Update: March 2, 2007: Beat-Boxing
We had the opportunity to visit with our son twice again today. He's still not feeling 100%... he seems fairly tired and congested, so please continue to pray for him. They have asked us not to let him sit or crawl on the floor so that his activity is minimal. So most of our visits are spent either holding him in our laps or walking around the room with him in our arms.

Heather is really good at this kind of time. My expertise is probably more in the crawling, wrestling, tickling categories. But Heather is a master at entertaining this little guy as he sits in her lap. Her specialty is singing. She will turn him so that he is facing her, get his attention, and all of the sudden they'll start clapping and she'll start singing a children's song. He loves it. And then they'll start singing another... and another... and another. I never knew there were this many children's songs, but Heather knows them all! First it's "Patty Cake," then it's "You Are My Sunshine," then "Bringing Home a Baby Bumblebee," then "Clap Your Hands," then "The Itsy-Bitsy Spider," then, "With Jesus in Your Boat,"... you get the point. I'm convinced she's making up some of these songs as she goes, but our son will just sit there, gazing into her eyes, occasionally clapping along, and listening to every word.

So then it's my turn. I sit him in my lap. Uh... what do I do? I know he likes singing... but I don't really know many songs. He's staring at me, waiting for me to come up with something good. I start to sweat. "Uh... Basketball is my favorite sport, I like the way they dribble up and down the court..." It's an old rap I heard as a kid on a McDonald's commercial, and it's all I can think of! But then it starts to flow.

I start up another tune: "In West Philadelphia, born and raised, on the playground is where I spent most of my days..." All of the sudden I'm rapping with my son in Kazakhstan to the tune of the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and to my surprise, he likes it! He particularly enjoys the beat-boxing noises I make with my mouth. (For those of you who may not know what beat-boxing is, it's defined as the art of reproducing drum sounds using one's voice, mouth, and nasal cavity. It can also involve vocal imitation of turntable scratching, the simulation of horns, strings, and other musical instruments, and the replication of a vast array of sound effects.) You probably never knew I had this talent. Let's just say--anything to keep our kid from crying...

We love you and miss you!
--David and Heather

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