The daily grind

So, it is usually between 90-105F here during the day.  This means that it is pretty miserable being out of the house and that drinking water often is a must if you do go out of the house.  Most people here don't bring their infants out much.

EMMA ROLLING ON A QUILT WE JUST RECEIVED IN A CARE PACKAGE

I learned yesterday that women here who say they have a baby could be referring to any child under 10 years of age.  Odd.  This is because a woman told me that she wanted to see my baby and was shocked that I was actually referring to "an infant" as "my baby".  Apparently babies are much older in appearance than infants here.  So strange.  I informed her that, as far as I know, in our culture babies are infants who cannot walk... toddlers are babies who can walk... and that if a toddler is able to run and speak in sentences, we call him or her a child.  Ah, culture!

Our daily grind consists of as much language as we can tolerate; usually home-making tasks of self-care, soul-care, and baby care; and trying to get out into the community to meet people.  Aside from that, we both have audio recordings of our language lessons that we listen to repeatedly to try and make the language stick in our minds.

When we want to have fun, we hang out with friends we have here, go for walks around our complex, go to the local mall, do tummy time games with Emma, and relax between diaper changes and taking care of home duties.  This is our life at this stage -- lots of baby times, some language, a little community.

We are super thankful for the friends we have... and are hoping that Merilee can meet more people in our neighborhood as she takes Emma for walks in the mosquito-net-covered stroller.  Sometimes Merilee can get lonely in the house avoiding the beating down sun with Emma.  It will be awesome once monsoon season hits and we are able to don an umbrella and get out to meet people when the sun is still shining (or behind a cloud, as it were).