Since "our" baby is no longer in the hospital, it was time to do the official new baby home visit today! We went together with Mary to see Sunday and her baby after work today. What fun we had! This little baby boy is so beautiful, and all he was doing the whole time we were there was sleeping, had a little drink of milk, waved his little fists in the air a few times, eyeballed who was holding him, and then went back to sleep. He wasn't even afraid of the sweaty white girl :)
But that could be because he was pretty sweaty himself! It's different here - moms keep their babies completely wrapped up, even when it's 35C in the house because they think if the baby gets cold, he will get sick. So the poor little babies are always sweating, but they're always covered and wearing lots of clothes. Sunday had just changed baby's little outfit because he peed in the first one, so I took the opportunity to take his picture while he wasn't all bundled up!
However, I must admit, there are some advantages to the bundling - there are at least a few layers of cloth to soak up the pee when you cuddle with them! I have to admit, I still haven't figured out what happens when they poo... but I've been around enough babies here to know that they just pee all over everything, and it doesn't seem to be a problem! Anyways, we had a really nice visit with Sunday and Mary and baby Salah. Jackie and I were thinking about the last time we visited there, we could hardly say two words to the family, as we just didn't know enough Arabic. But today we had lots of things to chitchat about, and we could even tell mildly amusing stories and understand bits of what other people were saying! That's a real encouragement to see that my Arabic is getting a bit better, actually with not too much effort on my part (I rarely, if ever, study beyond the occassional lesson that I get!). It's motivation enough to make me think that perhaps I actually should open my little notebook of words and study once in a while, too, so I can actually continue to improve!
Another bonus of the time with Sunday was that we got to eat some really tasty food - a stew made from green leaves and peanut paste, soaked up with balls of sorghum and cassava asida. For those of you familiar with Kenyan Ugali, the sorghum cassava asida is sorta like the sticky version of ugali. Sticky and hard to eat with your hands, but so tasty. I love sorghum! Everytime we eat it somewhere, I think to myself that I really should eat it more often, but I haven't a clue as to where to buy it here, or how to cook it! So I guess I'll just have to keep visiting people to make sure I get a steady diet of asida :)
1 comment:
So no diapers, eh? There is a trend over here among some moms who don't use diapers and seek to communicate with the baby about when they will be "eliminating". Apparently it moms in Africa and such places have it down pat. Do they really just pee on their clothes, or do the moms hold them over a potty when they have to go?
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