Gracie Grace

Tonight we will focus on little Miss Gracie.  

            

Gracie has truly been a trooper these past 5 weeks.  God has blessed us with a happy girl who lights up our world with her smiles and giggles.  She is also quite the hit with Malians -- guys and gals of all ages just can't resist stopping to shake her hand or pat her head or even hold her.  We all love to see her smile.

Gracie's latest trick is "clicking" her tongue against the roof of her mouth -- quite amusing and much preferred to the spitting and food blowing last week.  Over the last couple weeks her interest in and taste for solid food has taken off.  Today she saw a banana and was not content until it was peeled so she could gnaw away, mushy bite by mushy bite.  Other favorites solids are toast and fruit melt-away bits which she proudly "fist"-feeds to herself.

 

Gracie loves to swim.  Today she realized that when mom and dad go underwater they don't actually disappear.  At first she remains a bit skeptical, staring at the spot we were last seen but as we swim towards her she looks down, sees a familiar head beneath the surface and starts kicking her feet and flapping her arms with glee.  She likes to "pat pat" Daddy on the head until he surfaces again, but for Mommy she likes to "pull pull" her out of the water by her hair -- yikes!

Gracie is willing to adopt any form of transportation that will get her where she wants to go.  In the hospital, she revs the engine as she rides the fire truck down the halls.  

And out on the streets, she hitches a donkey cart ride and races her daddy to the pool.

All in a day's play for our little Gracie girl!

DD&G

P.S.  Here is a picture of the Malian meal we had at Batima's house -- yum, yum!