More preschool

Maya is now officially going to preschool three days a week. Now, you might wonder how this is happening since I vowed to only have her go twice a week until she was 4.

Maya, however, had other ideas. She took matters into her own hands and discussed it with her preschool teacher, telling her that she wanted to come to preschool more. Her teacher wisely told her to take it up with mom and dad, which she did.

Maya has always known intrinsically what is best for her. She decided when to move to her big bed. She decided when to do potty training. She decided when she wanted to swim on her own and let go of her mommy. So if she is dying for more preschool, then she can go more. She absolutely loves it.

And I have to say that while there are a couple things I don't love about her preschool, I do LOVE that it is a mixed-age school. She is seeing what the big kids do, and she wants to do it too. It is a great environment for learning, at least for a kid like Maya. She is learning to trace her letters now, because she insisted to do it like the big kids. And she can cut with scissors on her own because the big kids do it. She is learning a lot at school. And she loves it.

Inevitable milestone

I think every kid does this at least once in their lifetime. Maya locked herself in the bathroom at Lucille's restaurant while we were out for breakfast yesterday, and she couldn't get out.

Unlike in the United States, however, there was no easy way to get her out. Mike tried to get her to open the door, but it was one of those locks where you have to hold it to the side and push, and I think it was a bit beyond her level. (Locking herself in was easy, though).

When we went to the management, they tried to get her out but had lost the key to the bathroom door. We couldn't take the hinges off because they were on the inside of the door, not the outside. And when they finally brought a screwdriver and we took off the door handle, there was no way to get the lock undone because it seemed to have been installed from the other side. I did wonder what was the point of putting a totally burglarproof door on an inside bathroom...

Then, they tried to pry the door open, and to kick it in. No luck. Fortunately, there was a wooden grating on the bottom of the door with wood slats. So we persuaded them to break one of the slats and remove it. Then one of the guys reached through and unlocked the door.

Maya was incredibly brave throughout the whole ordeal. She was kind of quiet, and while she cried a little bit she was mostly calm, and just waiting for us to open the door. We told that they were going to open the door like Bob the Builder, with tools. Afterward, she told us she was mad and frustrated but not scared. But she did have a really hard time sleeping last night, so I guess she was scared a little. I don't think we can show our faces at Lucille's for a while though...

Yes or No?

Maya, in keeping with her personality, has found a new way to try to get what she wants. Here is an example:

Maya: Mommy, can I watch a Sesame Street video?
Me: (I open my mouth to start to tell her that she can watch a short word-on-the street clip if she cooperates with putting her jammies on and brushing her teeth, but don't actually say anything because I get interrupted)
Maya: Yes or no? Yes or no, mommy?

Or how about this one:

Maya: Can I have a dessert mommy? Yes or no?

or:

Maya: Can we got to Fagnoon today mommy? Yes or no?

Clearly, she has learned that mommy (and daddy) will impose conditions on her getting what she wants. She usually does get mostly what she wants if she cooperates. And now she is trying to cut out the conditions...

Beautiful girl

When I was out of the house, Maya and her daddy played dress up. Here are the photos he took.

3T

Maya is suddenly looking more like a big kid. And she is finally starting to fit into the 3T clothes that we got on our last trip to the USA. She picks out her own clothes every morning, plus accessories, like the ponytail holders she is wearing as "bracelets" in the balcony picture. And she is into matching colors. She's actually pretty good at it.

Organic veggies

One of the big benefits of living in Egypt is the fantastic seasonal fruits and veggies available all year long. Because Egypt has such a mild (read coolish to scorching) climate there are multiple growing seasons. So some sort of tropical fruit or veggie is always in season. I can't really say it is all organic, but it is pretty good.

Since we moved to our Little America neighbourhood though, our local grocery store has been fleecing us on fruits and veggies, many of which are actually imported (Washington apples and Dole bananas, for example). And the local store doesn't always keep the cheaper, local stuff in stock, like the small Egyptian mini-bananas that are really tasty. And did I mention their prices are outrageous??

So after much contemplation, and after our friend G tried it out, we have signed up for a weekly fruit and veggie service called the Veg Box. For just under $25, they will deliver a large crate of high quality fruits and veggies to your house once a week, and for an extra fee you can also get fresh boneless chicken and ground beef. We can tell them what we want and don't want, but the box will be different each week. We tried it out this week and it is awesome.

We got cabbage, cauliflower, romaine lettuce, iceberg lettuce, potatoes, cucumbers, onions, spinach, carrots and garlic for our vegetables. Plus fresh cilantro. And we also got apples, bananas, little oranges called tarabantina here (not sure what they are in english, but similar to mandarins), big naval oranges and tomatoes. It was a lot of food, and it was really hig quality. Plus none of the produce was bruised or damaged, and it was all pretty clean. The only thing is the fruit is not lasting us all week, as we have a voracious banana consumer (maya) and another voracious orange eater (mike). So next week we might ask them to go heavier on the fruits and lighter on the lettuce...

The cool thing is it is saving us time. We arranged the delivery to come on Sunday afternoon when we are at work but our housekeeper is at our house. So we no longer have to run to the store all the time to get produce, and we don't have to pay insane expat grocery prices. And we (or Mike) is cooking more interesting things.

So yesterday Mike made chili with the excellent ground beef we got. And today we had a fresh spinach and feta chicken stir fry over rice. Yum!

Something in common

Maya would like to point out that Obama and Bob the Builder have something in common. Since Obama won the election, she has been running around the house, gleefully singing: "Bob the Builder, Yes We Can!"

Probably helped her make the connection that one of her best friends had a Bob the Builder birthday party a couple days after the election...

Halloween fun

I know I'm a bit late to post with Halloween stuff, but I guess some people might want to see pictures. Anyway, Maya and her friend K painted pumpkins that we bought at our local grocery store/fruit and veggie market. I thought carving would have been a bit ambitious.

Maya also went to three separate Halloween parties, and K's mom arranged for all her neigbours to have candy so the kids could trick or treat in her building. So Maya actually did get to go door-to-door trick or treating. And let me tell you, she caught on to the idea FAST! She also doesn't like it wen her parents eat a single piece of candy after she's gone to bed-- even if we eat the chocolate stuff that she refuses to eat anyway...

Maya was Winnie the Pooh for party number 1 (at preschool). Then she was a ballerina for party number 2 (at the club). Then she wore a purple cape for trick or treating and told everyone she was Batman!!

Amharic school!

I was inspired by several of my friends to try to get together some sort of Amharic playschool for Maya so she can see that Tibby is not the only person in the universe who speaks Amharic. My friend G set up a Saturday playgroup for Lithuanian kids in Cairo. And she really inspired me and gave me lots of ideas.

So now I have set up an "Amharic play" group in Cairo. So far we are three families with five kids total. It is Maya with her nanny Tibby, two other adopted kids with their Ethiopian nanny B, and two kids from an Ethiopian expat family in Cairo with their mom. We had our first "play" yesterday at our house. I think it went relatively well, considering it is the first time and there is a wide age range (2-6) and that all the kids have differing levels of Amharic.

We did a butterfly (birabiro) theme. They talked about birabiros, listened to a birabiro song, did a birabiro craft that I prepared for them, drew birabiros, and danced around to Ethiopian music. They focused on learning the words for the colors birabiros could be and obviously learning the word for butterfly in Amharic.

Since I can't do the Amharic stuff, I decided to become responsible for organising the themes of the day and preparing the crafts. And the native Amharic speakers will do the actual language stuff. So the division of labour is working well.

The only thing I was upset about is that we are doing it during weekdays (since that is when Tibby can be there), so I am working during that time. I arranged to leave work early yesterday so I could be there for the first session, but had an urgent thing come up at work so I ended up missing all but the last few minutes of the play session. Drat! But it seemed that everyone had a pretty good time and all the kids participated to some degree.

It was really good for Maya. When I got home of course she immediately switched to English. But then she got mad because one of the other kids had her book and she asked for it back (in English). I told her to ask him in Amharic and she said: Feleku. Ehia Yeneno (I want that. It's mine) Wow!!! (OK please forgive my bad transliteration). But it is pretty major for me to see Maya speaking to another kid in Amharic.

Anyway, we are going to do next week's session in Zamalek at W's house. She suggested we review colors next week and try to do a session on shapes. So this non-Amharic speaker needs to get some ideas for a craft and project on how to do shapes in a fun way.

Blog makeover

Maya is three now, and I decided that with a new year she should get a new look. Hope you like it.

Vote!!!!!!

For anyone reading my blog in the U.S. who has not already voted. Please vote now!!! Please help our country make history. Please help make America a better place for my daughter, and for everyone!!