"In Mongolia we have 'dis"

So, if you recall, several weeks ago I posted about The Weeping Camel and how Lucas had basically turned his back on his culture and all things Mongolian.

Well, as we learn more and more while we parent him, we also learn that there is an eb and flow to this whole journey.

Lately, Lucas has come back around to talking about Mongolia and the things he did there.  He says "In Mongolia we have 'dis" a LOT lately.  Or "in Mongolia we do 'dis".  He is reaching back and sharing a piece of his past.  It's been a lot of fun.

One way that he shares his past is through food.  I served him tomatoes and cucumbers the other day and he said "In Mongolia we have 'dis".   Today we found a 2nd Chinese grocery store called of all things "The Great Wall".  Go figure!

Lucas went with me shopping and was giddy with excitement as he wandered the store and found things that he recognized.  From Moon Cakes to some pickled asian radish thing.  It's all chinese to me, so who knows what half of it even is.  But, he found some bins of candy and began loading up bags with delight.  Then he started talking about fireworks.  The best we can surmise at this point is that he was talking about Chinese New Year which comes in February.  It is a HUGE holiday for them.  And apparently it involves fireworks outside after dark and also coming back inside and eating candy.

So tonight, Lucas and Isaac played with sparklers that were left over from the 4th of July and a few other things we had laying around.  Then we all had to come inside and let Lucas distribute candy to us.  He was just giddy.  It may be August, but I think we just celebrated Chinese New Year.

Also, while we were at the store, he was telling me all sorts of things about items in the store---there were some large tubs and he just went off on telling me all about how he would wash his feet in them and then wash his socks.  Then he found a small washboard and he told me that they washed their clothes "like this"  (by rubbing them on the washboard).  There was another larger tub and that one was used for washing clothes.

These are like pieces to a puzzle.  The puzzle of our boy's past which we will never fully complete.  But, if he can help us now to fill in some of the gaps, we are going to try to cataloge as best we can what he tells us.  Even small pieces are valuable.