Excellent start

And it seems my wishes are coming true…

The freezing cold didn’t come. Instead we had sunny spring weather the 2 first weeks of the year. We had a few thunderstorms at night with lots of rain and now we are living some overcast days, but all in all mild weather.

Last week, a butterfly was visiting on the balcony and yesterday I spotted love bugs. A stork came scouting for his mates eager to fly back to Europe. Nobody believes me when I tell them, but it is true. I am not dreaming, nor making things up.

It has been great fun working in the garden. I decided to put in seeds for sunflowers, melons, watermelons, etc… Something which is usually done in March, but I feel like now is the time to do it. I want to take advantage of the humidity combined with mild temperatures to make things grow.

The mild weather is a blessing in disguise. Zakaria is having very restless nights due to some teeth breaking through. He wakes up a few times a night, wants to come out of his bed and stands upright until somebody takes him and holds him until he goes to sleep again. If this would happen during a “normal” January, it would be impossible to keep him warm unless the heating would be switched on.

He is having his midday nap again. It lasts about an hour. An hour that I use to read my emails or write an item for my blog or just go out into the garden to have a good look around and to enjoy the changes that spring brings along.

An excellent start to the New Year

I wish...

The first day of the New Year I wanted so Zakaria so desperately to do his afternoon nap so I could write an item for my blog, that he must have sensed it. He usually goes to sleep at about 2 in the afternoon, this day he did not. He kept on playing, eating and singing. At 4 ‘clock I put on the stove and continued reading a book that has been filling up my spare free moments this week. He didn’t stop playing and teasing me, until suddenly at 5 he marched towards the mattress - we are sleeping in the heated winter living room for a few months – threw himself on it and fell asleep instantly.

The last time I looked for a date, it was December 30th. It is not unusual anymore to be unaware of what day of the week or month it is. I am very pleased about that. With Zakaria around I am obliged to look at the clock to manage his meals, but I much rather just look at the position of the sun and guess the moment of the day while hearing the muezzin.

Until now, the weather is mild and humid. We’ve got a vine showing a new leaf and growing citrus trees which, as much as we, will most probably be disturbed by a biting frost one of these days.

If we aren’t, I will not complain. I am anxiously waiting for spring to come along and each year I wish that winter doesn’t come along. Until now it has.

Unless this time…

On the second day of the New Year Zakaria did not take a nap at all.

If this non-napping pattern continues, I will not be able to log on to my laptop many times unless late in the evening when he’ll be gone to bed, because he always wants to workon the computer himself, and there is no stoppin him.

I hope it is only a temporary thing…