5.02.2008

Whew!

Ok, I can think a LITTLE more clearly now. We are, of course, thrilled to have a court date. But, YIKES... that means travel in 6 weeks or less.

I have been on a container mission. Plastic containers for everybody! Our awesome handyman, Rick, is speaking to us again (after the 11 hours faux tin ceiling incident.... oopsie... who knew it would take that long?) and is drywalling a couple of closets for us. We've got bags and bags (and bags!) of stuff for the Salvation Army or a garage sale, but let's get real, people, like I'm going to be able to pull off a garage sale before we leave. Mostly, I just want that stuff OUT of the house.

We have scheduled a consultation for our shots. Lots of calls back and forth with Lee's folks, who are traveling with us, about which vaccinations we NEED and which we DON'T. We're probably not getting the yellow fever shot, or taking malaria meds. CDC says that's ok if we don't leave Addis Ababa. There are about 5-6 others that we will get. Including polio.... there are recent outbreaks in that area, which blew my mind.

Oh, also... BOOK REVIEW... There is no me without you. Get it, read it. Mama G. (Grandma G!), I'm bringing my copy to you after work today. I'm still processing it all... the numbers are staggering. I don't think we're made to understand human suffering on that scale.

Now I'm reading I'm Chocolate, You're Vanilla: Raising Healthy Black and Biracial Children in a Race-Conscious World. Seems interesting... I'm only a little ways in... the author is talking about how pre-schoolers view race (they don't), and what can be done to instill a healthy self image.

2 comments:

Katherine said...

Preschoolers do notice color, though. Kai noticed and wondered why he was a different color. He was maybe 3? 4? Maybe that's just Kai though. I don't think Noe really pays much attention to that stuff.

133Gardner said...

The author makes a distinction between race and color. She explains it better than I can, but, yeah, they'll notice differences in color around that age, but they don't have the schema for understanding characteristics associated with race.

It's an interesting book.