Parenting and Lake Tanganyika

When Jude was younger he seemed to like swimming. Somewhere along the line he developed a major dislike for the pool. This is frustrating since we don't have a lot of recreational activities available to us in Geita. When we were in Dar waiting for Silas to be born we found that he would wail if we put him in the pool, but he loved playing in the waves. 

We just got back from a team retreat on Lake Tanganyika. In the morning the water is crystal clear and still and in the afternoon the wind brings waves. The first day Jude seemed to enjoy it, but it quickly wore off. We could hardly get him in the water. This was contrasted by the fact that the other toddler on the team is an avid swimmer. I know what you’re thinking, “Can a 2 year old be an avid swimmer?” Yes, she is well on her way to an Olympic medal. One day we took Jude out on one of his floats and he screamed the whole time. We thought if we just got him acclimated to the water he would enjoy it. He didn’t. He seemed to be getting equally tired of playing in the sand and in particular having to share toys with the other kids on our team. 24/7 of sharing is hard for a 2 year old. In the midst of all this potty training had gone down hill fast, as in maybe peeing in the potty once a day. 

We finally just gave up. We stopped trying to force him to act like the 2 year old we want him to be and instead let him be the 2 year old he is. We put him in a diaper. We ate chocolate ice cream. When the other kids were all down at the beach we let him jump on the trampoline. And then we asked if he wanted to go see the other beach that we hadn’t been down to yet. He said yes, so we went.

There was a wooden canoe on one end and he played in it for a while. He eventually made his way to the water and before long he was running in and out of the waves yelling, “I like the water!”  It turns out Jude just needed to come to the water on his own terms, in his own time. We weren't in our swim suits. We didn't have on sunscreen. But when the moment comes you just go with it. The next day he even let Carson take him out on his float and had a good time.

Honestly, this is the way we try to parent, gently leading him in the right direction, but it doesn’t always work out that way. Sometimes the circumstances don't allow such flow and sometimes we just get it terribly wrong. It's so easy to try and force him into the mold I have for him, but I am realizing over and over that he is never going to fit. He is his own person, strong willed, but oh so sweet. His passion and strong will are challenging at the age of 2, but I think they will be an asset when he is older. We just have to make it that far!

Check out this great post:

I Couldn't Have Danced All Night

In it, Sarah (a missionary in the South East of TZ) tells about going to an initiation ceremony for 2 girls.

We are headed to Kigoma tomorrow for a team retreat. See you in a week!

The times they are a changin...

Well, not so much the times as the seasons. Dry season has been giving way to rainy season with afternoon showers here and there, but yesterday we got an all out storm complete with thunder, lightening, and hail. I realized just how out of practice I am at rainy season activities. I was in the middle of art class with the Groen girls when the rain started and Elizabeth, who was watching Silas, had to remind me that the laundry needed to come off the line! I didn't think to shut windows until the rain and wind were really going meaning I got pretty wet in the process and a few rooms got drenched!
Here's a shot of our bedroom in disarray after I began moving things around to dry. The pack and play had standing water in it and our bed was soaked along with books that had been in the floor of Jude's room.

The fact that we leave our windows open, plus they aren't really sealed even when closed really limits the placement of furniture in this house. Even without placing major furniture next to windows things can still get pretty wet if the wind is going.

In other random news...

Nearly a month ago we had an art show in our hallway to display the Groen girls' art work from the last year+. We did a very broad overview of art history. My favorite project (and probably the most successful) was the Georgia O'keefe flower lesson.

Jude is really into sorting things and putting matching things together. Here's a shot of him having sorted the diapers by color, inserts and wipes in their own piles. The inserts at the foot of the bed were his "garden" and the ones in his lap were "wood". This kid has quite an imagination!

Despite my best efforts to prevent it, Silas is well on his way to being a thumb sucker! He still uses a paci quite a bit, but often he just pushes it out of the way to get his fist in his mouth. He's just discovered the thumb.

Apologies for not posting much about work lately. My camera has gone missing and I hate making posts without at least one picture. I guess I'm just a visual person. Anyway, despite the fact that I took a photography class in college and even printed my own pictures I've completely forgotten what F stop means! I finally got Carson to set another camera to Auto for me so as soon as I get some good shots I'll put up an update on work things. Have a great weekend!