Enjoying life in Central Asia

At 18 months, Will is doing really well settling in to life in Central Asia.  We are entering our 4th week of staying with our friends who have 3 kids (ages 7, 5, and 2 1/2), while we finalize our rental contract and get our house ready to move into.  We have so appreciated their wonderful hospitality and long-suffering; this is their 9th year in country, so they have lots of experience with how long everything takes.... good thing, too!

Will isn't always quite sure what he thinks of the program...

...but the kids are all enjoying playing together, although it does get a bit intense at times!

He's figured out how to ride their little scooter-- balancing with one foot and pushing himself along with the other-- which I think is pretty impressive and coordinated for an 18-month-old (I'm not biased or anything).

The kiddie pool made it's first appearance of the summer a few days ago, so I dug out Will's "swimming togs" (NZ) and slathered on the sunscreen.  It took him a full 10 minutes of standing next to the pool and sticking a hand in once in a while, before he would let me help him get in-- he's a "warm up slowly" sort of a kid.

   

But once in... it was splash city.  Think he's having fun?

And you should have seen the size of his diaper when he got out... I had already put my camera back in the house, or I would have captured the Good Year Blimp for posterity.  Who knew Huggies were that absorbent?

The current highlight is their 4 adorable Beagle/German Shepherd (they think) puppies, now just over a month old and getting cuter every day.  Will says "pup" and loves to sit down and drag one into his lap for a cuddle.  He also loves to give the mommy dog lots of hugs, too.  We're debating whether to take one with us to our new house (everyone has a dog here, mostly for security reasons), and I'm trying to decide how many new things I can actually cope with at once...

  

 

(this is the one I would choose if we take one-- she's adorable)

Will's other new words are "up" "down" "nack" (snack) "juice" and "muk" (milk).  He's also learned "no" and "top" (stop) from his new friend Jo-Jo, which he's started to use with alarming frequency and at alarming decibel levels.  He and Jo-Jo by tacit agreement have decided to use preemptive tactics: they both start yelling "STOP!" simultaneously at the top of their lungs as soon as they see each other.  We have definitely entered a new phase of self-assertion-- so much for our pliable little introvert!  

He's also started bowing his head and closing his eyes when we're praying-- I'm not sure he knows what we're doing, but he copies us, and then peeks his head up and looks around to see if we're done yet.  It's really cute.  Lord willing, one day soon he'll pray because he actually loves Jesus. 

Thank you for praying for Will!  He's loving life, and we're loving watching him love it.  Please continue to ask for friends for him in our new village, and thank you for being so interested in his little life!