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I hear that irrational fears are somewhat typical in young children, but recently Zoey has developed a fear of my loofa (you know the round fluffy things that serve as a type of wash-cloth). She did not want to go into the bathroom to wash her hands out of fear of…the loofa. Dave gave her a hug, explained to her that a loofa is not scary, and then told her to go wash her hands. She came out of the bathroom crying, “Why mommy use that?”
Afraid of bugs…again?
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Zoey found a scar on her arm from the immunizations she was given in Ethiopia. Once she noticed the scar, she went through a phase of not being able to use that arm and she was also constantly in pain from the shot she had three years ago.
Afraid of…everything?
Elias’ commitment to kill himself
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Elias consistently sleeps with his blanket over his face (and not over his body) and if you try to remove it, he instinctively grabs the blanket and puts it right back on his face.
Kaden is a mama’s boy
Not only is he a mama’s boy, but he probably talks more then our other three children combined. He tells me every single detail about his day including how many times he went to the bathroom at the preschool. And if anything is out of routine, he looks at me and says “This is SUCH a crazy day!” Kaden also loves to follow rules. For instance we explained to him the importance of walking within a sidewalk and since then he will not allow one toe to cross over the sidewalk lines. He will walk sideways to prevent himself from stepping outside the lines.
Is Zoey the mom around here?
She also is obsessed with cupcakes. If she is wearing cupcake underwear, we quickly have to put pants on her to cover them because she is incapable of doing anything but point to her underwear squealing “cupcake, cupcake, cupcake!” (really, for hours if we had let her). And when we ask her what she wants to thank God for, it is always always always cupcakes.
The other day I was talking to Elias when Kaden walked into the room and patted the foot of Elias’ bed and said “Hi turtle.” He continued to have a mini-conversation with the “turtle” and then walked out of the room. It was not until a few days later that I discovered a turtle sticker on Elias’ bed (I was glad to see some concrete reason for this conversation).
Train!
Polar Opposite Study Habits
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This does not compare to the quirkiness of our children, but Dave and I have polar opposite study-habits. For me, there is nothing I love more than an organized desk, white boards, charts and maybe a hike up a mountain while I memorize some vocab cards. Dave, on the other hand, has never studied in a vertical position.
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People in France have small families and thus a family of four seems quite large, maybe even a bit overwhelming to some. Not only are we an extraordinarily large family, but our children are all the same age. Not only are they all the same age, but they are a different race than us. Not only are they a different race than us, but they are also…English speakers. And to top that off, we do not have a car so we really are a circus that goes up and down the streets of our small French city. There is nothing about us that blends in here (or maybe anywhere)?
