Kid Stuff

Titus and Lexi are enjoying all of the fun activities involved in being a kid in the village. The other day we were at the school yard while the youth group was playing a game. Leaves had fallen from the trees and Titus was having fun crunching them. So I thought, “Hey, it’s fall in the States and we used to love raking and jumping in leaves every fall!” So, even though it’s far from fall temperature, we raked up those leaves and Titus and Lexi had a grand ‘ole time jumping in them.

Of course Lexi spends much of each day playing “mommy and baby” - she makes babies out of whatever she has. At home she plays with her stuffed animals, but she’s been known to make babies out of leaves, sticks, and pieces of cloth. She also loves to imitate what she sees local women doing with their babies. She uses a sarong to tie her baby onto her when she walks places, covers her baby from the hot sun with an umbrella when walking on the road, ties a sarong between two poles for a baby sling at worship, etc. She often comes into the house scrounging for more babies when her friends show up and want to play too.

Titus is 100% boy and loves imitating the older boys. It all started with a “stick truck” back in February. The most recent fad in the village is that all of the boys walk around with their slingshots trying to shoot birds to eat. So, after practicing with a friend’s for a few days he decided that he needed one for himself. We had a friend carve him the “Y” and we bought a piece of elastic tubing for the sling part. He loves that thing and carries it with him wherever he goes. Never know when you’ll see a “pijin” (Bislama for bird). He hasn’t “stoned” one yet, but he will if he keeps practicing - he’s getting pretty good!