Knowing enough to be dangerous.....

The other day when we went to the park, Mike and I were people watching and heard this lady say to a little girl "aboo-ha ishtara-ha"  Which, we translated as her father bought her.  Hmm....that seemed like a strange thing to say.  What would that mean exactly.  So we asked the other guy that was with us that has been here longer then we have an is in a semester ahead of us, and we all tried to figure out if this was some kind of saying here.  Maybe it is like saying she is from the gypsies and her parents got rid of her, or she was adopted, or who knows.  It seemed like a strange statement.  So the next day in class I asked my teacher and she said that it meant, "her father bought IT"  not her......   Ahhh...that made so much more sense.  In arabic words can be masculine and feminine, so when you are saying "it"  about something, you can be referring to it as he or she (him, her)  This little girl was hogging  the swing at the park and didn't want to share it so one of the mom's sarcastically said, "Her father bought it"  

So, I have come to the realization that we are understanding a lot nowadays, but it can be dangerous right now because we can quickly assume we understand.  Oh, the joys of learning a new language.

Judah singing

Milestones....

Do you ever have those moments that you look at your kids and think, "Wow, they are so big now?"  It's like you turn away for a second and look back and realize that this little one that you have in your head is now big enough to get dressed himself, or is now sleeping in his own bed.  I can't imagine what it must be like for my parents... Once your are a parent your whole view of things shifts.

Anyway, on Friday we took a trip to the park and I had one of these moments.  We met some other friends at the park and brought a picnic lunch.  The park was packed with people and it was a great day to people watch.  So, we found a bench to put all our stuff on right next to the swings.  I sat there with Mason most of the time watching kids fight over the swings while Mike and the boys and our other friend and his boys were off playing.  At one point in the afternoon, Caleb came over to me and found some strawberries in our bag.  He asks me if he can have some and then pulls the box out, tucks them under his arm and heads off.   On his way back to the others he turns around with his little 3 1/2 year old self and asks, "Can we eat them all up?"  I don't know why, but for some reason it was so cute and he seemed so big.  So then off he heads up and over a little wall to share his strawberries with the other boys.  

It's like one day you realize that everything is different and it will never go back to the way it was.  Mike was reminding me of that one time during this winter when we had both of the boys sleeping in bed with us to stay warm.   There were days that I would be frustrated with them not going to sleep and giggling or hitting each other, and Mike reminded me "these are the good ol days".  And, now those days are over.  They are both sleeping in their own beds and those days of all of us in bed together are just a memory.  It is a good reminder to enjoy the time we have right now and make the most of it.  

Judah's latest things these days are that he is trying to talk so much.  It is so cute.  His new and latest thing he is saying is "Get out de house!"  Like Mike was giving he and Caleb a bath the other night and Mike opened the door of the bathroom to come back in and Judah said, "Get out de house!'  It is so funny!  It is the way he says it as well, with such conviction.

Mason is giggling these days and being cute.  Not too much to say about him.  I will have to get some video and post it soon.