Doudou's New Boubou

It sounds like it should be the title of a children's book, right?  But this is actually a really big deal!

Doudou, which I'm assuming (hoping?) is short for Amadou or Mamadou, or something of the sort, is our guard, P's, young son.  He is hanging out at our house today because the tailor down the street from us is going to measure him for a new boubou to celebrate the end of Ramadan.  This is his first new boubou since his youngest sister (now 3 years old) was born, and it is all happening because The German is obsessed with his bike not getting dirty.  When we moved into our house, because it is a lot smaller than our previous one, we needed to store a lot of our sports equipment outside.  It was getting filthy fast, so The German asked P to find a nearby tailor and coordinate getting covers made for everything.  As a thank you gift for bringing him to us (and for the obscene amount of  money we spent covering things that are supposed to get dirty), the tailor is making P's son a new boubou.

It has been like a bizarre "take your son to work day".  Doudou arrived with P around 7 a.m.  He has helped P water our plants, learned how to check the gas level in the generator, and spent hours being dragged around by Bean and Sprout playing hide and seek, learning to ride a bike, swinging, and even reluctantly petting our cat at Bean's insistence.  Poor Doudou has also suffered through Bean and Sprout's odd diet.  The look of confused disgust when I handed him a bowl of scrambled eggs with spinach was quite comical.  While I didn't understand the words, based on the facial expressions and body language I'm guessing his conversation with his papa about it went something like this:

Doudou:  (looking between me, the bowl, and P), "Tell her I'm not hungry".
P:  "It will make you strong.  Now say thank you and eat it."
Doudou: (gulping), "Merci".

The grapes, cheese, and spoonfuls of peanut butter went over a little better.  And now we anxiously wait for the tailor to come take measurements.  Doudou is all dressed up for the event, and took his nice shirt and shoes off to play so they wouldn't be dirty when the tailor arrives.  He keeps asking his papa questions about whats to come and checking out his arms and legs.  He is the embodiment of excitement and nervousness.  After the much anticipated measurements, Doudou will hang out here with P until his shift ends, usually at 7 p.m., but today closer to 9 so that our night guard can break his Ramadan fast with his family.  I am so curious about what kind of impression of his papa's job Doudou will leave here with today.  If only my local language skills were better.

Doudou and Bean watching a local tv show in the garage.

Today has been overcast, my friend's kids are all sick, and Sprout and I are fighting a cold. It has been a pretty "blah" day for me.  But not for Doudou.  For Doudou, today has been HUGE.  Because Doudou is getting a new boubou!