Sam has a story for you...

Sam is talking a lot more. Earlier in the week, on the way home I asked him how his day went, what had happened, etc. He started talking about Teacher Pipi who is a big bear, likes to bite bottoms, went on and on. I assumed it was a movie he'd seen. Actually, Teacher Pipi is his exercise teacher and they play lots of group games during on the games day (there's another exercise teacher, Teacher Ball, and apparently they trade off every six months). His teacher explained it all to me. Sam is able to say a lot more, although it's still sometimes hard to figure out what he is saying. We're excited that he's coming along.

He also had a kind of prayer he was saying in local language before dinner or snacks sometimes. We finally figured out what it is. It goes 感謝天感謝地感謝廚房的阿姨... "Thank you for the heavens, thank you for the earth, thank you for the auntie in the kitchen..." And then there's some thanking of the teacher, mom, and classmates. It all rhymes in the local language. It's nice that he's able to explain things. We're also at the point where if I forget a word in local language I can ask him and he may know. Not something like "nuclear reactor," but along the lines of "eagle" or "ceiling."

Sam's doing more coloring and has been on a big playdough kick. He's a fun kid.

Emily and I are still a bit wiped out from the sick kid thing. Eva's had a fever in the afternoons since Saturday. Today we took her in again, now with some blotchy skin, and she was diagnosed with roseola. We're pretty sure that this is what Eli had and Sam had it when we lived in H-Town. Anyway, it is reassuring that she is on the mend and that we have a diagnosis. Emily's day was pretty much shot taking Eva to the hospital, and Eli is coughing. I know that this is just what happens at this age, but after the scare this summer, and multiplied by two, we're pretty much ready to be done with the sick baby stage. I did tell her that at least we are planning pediatric nephrologist visits, so that's a plus.

There's not a lot else to report on the babies. Emily prompted Eli to say "goodnight" tonight and it sure sounded like "nye-nye." I have the feeling these two may talk faster than Sam. Eva is very expressive with her hands and fingers. We probably should be teaching her some infant sign language.

I'm almost done with teaching for the week. Tomorrow I have a guest lecturer so I'm pretty excited. It's just for an hour, but it will give students a change of pace and should make the class a little more relaxed for me. We're now in week six or seven. The weekend will be busier because Friday is a meeting of several schools and Saturday they're installing our president.