It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like . . .

Dad & I looking for a Christmas tree!

 Well, OK, so here in Jordan it doesn't actually look a whole lot like "Christmas": blue sky, bright sunshine, sweatshirt-only weather. But we do heat our house with a wood-burning stove, so Dad & I tried the "Chestnuts Roasting on a [Closed] Fire" thing. And we had some of the other more traditional Christmas things: red footy pajamas, Christmas breakfast together, presents to open on Christmas (including two dollies that Grandma Ginna sent from Japan--one of them has eyes that open and close and the other one has a bottle that I can feed to her!)

But it's been a while since I've updated you all on life here in Amman, so I thought it was about time.

We may not have had any snow, but we had several days of a lot of rain . . . and Mom & Dad soon found out that if you make a sandbox out of a children's swimming pool, then sometimes you end up with "high tide"  after a heavy rain. No problems for me: I loved  being able to dig around in the mud, and when Mom wasn't looking, I even climbed in the sand/mud box! Big smiles there!!

Other things that have been keeping me busy include lots of time with friends, continued walks with Dad (though no longer in the stroller: that just got too boring. Now I walk as well. Yes, this does mean that we stop frequently to sit on curbs and explore things, but it's still much, much more interesting! And we still sometimes get to see the neighborhood dogs, so life is good), working on getting Mom & Dad to understand me (I've got "meow," "woof-woof," "up," "mama" and "baba" down; we're working on "milk" and other words). And then of course there's eating, talking on the phone, exploring, dancing to music, and simply enjoying life!

I'm SURE that if I just keep working at this,
SOME day I'll find the right key!

One of my new baby dolls

Hello! Grandma Ginna?

Christmas Breakfast

Two of our Christmas trees (we decided
to go live & go local)