As a parent, once you have your second child the differences between the two of them become apparent fairly early on. I know most people that see our girls think they look almost identical, but their various personality traits are starting to show. One thing that we noticed long ago, when Sara Gail was a baby, is that when she gets sick, she gets knocked out cold. This week, unfortunately, that happened to her. Monday morning didn’t start very well for any of us; Varun had just gotten back into town the night before, but was supposed to be going straight back out of town for another week. I was dreading being alone with the girls for that long, simply because they missed him so much just over the weekend! Then, after just a few short hours at school, the teachers asked me to take Sara Gail back home because she was feverish and lethargic. She was able to hold her own that day, after having given her some medicine to reduce her fever. In fact, she and her sister seemed very happy that she was going to be home sick.
It was a little tough at first to adjust to Sara Gail being home during the day. Abigail and I had started to get a routine down for just the two of us. Luckily the cleaning ladies were able to give her plenty of attention while I had to tend to Sara Gail. And luckily for all three of us, Varun’s work trip ended up being cancelled due to weather. So, we were all together and helping Sara Gail get over her cold.
Speaking of weather, when we first got here, I learned that if it rains here in Accra, nothing gets done that day or the next. As a girl who grew up in New Hampshire, that was a very difficult fact for me to accept. Up in northern New Hampshire, it didn’t matter if we got 5 inches of snow or 5 feet of snow – you were going in to school or work the next day. So, hearing that everything and everyone stops for rain? I couldn’t believe that. However, that was how I felt before I actually went out into the rain. It doesn’t only rain here – it is a torrential downpour! So, I suppose I can excuse people taking it a little slower the next day if they have to walk/drive home in this.
Even though it was great to have him home, the next day didn’t go smoothly. Poor Sara Gail woke up with a tremendously high fever. It was really lucky that Varun was home too, Tuesday was also the day that my driver’s license was ready. So, he came home to watch her while I went with our driver to go pick up my license. He was also nice enough to let me drive home with him in the front seat. I have to say, I was a bit nervous to start driving here – I didn’t expect it to happen at all let alone just a few weeks after arriving here! But, financially speaking, it makes a lot more sense for me to be driving myself than to have a driver – as much as we do enjoy having him take us around the city. And it gives me the freedom to get around for various errands without relying on someone else to take me.
Back at home though, Sara Gail was doing her best to fight her cold. She did the one thing she’s successfully avoided doing for months – she napped. She napped several times and for long stretches! I was conflicted, on the one hand I was glad she was napping, but on the other, I felt so bad because she was sick enough to need that much sleep.
By mid-week Sara Gail was finally able to kick what had been ailing here and get back to school and her usual routine, so the next few days were fairly uneventful. Then came my favorite day of the week: Friday, which here in Accra means market day for me! It was my first market day solo – my driver had shown me the ropes during the previous weeks. Luckily, he also found me someone to carry all my produce from the market to the car. She’s not pictured here, but basically there are ladies that wait near the market with big silver bowls that they carry on their heads and you pay them to follow you around the market and take all your produce back to the car for you. The lady that helps me also has a baby on her back, like I do with Abigail. I only wish I could communicate with her more because I really respect what she does – day in and day out in the hot sun with a little girl tied to her back as well. The only problem is that she doesn’t speak or understand much English. Hopefully I’ll learn enough of one of the dialects to be able to communicate with her more. These days are always so exhilarating for me – they make me feel like I did in France or in Egypt when I was studying abroad as a student. Although, it feels even more special here since I get to share this type of experience with my entire family! I just really enjoy getting to experience a new culture among the actual people that make up that culture. It is always a fun experience for me, and I really treasure that I get to have these type of experiences. These are the days I really live for while we’re here in Ghana – living and experiencing life with the locals!
This week at the market I also got a little treat for Sara Gail – she loved how our cleaning lady had carried Abigail around the apartment and she wanted to do the same with her baby doll, so I bought here a little bit of cloth to carry her baby doll around like a local Ghanaian woman!
Now, even though Varun didn’t have to go out of town for a majority of the week, he did have to leave us again for a few days right before and during the weekend. And while it is getting more and more difficult to find activities to keep Sara Gail occupied in an increasingly shrinking apartment, I did get some inspiration from her school this week – meal prep! This school is just really great all around, but one thing they emphasize that I am really growing to love is the real-world skills they’re teaching the kids from a young age. So, one of the activities that Sara Gail was doing in school this week was preparing food for snack time. And the school was also encouraging the parents to try it at home, so while Varun was out of town during one of my cooking days, I took the opportunity during Abigail’s nap to get Sara Gail more involved in the kitchen, preparing her meal for lunch for the week. She seemed to enjoy it well enough and it’ll be a fun new thing she and I can do together on the weekends!
After some hard work helping Mommy cook in the kitchen, she also took it upon herself to write a lesson for herself while we were waiting for Abigail to wake up.
When Abigail did wake up, we still had a few more hours waiting for Varun to get home. So, since I have my own car and my own license now, us girls did some exploring on our own! It turns out that there are some local “playgrounds” that you can take children to for entertainment [indoors] and we found one nearby the apartment. Both the girls loved it, so I think it’ll become part of our weekly routine. And it was a great way to spend the time until Daddy got home – a lot better than just sitting around the apartment getting stir-crazy and bored!
When Varun did finally get home and settled for the weekend, we spent the day out and about exploring the city and preparing for our upcoming move to our long-term home. It was a fun day getting out of the house and finding new places to shop and explore together. And also finding more places to take Sara Gail, and Abigail when she’s a little bigger, to have fun out of the house!
Come back next week to read more about our continuing adventures in Accra – especially those involving our big move into our new home!