandma! We’ll be counting down the days until you get back…