A two shower day

While I was working the weekend shift today, Mike and Maya had quite an adventure. First, our friend G., who was planning to come to our house for an evening barbecue, came over to drop off a beautiful cheesecake in our fridge while she went apartment hunting in our neighbourhood. They are considering moving from Zamalek, which is cool because Maya really enjoys playing with their little boy, who is 3.

Anyway, Mike showed Maya the cake and told her not to touch it, and that it was for eating after our barbecue. And he put it in the fridge. Ten minutes later he got a phone call. While he was chatting on the phone, Maya went into the kitchen to put "birthday candles" on the "birthday cake".

A few minutes later, she came out of the kitchen completely naked and told Mike: Help me, I need to take a shower. Blueberry compote was all over her legs. In the kitchen, the cheesecake was upside down on the floor, with some wooden toys -- the "birthday candles" sticking out the top.

Mike helped Maya take a shower, then he scrambled to try to replace the cheesecake so nobody would notice. But of course he couldn't find the exact same cheesecake so we had to fess up to our friends later.

That was the first shower of the two shower day. Later, when Mike again had his head turned, Maya managed to find some of her hair gel and smeared basically the entire container over her head. Then she announced that she looked pretty. So they had to do another shower. All I can say is after that, Maya's hair was very moisturized.

The B word!

Maya said the dreaded B word today. You know the word I hoped she would never say. The toy I hoped she would never ask for, let alone notice. Should I be glad we made it to just over 2-1/2 or mourning the fact that she mentioned this word so young. I blame preschool!

What word did she say: Barbie.

She was talking to Mike. Thank God. So I didn't have to react. He reacted perfectly. He said: What's Barbie?

She said something about playing with Barbie at school. I don't think she actually has played with Barbie at school. But they do have some dolls there, and she is into dolls. So maybe one of the kids referred to the doll as a Barbie. And then she dropped the subject. And least she didn't directly request a Barbie, not yet anyway...

I guess it is inevitable she would notice Barbie. Kind of hard to avoid, especially since she does have some girlie girl tendencies. Afterward, Mike and I were debating whether, if she demands a Barbie, we should just buy her a Fulla doll instead. (That's the Islamic Barbie knock off that's available here, although Barbie is also available and mega popular in Egypt. But not really sure that it's any better, except in the fact that it is NOT BARBIE).

And FYI just in case anyone gets any big ideas, Barbie (and Fulla) are NOT NOT NOT NOT on our Christmas, birthday or Hanukkah lists. So don't even think about it!!

I love Cipro!

I mean, I REALLY love Cipro. About two hours after taking Cipro I could already feel the effects, though I am not completely ruling out that it could partly be the whole placebo effect thing. It could be that I felt better with the idea that I had taken cipro. But still, today, I feel so much better.

It is also really convenient that when I want cipro, I can just pick up the phone and call a pharmacy and ask for it. No need to leave my house. The pharmacy will deliver. And no need for a prescription either. I just name the dosage I want, and it's mine. Plus, Egyptian drugs are really inexpensive. It was less than $12 for supply of 20 pills that will last 10 days. Awesome! (And by the way, that's on the pricey side here).

I also just want to note that we NEVER self-medicate Maya, in case you're wondering or worried... except for Tylenol of course.

Sick Sick Sick Sick

That's four days of being sick for me. I have the works, everything imaginable. So annoying that I am sick too, and that one of my days of sickness had to fall on a day off from work. Grrrr....

I keep thinking I am getting better too, and then I feel worse again. Fever, vomiting, stomach cramps, bloating, gas, extreme fatigue, etc, etc. So frustrating. And I'm bored out of my mind. And even though Tibby is at home with Maya, the girlie just thinks I should play with her. And I want to. But I can barely make it from bed to sofa without stopping for a break in between. Ok, well today was a little better actually. But still I don't feel right.

So after four days I am doing some internet research to try to figure out what I have. At first I thought it was a virus, but no one else close to me is sick at all so I kind of doubt that it is a virus.

I think it is probably not an amoeba like giardia or e hystolica (which I had a few years ago). Mainly because I am vomiting, which is really rare for me (haven't vomited since we were in Ethiopia adopting Maya 2.5 years ago). And I don't think amoebas typically cause lots of vomiting.

That leaves food poisoning, gastroenteritis type of illness. I was actually looking up Salmonella poisoning and it is a definite maybe. Or e coli. Or some other similar nasty bug. And I have told Mike that I think the blueberries we bought are my main suspects. He denies this, saying that they couldn't be, as he and Maya also had blueberry pancakes and didn't get sick. But I am still highly suspicious. I am keeping my options open regarding the rest of the blueberries in our freezer.

Anyway. Tonight I am going to self-medicate. With cipro! Hope it works.

Blueberry pancakes

We made blueberry pancakes this morning with blueberries we bought fresh and then froze a couple weeks ago. It was the first time we have EVER seen fresh blueberries in Cairo, and possibly the first time ever in the Middle East, though I can't say for certain. So what that means is it was an extra special occasion for us to actually make blueberry pancakes in our own house.

Maya was especially excited. She knows about blueberries from her book, Blueberries for Sal, which has been among her favorites lately. So when we told her the other day we would make bluebarry pancakes, she said: Like Sal!! It was a very serious endeavor for her today. Look how serious she looks mixing the batter!!

Fortunately, we also have a few more bags of frozen blueberries in the freezer for another treat sometime in the future!

Later, we ate the pancakes on our balcony. Sadly, it looks like it is going to be too hot to eat breakfast on our balcony pretty soon. We were barely able to today, it was so hot and humid. We spent the rest of the morning in thepool, and we'll be going back there this afternoon for a playdate with Maya's pal S. and family!

Preschool pictures

Maya's preschool had a party today for the big kids' graduation and the end of the school year. So we went, and they sang songs in English and Arabic, and then had pizza, and then Maya showed us around.

These pictures are from the playground at our club and in the circle time room at preschool. Maya loved showing us around.

Back from Sudan!

Wow! It's nice to be home. I have to say this was my best trip to Sudan yet. First, it was the shortest, just 5.5 days, and Maya seemed to take the whole thing pretty well. And it was over a weekend so I get comp days and have a 4-day weekend starting today. How cool is that! Plus I was really busy the whole time I was there so I didn't have lots of free time to mull over how much I was missing Maya...

Plus, fruit was in season there that is not in season yet in Egypt. Like fresh mango, which was delicious! And fresh cherries! But I have to say that Sudan is the hottest country I can ever recall having been to. I am not sure if it is hotter than Saudi Arabia, but let me tell you, it must be close. It is WAY hotter than Egypt.

I wanted to go shopping for some souvenirs while I was there, but somehow in the three trips I have taken to Sudan over the past two years, I have never had even a moment free to do either a) sight-seeing or b) shopping. Grrrrrr. Maybe next time.

Oh yeah, and here's a nice picture of Maya taken the week before I left. She's wearing a new outfit that my brother Greg got her. She loves it! She's such a fashion queen!!