Grease and water

And until now the campers didn’t stop riding in, smaller in numbers though. We hope to have a rest beginning of July. It may be that the tourist season will continue until Ramadan which this year will start the second week of August. Tourists tend to avoid the fasting period and the Eid thereafter.

We had another family with 2 young children staying with us. The little boy is 19 months old. Contrary to Zakaria at that age he does not speak nor does he try to. He constantly whines and cries while pointing his finger when he wants something.

I spent a lot of time talking to the parents with the children playing in the garden and enjoyed a bit of holiday.

After they had left, I noticed that Zakaria who started talking at an early age had taken over the habit of the little boy staying with us. For the last 2 weeks he has been whining and crying while pointing his finger or stamping his feet. I tried not to spend too much attention to it, finding ways to make him talk again. Yesterday, he started using words again which makes life much more agreeable.

He has grown the last week. Suddenly, he can reach for things that were safe from him. He can open the front door downstairs which is opened by pushing a red button. We will soon have to lock it by key. Until now he is not going down the stairs by himself.

We don’t want him to go out on the street on his own. He is too small to pay attention to the traffic and his brothers Khaliel and Tallal working in the garage downstairs are not always paying attention as they watch television a lot and take a nap from time to time.

That’s where Zakaria wants to go to when he pushes the red button. He wants to go into the garage where he can just sit together with the others staring at the television or join in into the action. He’s often running around with a tool in his hand trying to mimic his big brothers.

Many of his cloths wear traces of oil and red earth.

When not a grease monkey, he is a gardener. By now a visit in the garden means watering trees and flowers. This is done by Zakaria. I am a mere assistant.

It does give me time to do some of the other little jobs in the garden. The trick is to not open the tap completely which makes watering a tree quite a long job.

Most of the time, Zakaria waters the plants and trees very professionally. Sometimes, he is bored very quickly and is only interested in the water. Then, he will pore it over himself, wet the walls and water stones. In any case, he gets his shoes dirty and in some extend his cloths as well.

I can only tear him away from the water with the promise of more water upstairs (washing his feet, taking a bath, …) and food afterwards.