Nong Ja My Thai Niece, Isaan Thailand.

We have the pleasure of looking after our amazing little niece Nong Ja. She has been with us for at least 3 weeks straight now and will be staying with us until who knows when. It will be at least until mid May of even fulltime until she goes to school.

We love her so much and she can at times be very demanding as any 21 month old can be, but 99% of the time she is a champ of a kid and a joy to help bring up.

In three weeks she has picked up so much being around us all the time. She repeats nearly everything you say and remembers so much of it. She says words in English and Thai and other times in a language we cannot work out, which often has us laughing.

We have been privileged to been able to help raise Ja since her very first few weeks of her life and we look forward to doing this for many more years, until the time comes that her parents can look after her fulltime or on a part-time basis with us.

She has her two favourite bears, one was a present to Noot from a friend for her birthday and the koala bear is a present from my mother and father to either Noot or Ben for Christmas or a birthday.

She treats her bears like little kids; she drags them about the house and chats away to them. Tucks them into the bed at night and usually grips hold of one or both of them when she goes to sleep. Thankfully she isn’t so attached that we have to take them everywhere we go. It is usually in the early mornings and at night before bed.

The first thing everyday we feed the fish. Ja heads straight to the fish tank and after that we go to the fridge and Ja gets the carrot out of the crisper that we cut and wash for Cola the rabbit. We sweep the floor and then most mornings go for our walk to see the chickens, cows and across to the market.

That is about as exciting as my days have been the last few weeks, but I actually really enjoy it. As I write this Ja is on the bed dressing one of her bears up with the help of me of course. There have been many interruptions writing this post.

Tomorrow will be the same, a bit like Groundhog Day but I don’t get as stressed as Bill Murray or am able to make myself the amazing person he become while stuck on the same day for so long. I will just wander along and enjoy the company of my amazing and very special Thai niece Nong Ja.

Brunty