New Baby in the House.

As I wrote, I went to see my old host family. There's a new neice for my host mother. Here she is with the grandmother. The baby, at eight months crawls up a storm. Behind the baby is the Gavara, or the baby crib. It's an amazing contraption. As you can see, it's already covered with a red velvet thick cloth. Whenever the baby is asleep, the child is covered. This made me nervous, as I inherently wanted the child visible to make sure it was OK. They assumed, however, that the child was OK if there was no crying. Maybe they just assumed the child should sleep in the dark, and since there wasn't a separate room, they would put the thick cloth over the bed. Actually, the tajik gavara is an amazing cultural contraption because the baby never needs to wear diapers. The thing is made of wood, and then there's a small mattress of straw and then a second layer of cotton. In both of these mattresses, there's a hole and the baby uses the hole as a bed pan. In the hole, a jar with a plastic bag is placed - underneath the baby that is. The baby is then strapped into the crib so that it can't roll over or change position and a little plastic thing is placed on the baby so that it always does its business directly into the jar. The genuis is never having to change diapers, and for busy tajik women, they can basically leave the baby alone in a separate room while they cook or clean house. The negative is that the baby is completely strapped in and this may change the shape of the head, as it always must lie on its back.