Five Things that Happen When Fred is Away...

Fred is halfway through a ten-day trip to the last session of his "Facilitating Organizational Leadership and Development" course, and some predictable trends have emerged.
(Usually I don't get a bunch of nasty "you're a terrible parent" comments when I write about life in Africa, so if you all could continue to not express those thoughts, no matter how much you think it, I would appreciate it.)

1. Wesley is naked 90% of the time.  
   I argue and cajole him into clothes, only to find him standing naked in the bathroom.  "Why did you take off your clothes?" "Because they got wet." By which he means that the bottom of his trousers got wet, so he had to take off ALL the clothes.  Three-year-old logic.
2. Bedtime is flexible.
   During normal days, Gretchen and I got to bed at 9pm.  I read while she falls asleep.  Fred and Wesley finish watching the news, then go to bed around 9:30pm, unless there's an important soccer match, in which case they both fall asleep on the couch.  When Fred is gone, bedtime could be 7:30pm (if the power is out) or 11pm (last night).  Some nights we all go to bed and they play while I sleep.  This also wreaks havoc with wake-up time and nap-time and general demeanor, but, although you can lead a kid to bed, but you can't make him/her sleep.
3. Wesley goes on an all-fluids diet.
   The boy goes through these very normal toddler phases of not wanting to eat, but it seems like whenever Fred leaves, Wesley starts the refrain of "my tummy doesn't want anything in it."  Well, anything except juice, milk, cocoa and water (in that order).  Oh, and cookies....and sometimes popcorn.  I'm not worried about him, because as soon as Fred comes home Wesley will go back to eating properly again, so the few ounces he loses will come back.
4. We're practically vegan.
   Well, vegans who eat eggs and drink milk and use margarine.  Okay, so we're basically vegetarians.  We eat chips (french fries) about every other night, except Wesley, who eats, well, see No. 3.
5. Pajamas = Productivity
   I spent all day Saturday and most of Sunday in my pajamas.  (I actually changed from pajamas into pajamas at one point.)  It was my most productive period this whole week so far!  

I intended to write this post about some of the lessons I've been learning during my analysis of past Lahash partners and projects, but then on Sunday I lost all my Office programs: Word, Excel, etc. so I haven't been able to open or edit any file while I'm trying to get my slow internet connection to re-download all those programs.  It seems a losing battle, so please pray I get my computer sorted out so that I can get back to work!