Jonathan is making friends

I have confession to make.  I haven't been blogging much lately ...and the main reason is frustration with my camera!  Jonathan does so many cute things....but he does them so quickly and our little camera just can't catch the action shot!  90% of my pictures are blurry, and the ones that aren't have no little person in them because Jonathan has already run out of camera range.

What I most want to blog about ...Jonathan and his little friends...is also difficult to document.  In the process of making friends, I don't want to alienate the parents by taking too many pictures.  The other problem...I need BOTH hands to catch my little squirt, who knows no fear, before he jumps into ditches or critter-infested rock piles or in front of a speeding motorbike!  So often, the camera is left behind. 

Yet it is happening, and gives me so much pleasure!  Jonathan is making friends with other children in the neighborhood, and so we also are slowing getting to know other families who live close to us.  Every morning, when Dave leaves for work, we walk him down the road a little ways and then continue our way around the block.

Our neighbor girls, Safira and Alisia are usually out at that hour.  Safira is always in her school uniform, waiting for her mom to finish getting ready and take her to kindergarten on the family transport vehicle, a motorcycle.  Alisia, at age 2, goes along for the ride.  They like to chase our 2 good-natured cats, and Jonathan likes to chase them!

Often we go around the corner, where Rasha and Aria, brother and sister, live.   They toddle around in their driveway while their mom or grandma follows them around with a bowl of porridge, feeding them a spoonful whenever they stop long enough to breathe.  It's just not the culture here to restrain a child in a high-chair during meals. 

Naufel, 3, is often out, although we haven't seen him for a week or so.  Riski, another 3 year old, is also frequently helping his daddy sweep in front of the house.  We usually only see him for a few minutes before he has to go inside for his morning bath.

Four year old Didi, is very fond of Jonathan.  We usually see him in the mornings before he goes to school.  He attends a Muslim pre-school, and his family seem very faithful.   He has a little green bike, and an old push-car that Jonathan likes to ride.  If we've passed his house before he comes outside, he will walk along the street until he finds us and invite us to play in the yard.  His doting Grandma is always there too.

Here are a few (admittedly poor quality) pictures of Jonathan with our neighbor girls.