Our morning started out pretty low-key. Tisetso played on his iPad while I finished up yesterday’s blog post. Brian booked a flat in the same building through the 13th of February. It’s kind of crazy to think we’ve been here 24 days. We’re about half way through our time here (hopefully).
We needed to get more groceries, so we headed to a mall. Before we hit the grocery store, we stopped by a pharmacy which has the mystery Lego packets. Tisetso filled his school sticker sheet and earned a new Lego person. It ended up being a Native American woman with a baby. The baby was quickly tossed aside and forgotten. The Lego did come with a fun little poster of the other Lego people Tisetso can collect as he earns more stickers.
After the store, we headed back to unpack our groceries. Brian said he had to take care of something and excused himself from the apartment for about 15 minutes. When he came back, he told me I had a manicure and pedicure appointment in a half an hour and a massage appointment the next afternoon. I’m not one for doing things like that a lot (I usually get a pedicure before we go to Florida), so this was a treat.
Downstairs in the salon, I sat for 2.5 hours talking with the gal doing my nails. As it happens, she is also a Christian! It was so nice to talk with her for so long. She was such an encouragement and a breath of fresh air. It also just made me miss my church family all the more! Freshly buffed and polished, my nails were done.
I returned to the apartment to find Tisetso and Brian playing with Legos (surprise). Brian was building a ground vehicle for the astronaut and Tisetso was playing with all of the people. They had had a good time while I was away, which was a good thing! I joined them in playing for a bit before making myself a grilled cheese for lunch.
After Lego time, Tisetso set his head on the table. He hasn't done this before so I asked if he was ok. I asked if he was sad. He nodded his head. I asked if he missed his friends. He nodded. This was big because before he's attempted to cover up the fact that he was sad. I rubbed his back and told him it was ok to miss his friends, that I was sorry he felt sad, and that I missed my friends in America, too. I also told him to let us know if he felt sad again. We wanted to know so we could sit with him. When he had nodded his head, I offered to see if there was anything good on TV (always up in the air). Shrek happened to be on right then. This was a big deal because he has been asking to watch that movie for two weeks!
Watching Shrek beat up the bad guys.
Our afternoon and evening went by with Legos and Shrek. Brian and I wanted to take a walk on the beach after supper, so we had to drag Tisetso outside. Once we were there, it was clear that he was the one having 99% of the fun! At first, he didn’t want to put his feet in the water. Then, his feet got wet because of a massive wave. After that, he was “washing” his legs and shorts with the water. Then, it was full on laying down as the water came in. He was COVERED in sand, but had a good time. Brian was able to find a shower at the beach and rinsed him off before we walked back to our flat on the paved walkway.
Before he began throwing himself into the water.
Throwing rocks was a favorite on our walk.
As we were walking back, Tisetso started playing with his shadow. He would crouch low and hop up. I believe it’s from our recent viewing of Peter Pan. I definitely remember doing the same thing after watching the movie when I was a kid. It made me smile and love him more!
Tisetso "driving" our elevator to the correct floor.
Back inside, we were careful to avoid getting sand everywhere, but I’m not sure how successful we were. After a shower, we finished up Peter Pan (for the second time this week), then tucked Tisetso in for the night. For the past few nights, I have laid in bed with my son until he falls asleep (per his request). I love this time because it shows a measure of trust. It shows he trusts me enough to keep him safe.
I wrapped up last night with a call to my parents, watching the Top Gear A-Z special, and trying to get the dryer to work. It was a good day. It was one of the first without the silent treatment from Tisetso, which is something to rejoice about. We still had a couple of pouts and folded arms, but nothing major. Thank you, Lord!