At the campground water spout

This floats my Boat Mom

Taking a ride in the floaty boat

Malcolm takes a dip in the lake

This video is a little rough. Malcolm never jumps into the water without his cue "Ready Malcolm Swim" so I was taping him wading at the side of the lake when he decided to take a dip, and then I had to juggle camera and getting him out of the water. He loved watching this video though so I think he will gladly jump back in another day,

Playing at Wilshire Park

Malcolm and his Teddy

Hmm

An artsy pic.. Remembering the rocking chair

Pontificating on the state of the world...

or maybe he is just thinking about lunch or some new words. In any case, it seems very serious.

More of Malcolm's Moods

Everyone has been requesting more Malcolm pics lately so here they are. A new series of Malcolm in his many moods as he works on becoming a two year old which he seems to be closer to each moment.

This one is called "Got Teeth?"

Malcolm at Anna's Wedding

Our friend Jaimie came for a visit

We miss her so much!

My One Triumph this Week

My one triumph this week, in the midst of my toddler's crankiness from being sick, staying in and being driven nuts was this- ONE BEATUIFUL GREEN TOMATO appeared in our garden. I can not believe it. I am managing all this without Baba Malcolm. Now I am the farmer!

Malcolm has been sick

Malcolm has been sick lately, and so I have not taken pictures of my poor little guy. I have basically kept him home most of this week since Aunty Anna sent him home. Yesterday I went to work and he stayed with Uncle Nathaniel. When I came back I found them both sick and panciked. I was sure that he had an ear infection, but after a little baby motrin and a full night's sleep he woke up doing much better. I kept him most of the day, made sure we stuck to nap schedules, kept him hydrated and gave him some homeopathic ear medicine just in case. We spent one hour in the garden in the afternoon. He feel much better then and he helped me put composted dirt on the broccoli . I am so glad that he is doing better. Hopefully, I will have a more fun and photo filled posting soon.

Post-Bath Masaai Baby

Malcolm's Little Stevie Wonder Impression

Check out Malcolm at Benjamin's birthday party. Benji was turning two. Benjamin and Malcolm hang out in the Nursery at church together and I think that they are going to get to hang out more this summer. Are they adorable?

Summertime

Malcolm's Daddy flew away home to Kenya yesterday, and we already miss him. Malcolm searches the house when we first arrive for people. Today it was only he and I, but by 8:30 he had walked, eaten, brushed his teet, taken a bath, and collapsed on the sofa by the big window for the night. We do a lot of sofa sleeping in the summer because it gets much more air than out bedroom.

Hopefully Daddy will have a wonderful time in Kenya, and rush home to us soon! I am posting pictures now of some of Malcolm's latest adventures. This kid seems to be coming up with new words every week.

Oh, I forgot to post ( although I have been telling everyone) that Malcolm spoke his first sentence just about two weeks ago now. He says " I love you" only it comes out I luv oooh- how cute is that?

Daddy's Little Guy

Malcolm and the Foot Steps to Freedom Walk on World Refugee Day

Malcolm wanted to walk for Freedom too!

Riding on Slavica's shoulders. She is originally from Bosnia. She fell in love with Malcolm and did not want to give him back, but duty called!

Malcolm had a wonderful time on the World Refugee Walk put on by Lutheran Community Services. This first picture shows us modeling our World Refugee Day T-shirts.

I can not believe that it has been year since I started this blog, and life has been full of those full circle moments. Malcolm has been doing so many new things. He just knows and understands so many things it is pretty unbelievable to me. Of course, to me, everything is still miraculous as if no other child has ever done the things that Malcolm has but of course I think that is just part of mamahood.

Malcolm is in love with cars right now, and anything else with wheels. We did not program him that way, but that is just how he is right now. He loves to watch the cars from his car seat, and Anna has a toy car that he plays in when he is at her house that he never wants to leave. Everytime we go to the grocery store we have to put him in one of the car grocery carts because if he so much as sees one he only wants to ride in it. Anna says that she has observed that some of these gender things just seem to be innate as well like the little girl toddler she knows that just gravitates to pink.

Malcolm has many passions right now but his main ones are being outside and anything with wheels. He is very active. He runs around telling everyone " Hi" and flashing that melt-your-heart smile. I am told almost everywhere I go that he is the most adorable baby, and I have to say that I totally agree but he is growing into a little boy so fast!

Boo Plays Peekaboo

Enjoying a Summertime Bath in the Garden

Here are two pictures of Malcolm enjoying a summertime bath in the garden. He picked the yellow flowers that you see floating in the water while he was sitting there. He has his mama's love of flowery baths I think.

Watering the Garden with Our New Hose

Day of the African Child

This weekend, I went with Malcolm, my colleague and twenty something refugee children to the Day of the African child. Malcolm had a great time and fit right in with the rest of the crowd. At the end of the day some of the children sang old slave songs that they learned at home before coming to America, and Malcolm stood up and danced. The other children laughed-and he laughed and I thought about circles and generations. I thought about my people as slaves returning to Africa and teaching songs there to people who did not speak English or understand its meaning who taught it to their children, who lived through war, who came to America and taught it to my African and American son who laughed and sang and danced and loved everyone and who cried and slept when they left and we went home.

Unbearably cute picture of Malcolm at Aunty Anna's

More pictures with Daddy

The top two pictures are ones that were taking in front of a local coffeeshop in Portland on one of our friends cell phone. They are the best pictures of Geoffrey and Malcolm that I have seen in a long time. The last one is of Malcolm at the park. I did not really mean to upload it with the others, but it is cute so it may as well stay.

Memorial Day Weekend at Grandma's

We had tons of fun at grandma's. We got to go on a boat, eats lots and lots, play with cousins, eat lots and lots, play with a baby doll stroller, take baths, play with a stroller, eat lots and lots etc. The pattern is intentional.

Anyway, we had a great time and it was good for all of us to get to relax with family at last.

New Things Boo Can Do

Well, I officially heard him say "No" multiple times today, but not in a defiant toddler way. He said it in a cute singsong way that mocked the way that I was saying it to him completely. Kind of cute, but I know that won't last long.

Malcolm has also recently aided the word "Bye" to his list. He can now say the following words...

1. Hi
2. bye
3. Mama
4. Mom
5. Baba
6. Dada
7. Uh-oh
8. Yes
9. No

I am pretty sure that I heard him say don't and he is working on thank you also. I just wanted a chance to write all this down while I have a chance to catch it. So much has been going on in our lives I feel like I am missing opportunities to record it all.

We went to Colorado to see Grandma this weekend, and Malcolm had a wonderful time-with the exception of Grandma's pooch Mo who kept knocking him over. We went swimming, took baths in a real bathtub (we only have a shower and plastic basin at our house) spent time in a hot tub, played with cousins, ate nonstop and spent time surrounded by loving family. I will post those pictures next, but I think that my blog catch-up time is nearing an end. More soon...

Mowing the Lawn with Daddy

This year Geoffrey has planted a wonderful garden-a tiny little shamba- in our front yard. We started teaching Malcolm to water it. He carries his tiny little cup over to the plants and dumps the water on them-or sometimes on his shoe instead-and then carries the cup back to one of us to get refilled. He loves being outside, and this seems like a great continuation of last year's leaf watching. I do think that I am going to miss leaf watching, but at the same time it is fun to see my little guy bloom.

In these pictures he is practicing pushing the push mower that we borrowed from a friend. He is very proud. He loves to push things.

Day of the Young Child April 29th

Malcolm could not stay off the stage when they had drumming on the Day of the African Child. He was cranky that day-he did not take a nap-but that could not stop his sense of rhythm. I can not wait to take him to the Children's Musuem again. CM2 in Portland really rocks and it was a fun day. The whole day was free for the occassion.

Malcolm's Easter

Malcolm had a wonderful Easter until the end of the egghunt which was just too close to naptime. I loved being with this weekend though in the sunshine and teaching him all about plastic eggs. He loved them. They shake, rattle, roll-and feed you sweets!

Malcolm's Peace March

Cool Slideshows

Five minutes of sun in February

In February, we had five precious minutes of sun. Malcolm and I ran outside to play. I was encouraging him to walk, but he was more interested in hugging the tree-that's my baby!

Cool Slideshows

New Things Malcolm Can Do

This kid is really growing up before my eyes, and honestly I am not really sure that I am ready for it, but on the other hand it is a lot of fun. He is over his ear infection now-Amen-and life can go back to normal.

He now can say five words, although he doesn't say "dada" as much as he used to. Malcolm can say "mama,""baba," "dada" "uh-oh" and now he can also say "hi." The "hi" bit is pretty darn cute I have to admit.

He also has started doing this thing where he vigorously shakes his head no when he does not want to eat something or do something, but sometimes he does it just for fun. That is pretty cute too.

What do you all think of his new African clothes? He is our budding little Obama!

Gifts Arrive from Africa for the King of Portland

A FRIEND IS BORN IN KENYA

Here is a picture of Baby Earlyn. She is the daughter of our friend Nancy Njambi in Kenya. Nancy tells me that Earlyn would make a great wife for Malcolm someday! Anyway, the picture is too sweet, and we don't have a lot of pictures of our Kenyan family on here so I thought that I would add it.

This kid is really a toddler now

This kid really is a toddler now. He is walking like crazy! I can't believe it! What happened to my cuddly little newborn? My baby is gone and now I have a child. We actually walked together a lot today while we were waiting for a friend to meet us at a coffeeshop. We just walked up and down the sidewalk, and each person that we passed smiled at us as Malcolm toddled along on one of the first spring like days in Portland this year.

Have I mentioned I absolutely can not wait for summer-fun times in the park and in and by large bodies of water. We need to get the Bunyolis to the ocean again, and I have to find some way to do more camping with Boo.

If you can hear me God-please send us spring so this toddler and I can play! Thank you. Amen.

The Preparation for the Birthday Bash Pictures

Here are the pictures that show the family preparation for the birthday bash. The slide show fades kind of slowly so stick it out through all the pictures. The same is true of the party pictures.

Enjoy! We certainly did.

Cool Slideshows

Malcolm's First Birthday Bash

I am going to post more bithday pictures and more preparation pictures soon. This was an all-weekend, all family event. Boo is the center of everything, but I have to admit I had fun. I had not enjoyed putting together a theme party and gathering people together in many, many moons!

Cool Slideshows

After the haircut with his wagon

Malcolm's First Haircut

Our brave boy in the barber's chair.

The latest Malcolm Stats

I took Malcolm to the doctor for his well baby visit today. Here are the latest stats. Our bouncy bundle of joy is now 11 1/2 month 31 1/2 inches long, and weighs almost 28 lbs-that is about 12.6 kilos for our friends in the metric system.

He is getting his one year old molars and that is why he has been cranky as cranky can be lately. Unfortunately, he also has a yeast infection and dry skin behind his ear. He is like his mama-a sensitive skin guy. So if any of you mommies out there have different recipes for soothing skin treatments for my maby lamb let me know. The doctor recommended browned flour which I am getting ready to cook up right now since he is sleeping. Poor guy had a hard day.

Since my car died in the recent snow storm we had to take the bus and in the case had to take Portland's slowest line. Then he had to get examined, have two shots and have his blood tested for anemia and lead. All of that with two huge teeth pushing through!

When we he wakes up though we have more adventures waiting for us. I am planning on taking him to get his first haircut.

Playtime with Daddy

Cool Slideshows

Martin Luther King Day 2007

Today is Martin Luther King, and I have a lot on my mind. In church today the pastor mentioned how extraordinary it is that forty years later we continue to celebrate the life of a man who himself only lived for thirty-nine years. She talked about how important it was for him to have a strong love of self in order be able to overcome all the injustices he would have to face, and to be able to resist the constant barrage of voices telling him that he would not be able to do anything, that he was lesser, than he was not a worthy human.

I thought about that a lot, and about how we could be able to arm Malcolm for life in this crazy world. Geoffrey is always wanting me to emphasize Malcolm's lineage. He wants to make sure that I am able to tell Malcolm want clan his comes from, and that he understands himself as simultaneously Kenyan and American. While this is a difficult feat to me because the lines of heritage seem so broad and complex that I wonder if I shall ever be able to understand them, I agree completely with their importance.

I have personally witnessed the loss that my people have had which is a result of namelessness, of lack of heritage. I have seen this in so many ways which I will discuss here, but it is ironic that it should exist at all because really the whole society that we are living in now was built by our ancestors. Every building should serve a testimony to that heritage. I am unsure why it does not.

When I was younger (and for the record I would like to assert that I am still not old) I saw this as a sort of an ache-the longing of a child for their lost mother-but now I have seen that the legacy of being robbed of a rightful sense of identity is a much deeper pain. It is more like walking around wounded, and having to live with chronic pain that is so deep and yet so constant that you must learn to cope with it, release it, or ignore it.

I have seen my method as a combination of all three, but I fall into pitfalls all the time. So the question is really-how do I give Malcolm that totally strong sense of self that will be enough to guide him through the hurdles that he will face in life? I guess this is every parent's question regardless of race or culture, but it seems especially daunting to me. There are so many times when I feel so small in the face of such a big task.

Parenting has opened me up in so many ways. It has been in many ways an open invitation to play and to remember love and joy, and yet I am always worried if I am doing things well enough to do justice to the life of our little ball of wonder. If I do this wrong he may end up angry and bitter and aimless like so many in this world, and that would be unbearably tragic because Malcolm's spirit is so pure and incredibly full of life. Every day he just seems to enter the world a little more and fill it with his powerful little presence with those sparkling eyes and infectious laughter. Of course he is my little universe, but others have also noticed his specialness. Somehow when he enters a room-even one filled with other children-he stands out every takes note.

In a couple of weeks he will be turning one. I am planning a birthday party for him, and some have said that I am going a little bit overboard and that the party is more about me than Malcolm at this age. I can't help though-since the moment I held him in my arms I have wanted to share him with the world. He is so beautiful and good. I want everyone to share the joy that he brings and I want to celebrate him and his birth and first year of life. Birthing him was the most transformational thing I ever did- I want to celebrate that and honor him again with the community similar to when he was born. The day he came home from the hospital was supposed to be the day of my blessingway. Since it did not happen like that women sat in our living room in case anyone came by to disturb me or the baby-sort of keeping watch over our little family and bearing witness to his beauty. I loved having him welcomed into a community like that, and somehow I think the answer to that strong sense of self, that connectedness and maintaining his spirit is tied up in that sense of community and support. Tricky business in the midst of all of our divisions, but somehow important nonetheless. Hopefully, in the next year Malcolm can teach me how to help him keep his little light shining.

I love you little one.

This is year I have fallen completely overboard into Christmas lala land. We don't have a tree, and our budget is very tight, but I have had fun picking out stocking stuffers and small little things that I can do for my loved ones.

I was telling one of my co-workers that when the war in Afghanistan started three years ago I marched into a popular shopping mall downtown with a small group of protestors shouting "Stop your shopping, bombs are dropping!" I did not get anyone store bought gifts that year, and stayed in Portland instead of going home to see my family.

This is year is a whole other ball of wax. I have savored every moment with my husband who has been working a zillion hours for us. I put the all-Christmas all the time station on the radio and sing Christmas carols to Malcolm. Someone in the church painted a portrait of Malcolm and I as the madonna and child. I hung up the stockings, got a wreath through a local micro-enterprise project for migrant women, and have generally blissed out on Christmas.

Malcolm loves the call and respond Christmas carols. He giggles like crazy every time I say "like a lightbulb" during the Rudolph the Rednose Reindeer song. He also generally put up with having his picture taken on Santa's lap.

When I asked Geoffrey if we should send a picture of Malcolm and "Baba Christmas" to our family in Kenya, he responded "Sure, but they will just think he is sitting on some white guy." It was very funny.

The question is now- how do I give my little one a wonderful Christmas every year while emphasizing tolerance and the roots of the holiday which are really about hope and peace and love and not techie toys that we can't afford anyway?

Well you all can test me next year when Malcolm is old enough to get some things about Christmas-will it be a spirtual time of giving and togetherness or will this activist mama fall into the globalization trap?

Stay tuned....

And now back to decking the halls

The Many Moods of Malcolm

In Search of the Great Pumpkin

Cool Slideshows

Lactivism

This week a breastfeeding mama was kicked off an airplane for breastfeeding her child without covering herself with a blanket. This is an outlandish act! Fortunately a petition has been circulating nationwide which has gathered more than 20,000 signatures and Delta has already vowed to train their employees on the benefits of breastfeeding. There is currently a Breastfeeding Promotion Act before Congress. Please sign this petition to show your support.

I am sorry to be so unabashedly political on the Blog, but how else will be able to make things better for our children?

http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/momsrising/signUp.jsp?key=1772&t=petition.dwt

Malcolm is doing great on numerous front, although I feel sort beaten up by the last month. It seemed like I worked non-stop and hardly saw my precious boy wonder during the weeks leading up to the election. Then of course I collapsed in exhaustion and got sick. The good news is that we won everything. Having been raised by a socialist feminist type (love ya mom!) I am not accustomed to winning on Election Day so seeing my candidates win and the school levy pass with 59% was like witnessing a miracle. Now I can see my Bugaboo again.

Malcolm is getting pretty good at standing which means that walking is not far off. I am not quite ready for that! He loves his drum and can really beat out a rhythm for a nine month ( I absolutely can't believe he is that old-one is right around the corner!). He eats almost everything now, but is still nursing. This guy is really a breast man. He will nurse until he is at least two I imagine.

I am putting together a little slide show of our pumpkin patch trip so I will post that on here soon!

This fall has been hectic, but we have still managed to have fun even in the midst of the chaos. Grandma came to town and we all went on a trip to the pumpkin patch. It is really astonishing to me how incredibly playful Malcolm is these days. He had a blast crawling on the pumpkins, riding on our shoulders through the corn maze and sleeping in the wagon while we had a picnic lunch. You could not ask for a more perfect day!

He had a cold on Hallooween so we did not really get to take him out, but we did have fun dressing him up as a puppy and watching him crawl around.

He has five teeth now and two more are coming in on the top. He looks like a one year old and he is doing many of the things they are . It is hard to convince people that he is only nine months old.

It is still hard to believe just how much I am in love with him. Since becoming a mama my priorities have completely changed. I am just so much less focused on my career and so much more focused on my family and personal life. It is like I just discovered the rest of the world and I want to relish every second. It sounds like the king is waking up. I will write more soon!