Growing Sweethearts

It is about time we updated pictures of the children. The girls are growing and changing so fast! Every day they learn new things and get faster at crawling. Tivoli says Mama regularly and said Dada for the first time the other day! Esther is seriously addicted to her fingers and Tivoli decided a pacifier is a wonderful thing. They are nine months now.

Tivoli (yellow headband)  Esther (purple headband)

Many struggles over who gets which toy occur every day...

And usually the result is one happy baby and one sad baby.

Tivoli is almost always happy, steady, and consistent. However, she loves to explore and escapes every time the door is left open. She really likes the dogs who are probably five times her size and like to lick her face. Unfortunately, her explorations outside usually end with a very happy but filthy baby. 

Well, this is 100% Esther when we say smile. She loves to snuffle her nose at you and once she is comfortable with someone she over loves their face with her hands and attempts to give wet kisses. Many a Tanzanian woman has picked her and been quite surprised at her aggressive displays of affection! She really loves the Tanzanians.

The boys decided to join in on the fun...

Jason...beneath the tumultuous threes and the red hair there appears a sweet little boy here and there. He has such a big heart and he loves very fiercely (well, he does everything quite fiercely). He is striving to a big boy now but still carries many traces of the baby he used to be. 

Silas is learning to read and is actually pretty helpful now. He has made good friends with Kolimba, the Tanzanian gardener, who has taken him out to various places around the neighbourhood and lets him work on the property. We are told by Kolimba "Anapenda kufanya kazi sana!" which means Silas really likes to do work.

They are all growing up so quickly!