1. EB currently loves to watch The Wizard of Oz – she likes to dance and sing when they do, and often asks me “Where are they going?”
2. Her favorite song is Jesus Loves Me, which she calls the Bible Song
3. She likes to ask for a hug, especially when she is in trouble. I am a sucker for this.
4. She tells her stuffed animals “I missed you, puppy.” Or “I missed you bear” when she sees them after a long break (anything more than 5 minutes).
5. Her best friends are Johan and Nicole, and she loves to play with both of them. She gets so excited when she sees them that she runs around in circles laughing (a little bit socially awkward, but sweet none-the-less)
6. Whenever we get dressed to go out, she says “okay, baby ready to go. Come on!”
7. She knows some of her colors – green, orange, pink, and yellow and like to go around pointing at things and saying “What color is this?”
8. She looooves candy – as a matter of fact, she has become a little candy scavenger – it there is candy within a mile radius, she finds and eats it!
9. She like to ask “Mommy, what you doin?” and “Where is Papa going?”
10. Having a tea party is one of her great joys in life - some neighbor girls come over almost daily to play with her, and they invariably put coke in her play tea cup – which she REALLY enjoys!

While in Dubai, we had the awesome opportunity to go on a Desert Safari.  It was by far the coolest thing I have done in Dubai!  First, you ride all over the desert for an hour or so at top speeds, sliding and having fun in the sand.  (EB and I did not participate in this part because of pregnancy and EB being too young) and then you join up with about a hundred other people at what looks like a nomadic camp for BBQ and entertainment.  Part of the entertainment is camel rides.  For thirty minutes Eb watched the camels, she would stand when they stood, crouch when they did, and she really got a kick out when the “camel pooped”.  Finally, when her turn to arrived, she handled it with grace and dignity - no fear, no screaming, she just rode the camel.  The next day, when asked if she rode a camel, she gave a dramatic interpretation of the event.  Here is one recording of her explaination…

My little musical genius decided to join in on some musical fun last night playing the guitar and singing about her favorite things - nite nite, mommy, papa, and jojo, nite nite kisses, and her blanket.  This video is a little long, but I am sure that the family will enjoy it - others may appreciate her heartfelt song and unintentional Stevie Wonder impression, if you stick it out that long.

For many months now I had planned to have a Christmas party for my neighbors.  I planned to invite every neighbor I know, including my teacher and her family and EB’s babysitter and her family.  Knowing that if everyone came it could add up to 50 or 60 people, I planned to clear out my dining room to have a second guest room in case more than thirty people actually came.  In preperation for the party, my language teacher helped me learn the Christmas story in Dari, lent me 18 serving dishes and 48 tea glasses, and hand wrote out the invitations that DB delivered with a plate of goodies to each of the homes.  I had been telling my neighbors about the party for weeks, telling them how excited I was to share with them our Christmas traditions, and they were excited about eating traditional Christmas treats!

As the day of the party approached, we learned that the same day was a national holiday, but everyone said it would only affect a portion of the population.  Wilma, Jody, my language teacher and I spent the entire day before the party cooking and making candy.  Two of the neighbor girls also came and helped cook and set thigns up.  One of my friends called and said she would be there, and the little girls told me their mother would be here too.

Late that evening, my language teacher called me to tell me her mother said she could not come.  What I didn’t know is that this national holiday was the anniversary of the Prophet Mohammed’s grandson’s death, and on this day everyone is required to be sad.  She told me that it would be a sin for her to come.  After this phone call, I realized that probably no one would come to the party.

You see, in this culture, you would never hurt someone’s feelings by telling them you could not attend a party - you would say all along you would be there and just not show up.  We were pleasantly surprised when 8 little girls came for the party.  We played games, told the christmas story, and ate yummy treats.  

Lesson Learned: Change the date of a party if it coincides with a national holiday - no matter what people say, the holiday is to be revered.

Lesson Learned: Only bake things you like yourself for a party in case no one comes and you are left to eat most of it.

Lesson Learned: Little girls will come to a party with their throat swollen shut and a fever if it means eating foreign goodies.

Lesson Learned: There is always another cultural lesson to be learned, no matter how much I think I know.

Well, between first trimester pregnancy tired and taking care of a rapidly growing toddler, not mention language learning and regular house duties and cross cultural adjustment, I haven’t posted in just about forever.  I do, however, want to let anyone out there still reading this blog know that Baby Wright #2 is due July 2010 and we are very excited about it!  I am currently 9 and half weeks pregnant and it has been pretty smooth so far.  I will see a doctor for the first time in Dubai at the end of January, but until then I am taking good care of myself and the little sweetie.  

EB Update:

EB is talking more and more in full sentences and continues to have a sweet character.  Always the little charmer, she has her Mamaw Wilma and Papaw Michael (visiting for Christmas) wrapped around her little finger.  She has an uncanny ability to show adults that she loves them in just the perfect way.  For example, she laughs and plays coy with Michael, and takes naps in the bed with Wilma.  In that child’s whole life I have not been able to get her to take a nap in the bed with me one time, but she snuggles right up to Wilma and sleeps like a log.  I remember when she was little and such a wiggle worm, she would sit still and let my fragile grandmother hold her unlike anyone else.  How does she instinctively know how to show people love?  I hope that is a gift that will carry through her whole life!

More updates to come on Christmas and life in Central Asia these days - if I ever get the energy!  Maybe look for the next post in three weeks when second trimester hits!

Last year about this time, my friend Christie introduced me to the joys of pumpkin painting with babies!  Before that, I would never have considered letting EB paint because of the huge mess it would make, but Christie made it seem so easy and cleaned it up so swiftly that it made me see that art projects and painting are totally doable, and I needed to just get over the whole mess thing.

So, this year we decided to paint pumpkins again.  Of course, here there are no little baby pumpkins like in the States, so we painted big pumpkins and EB really enjoyed herself!  EB’s little friend Nicole came over to paint with her.  Nicole is only a few months younger than EB, and Nicole’s mother is one my closest friend in town – we meet every week to pray and the girls play together really well.

 Nicole was hilarious!  She did not want the paint to make her dirty – she got very upset when there was paint on her hand, and tried very hard to wipe it off.  EB just dived right in and covered herself, her pumpkins, and Nicole’s pumpkins with paint.  Both girls had fun, and now we have beautifully painted pumpkins for fall!  

She LOVES stuffed dogs – she has several of all sizes, they are all named “ruff ruff” or “dog” and no other stuffed animal is as dear to her as these are.  She might play with them for a while, give them a hug, or have tea with them, but when it comes down to it, she wants “Dog,” preferably what Jody fondly refers to as “Dog the greater,” or, when he is being washed, “Dog the lesser.” 

She likes to chew on her stuffed animal’s noses.

She asks for “shoes” when she wants to go outside. 

She says water and bread in Dari.

She loves to look at pictures, especially of family members and herself.

She is very independent.  She rarely wants to do anything if she has to be helped with it.

She LOVES to watch me put on makeup and wants very badly to put some on herself – sometimes I let her play with my make up brushes, but often I get them back wet 

She always laughs when she runs.

She sings a lot when she is playing by herself, eating, going to sleep, well, I guess doing anything

She likes to sit on the counter while I cook.

She likes ground beef, but doesn’t like chicken.

She often sucks the good part off of food – the juice from grapes, the topping off of toast, etc… and then spits the rest out.

Spaghetti is her favorite food, but requires a bath afterward 

Actually, she really loves French fries too, that may tie for favorite.

She can say some version of cookie, banana, water, juice, shoes, car, dog, cat, cow, too many animal sounds to list, book, bye bye, nite nite, please, more, milk, bath, mama, papa, jo-jo, Geka (for our friend Rebekah), doot doot (referring to her little people), turtle, and she says “Ah Ah” when she points to frogs or monkeys, ball,

She loves to prepare pretend food and eat it with mommy and papa or her animals.

She always wants the food or drink that someone else has, even if it is the same as what she has.

She likes to sing and dance with the theme song form Gilmore girls.

When she wants to be picked up she says “Baby.”

I am pretty sure she thinks her name is Baby – we say Baby interchangeably with EB and they sound a lot alike.

She always wants to be in the middle of anything DB is building or fixing – when DB was building shelves she got her toy hammer and hammered away on the wood.