Shit

While everybody is waiting for the most important feast of the year (Eid el Adha) and is preparing for the winter, my main concern every day is : does my baby son shit, when does he shit and how does he shit.

When he did, he looks at me with twinkling eyes and a big smile on his face. Soon after I changed his diaper, he will go to sleep peacefully.

Last week, many storks flew over heading south, a sign that winter will unavoidably start soon. Until now, the weather is mild. The wind is coming from the Sea. That can change quickly. Also last week, we had the wind coming from the North for a few days which felt like a complete different season.

The same days that we had long power cuts after sundown, because everybody was turning on the electrical heating. Many still have to buy “mazoot” (fuel oil). The power cuts are getting shorter in time. Yesterday, only half an hour. Today at 19:30, we were still fine. The mild temperatures are helping.

The village is expanding and people have more money for electrical appliances these days. The power supply is not sufficient on peak moments. I keep reminding everybody who wants to hear that the decadent number of outside lamps burning every night until the morning is a waste of electricity. Electricity that is needed for more useful, even essential, things.

There are not many “believers”. The village still looks like a X-mas tree at night, i.e. when the power is on.

Mild and sunny

We are enjoying a mild and sunny autumn. The nights are getting colder which makes it hard for me get out of the bed at 5:30 in the morning to feed Zakaria.

I shouldn’t complain. His last bottle is at 11 at night which gives us more than 6 hours of peace, because he sleeps (like an angel) in between the 2 feeds.

The problem is that I am not a morning person. Zakaria is. He would like to be entertained this early in the morning. For me it feels like the middle of the night. So, I leave him to sleep about 1 hour more and when the sun is up, he doesn’t mind keeping himself busy by watching the colourful toys hanging over his bed until he is fed up with being alone and starts complaining around 8:30. From then on he needs 2 hours of my full attention before I can have breakfast.

Life is so much easier since he is not crying that much anymore. He now usually cries to make things clear. After 3 months, the “tummy trouble” is almost over. It leaves so much more time to enjoy each other’s company. He laughs a lot and every time he does I am happy.

I am working hard to have the house ready for the winter. Have actually almost finished. The carpets are cleaned and covering the floor. The room where Zakaria is sleeping has been turned into a small living room with the floor fully covered with carpets and the stove installed. When the bitter cold will start, most activities and inactivity will be in this room until temperatures start going up again.

Until then, we are absorbing as much as sunlight as possible by spending the afternoons on the balcony or in the garden.

The garden looks nice, by the way. The hard work of the last 2 years is paying off. The flowers are colourful and the trees are growing. I have eaten home grown pomegranates for the first time. They taste deliciously.

We have 4 or 5 tortoises living in the garden by now. Mohamed told me so. He lost count of how many he has brought home and I haven’t seen them all yet.

And the best news is… that after a month of chasing and killing mosquitoes every evening, the number of the active “monsters” is diminishing rapidly. Another sign that winter is approaching.