Saturday, May 24, 2008

Meke's Fairy Tale

The preschool Meke attends encourages kids to use their imagination and tell stories. This past week the teachers sat down and recorded the kid's stories word for word and sent them home. Here's Meke's:

I am the Princess Neti. I live in the castle with the other princesses. Then the prince comes. The prince goes with the other princess. Then the other princess goes with the prince. Then the castle goes with the other princess. I go with the castle. I look at the prince. The prince goes with me.

The end.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

A Baseball Team

Saturday we spent a little bit of time getting to know Fetya and Josiah, the Harbaugh's new kids, at the park. Lots of fun!

Welcome Home

Our friends, the Harbaugh's, arrived home from Ethiopia last week with their two little ones. Last Sunday night we took gifts and a special welcome home sign over to their house, rang the doorbell, and ran. By the way, Dave won the caption contest.

Thursday, May 08, 2008

Food Fights

We've experienced nearly every extreme food-wise in the past 9 months - especially with Meke. From the very beginning they could really pack it away. Meke could out-eat every member of the family. I remember one meal where she had 3 1/2 bratwursts (in buns), 2-3 piles of corn, some fruit, and several helpings of dessert - at the age of three! Neti shed some light on the reasons for gorging.

Then we went through the messy phase. Rhonda would argue that Neti's still there. There's improvement, though. The food hasn't found its way into her hair or ears for several months. And I can't remember the last time she had food on her forehead.

Not to long ago both girls cycled through the SLOOOOWWWW phase. Meke was especially turtlesome. It wasn't uncommon for her to be half done with her first helping a thirty minutes or more after everyone else had left the table.

Neti's good. I like the way she eats now (except for an occasional slurp or spill). But Meke! Once she ate everything. Now she's picky.

It seems she's of the mind that she can pick and choose what's to eat DESPITE what was prepared. Several weeks ago, for example, we had chicken for dinner. Meke likes chicken a lot. But for reasons hidden from us she decided she wasn't going to eat chicken that night. She sat at the table in poutful defiance until we dismissed her to bed without eating (her choice).

Next morning while everyone else was eating Lucky Charms, we peeled back the plastic wrap and served Meke chicken. Nope. Pack it away again for lunch. Nope again.

That evening we had friends over. Can't remember what we ate that night...but Meke had chicken. Surely after nearly 24 hours without food she'd eat it! Nope. For the fourth time we packed it away in the fridge. It was only when the other kids were eating dessert when she decided chicken wasn't so bad after all and gobbled it in less than two minutes with no problem at all.

We repeated the scene today. A few days ago she was begging for third helpings of spaghetti. Evidently it wasn't lunchworthy today. Lots of objections and whining ended in a tearful empty-bellied nap.

She ate it tonight for dinner before her hot dogs.

Thursday, May 01, 2008

Submit a Caption

Our friends, the Harbaughs, are in Ethiopia this week. This photo of Seth and their new baby, Josiah, was posted on their blogsite. It's in need of a caption, don't you think? So hit that comment button and submit one. The best caption will win ---- um ---- an award for winning --- or something.