sentimental parenty stuff

We’ve noticed – as have others – that Simon has changed a lot since being here. Of course, it isn’t all down to being here, it’s also the natural development he is going through as he gets older. For example, a couple of days ago I watched him make himself laugh for the first time. He had been laughing at other things for a long time, but after giving him his vitamins the other evening, I gave him the spoon, and after waving it about a bit, he tried to put it in my mouth. When that worked, he thought it was hilarious, and laughed a long, gurgling laugh.

He is also understanding our words and actions more and more. On Friday I arrived at the college nursery to feed him at midday, and when he saw me he smiled and started crawling towards me. Then he got sidetracked, crawled off to the right and started pulling toys from a shelf. So I said, “Ok, Simon, if you aren’t interested, I’ll go away again!” and started walking back towards the door. His little face crumpled, and he started to wail … I felt awful!! I really hadn’t thought he would understand!

There are two corners in our living room where he isn’t allowed to play. One has a pile of shopping bags in it (officially they live in the car, they just haven’t got themselves together and moved out there yet) and the other has the computer wires. Yesterday, Simon was crawling purposefully over towards the shopping bags, so I said, “Simon!” He stopped and looked up at me. “No!” He looked back at the bags, back at me, and I said, “No, Simon!” again. And he turned round and crawled back in the opposite direction. I’m not stupid enough to think that he will always be so obedient … but I am excited to see him understanding what I’m saying!

relatively busy

The title refers to the fact that we have plenty to do here at college, but also to us having had visits from several family members in the last 10 days! My sister Ali came up last Saturday afternoon with her (and our!) friend Joy, Mum came yesterday afternoon, and my cousin Katherine was here today. It makes a lovely change to be living somewhere where family can visit – and we’d better make the most of it this year, as I’m not aware that we have much family out in West Africa!

Unfortunately I had such a good time with all of them that I completely forgot about taking photos … they’ll just have to come back again!

more on simon

He’s ten months old today, and I thought it was time for a little update on Simon. No height or weight measurements though, as we haven’t got round to working out how the clinic works here yet, but I’m hoping to be able to take him next week.

He has now cut 5 teeth, and with very little grizzling at all. He did seem happier once the two top ones came through, but we also think he’s got more used to being here at college, and instead of just observing everything with his big brown eyes, he will now smile at people and shout out to get their attention! He has his fair share of admirers here, and seems to love being in the social environment of the nursery.

He still likes playing on the floor, but absolutely loves being upright, holding onto furniture and slowly making his way around the room. He hasn’t worked out how to pull himself up or sit himself down again though, but he knows how to make sure his parents know what he wants! He does occasionally go down with a bang, but another advantage of cloth nappies are that they pad his bottom better than disposables would!

He is making more and more extensive range of different sounds, and some do seem to have a kind of meaning or at least correspond to his state of mind. “Mumumumumum” means “I want something”, whereas “bababa” or “dadada” mean “I’m in a good mood”.

He eats a lot of the same things as us, with particular favourites being steamed courgette, chicken and banana. He has unfortunately started pulling his hands through his (luckily still very short) hair during meals, especially if the meal comes just after bathtime!

He is also showing signs of enjoying music, and will often “dance” to music or singing, as this video and this one show.

In the words of one of the nursery workers here, “he’s just such a happy and contented child!”.

the flowers at last

magnanimous in victory

As some of you may know, England beat France in the semi-finals of the Rugby World Cup on Saturday. Marc watched the match here in college with a good few English people. In the main college morning meeting this morning, there was a notice commiserating with Marc and the French defeat, and a trumpeter got up and played "La Marseillaise" (the French national anthem) and someone else came and formally presented Marc with a bouquet of flowers (see below ... no, I'll have to put it up later as there is a problem loading photos this evening!). It's this kind of thing that not only brightens up what is essentially a meeting of notices for the week, but also makes us feel welcome and wanted here!

Bible story re-contextualised?!

Just a video link for today:

David, Jonathan and Saul

A video made by one of the tutor groups to re-tell the story of David and Jonathan. You don't need to know the people for it to be funny - but it helps if you know the Bible story (or see I Samuel chapters 18 to 20) and a certain American sitcom. Enjoy!

deadlines!

Marc and I both have our first assignment due in Friday of next week. All new students at ANCC have to do something called "The Acts Assignment" ... which you have probably guessed is about the Book of Acts! It's a good idea, as it helps the new students to get back into essay-writing and see what skills they need to work on, and it also takes mission as its theme, which couldn't be much more appropriate for a missionary training college!

We feel quite blessed that we studied Acts in our church's ITEA group (a group which met together to do theological studies) three years ago, and then studied it again in our church Bible studies last year. Reading through it again for the assignment was like spending time with an old friend! On the other hand, it does put pressure on us a bit, as we really ought to do well in it.

I also have my first lot of Advanced Hebrew translation exercises to hand in on Thursday, so I'm pretty busy at the moment. Not too busy to enjoy our surroundings though! We went for another family walk this morning.

This is the view from our front door at 8.30am: