Letter 4 / 11 / 84
The time has come, the time is now! I think I might get a letter written ... allowing for an interruption about every two words. Things are improving, I'm gradually catching up on what has to be done.
We now have a little freezer, which frees me from making bread so often. It doesn't freeze brilliantly (takes at least twelve hours to freeze most things, even small) because its an 'absorption' one and runs on gas. But its still a great help, with storing fish too. Also, we have our little generator AND WASHING MACHINE! What a difference that makes! What used to take hours is done in half an hour, and I can even do it with a baby on my hip!
Doing the washing with the new machine
Visitors left
Our visitors have finally all gone - it was nice to have them here, but it is a relief to be just us again. We enjoyed having Rod and Hazel staying with us, but our house (even with the translation house in full use as well) couldn't really cope with four adults and six kids. Meal-times were a special kind of nightmare, with our picnic table that only seats four - seats are attached to the table and can't be moved - and an extra chair at each end of it - that makes six. Our attempts to put James, Linda and Alison at a separate table failed, and we ended up having two sittings (in which case the kids all hung around for the second sitting anyway ... ) or we all had kids on our knees while we ate.
Nevertheless it was a nice break - a change from our usual routine. We managed to all climb the hill, and I minded the littlies while the others all went right around the island, and we had a trip over to
More visitors
The day they left we were supposed to have two more people coming, so we were most relieved when they delayed their visit for four days. Peter H came from
Jo
Jo continues to develop in her own sweet way. She's so placid and content. She doesn't generally cry when she wakes up, I often go in and find her playing happily. Sometimes at four or five in the morning I'll hear a little voice and find her on her back, wedged across the cot, all tangled up in her mosquito net, playing in the dark. She's full of smiles and little chuckles, especially for things like mobiles, and her 'crib exerciser'. She turns over with ease, and is getting fairly accurate with her hands.
Ali
Alison is as Alison as she ever was. Chatters all day - puts quite a few words together into little sentences now. And copies everything James says. She's getting gentler with Jo, though every now and then she'll suddenly claw at her face, or come running from a distance and jump on her! She has one or two dolls of her own now who get frequent baths and cuddles etc. She's quite the little girl, though she still acts as a magnet to dirt. Her hair is getting thicker, and I'm trying to get her used to having clips and things in it without pulling them straight out again. I have her in pants all day, but we are having no success at all with her training. If I could have just a few successes in the pot to reward we might get somewhere. She knows what she's doing, and rather enjoys the sensation of a puddle around her feet.
James
As for our James James ... he's a long skinny creature these days. He's been very sick - again. His asthma attacks get worse. Last night he had a really bad attack - rather distressing for all of us. Ventolin is a fairly standard treatment - he has it in liquid form. But he coughs and coughs and vomits, and its very difficult to get anything into him while his stomach is in spasms. I think you can get a Ventolin inhaler, which he may be old enough to learn to handle.
Anyway, his new bike arrived 2-3 weeks ago, and he hasn't been willing to ride it. Even with the trainer wheels he was sure he would fall off. We realised after a while that the real reason is because he's feeling so weak and tired he just doesn't have the strength to push it. But he's been getting better as he always does when we give him a course of Incremin tonic, and today he was suddenly willing to try. Once he got going he gained confidence and didn't want to stop. He got faster and faster and went further and further each time. Peter says he remembers his dad said his (dad's) chest troubles started to get better once he got a bike, and Peter had the same experience. I guess exercising with your hands out (and therefore chest expanded) would be good for these problems, and hopefully we'll see James improving fast. I think he'll be up early tomorrow morning wanting to ride. His speech is good these days, still a smattering of Creole language mixed in, but mostly English. He chatters non-stop, louder and louder ...
Ducks and Chooks
Of our three large ducks, two recovered from their broodiness and started laying, but the third took over all the yellow ducklings as her brood and turned nasty towards the three black and yellow ones, and us, and everything else. She was quite a nuisance, so in the end we just gave her away. Now one of the other two who were laying has stopped laying and is looking after the (not-so-little) ducklings ... it seems we can't win. At least the chickens are still laying, about 5 eggs every 3 days between them.
Garden
The citrus trees are still growing well. And we have corn and tomato and bean seedlings on their way. In the kitchen I have parsley and coriander and dill and tarragon growing in teacups on my windowsill! Its the parsley I'm most keen on. They are still very small, but I was very tempted to pick a little leaf to put on a dish today.
