Going Potty

Hannah's not wearing a diaper today. Even though she has been able to use the potty since she arrived home she won't tell me when she needs to go even when she is wearing panties. So today she's bottomless under her dress. No accidents yet and I'm not even reminding her to go she just goes in the bathroom and sits on her little throne. At one point I checked on her and was reminded of a scene from Ethiopia. On that particular day when we arrived at the care center to pick up our children all the toddlers were sitting on potty chairs all lined up outside near the back door. I had look twice before I spotted Hannah. She was sitting minding her own business until she saw me. Then she was all smiles and wouldn't take her eyes off me. I had only known her a few days and already she was happy with my presence and only wanted more of me. Today when she saw me looking at her she made silly faces and laughed but still wouldn't take her eyes off me.

Getting Bigger

Being silly for the camera

Last week I took Elias and Hannah to the MD for another round of shots. It had been about 6 weeks since their last visit and the pediatrician wanted to see how they are growing. Well, I got proof that I wasn't imagining things when I thought they had both gotten bigger. Hannah has grown one inch and gained 2 pounds and Elias grew one inch and gained 4 pounds. This would explain why clothes are fitting better, Hannah's pants are not sliding off her any more and Elias actually grew out of a couple pairs of pants and a shirt or two. They are still both on the very small side for their ages though. I did hear from a family in Wisconsin who adopted a sibling group of 4 from Ethiopia last year, all of their kids grew 4 inches and gained anywhere from 5-15 pounds. I have high hopes for my two.
I think Maya has been growing also. She put on a pair of pants the other day that were about an inch too short, they had fit her just fine last spring. I measure everyone on a wall in the kitchen last week. Maya had grown about 1.5 inches since last spring, that explains the pants.

In other news. Elias likes school. Saturday morning he was a little sad that he couldn't go to school that day. He did have soccer that morning so his disappointment didn't last long. We stayed busy the rest of the weekend with a party where all the kids got toys, dinner at Playland McDonald's, and a trip to the Children's Museum. Maya loved showing her brother and sister around the Children's Museum, the permanent exhibits of the ant hill, construction zone and the entire Our World room were the favorites.

Hannah started ECFE yesterday. We will go once a week now. She did well for a first day and ended up dancing around by the last song we sang. She especially enjoyed the play dough and the ball ramp. The teacher pulled out a jingle sheet (on old Winnie the Pooh sheet with jingle bells sewn on here and there) the kids used it like a parachute and laughed the whole time. The best part about ECFE was the racial mix, we have a Somali girl, a Latin American boy, an East Indian or maybe Sri Lankan girl and then Hannah. The other 6 kids are Caucasian, everyone was there with their mom. How nice for all the kids to have such great diversity in their weekly playmates.

Hannah has a fun hair-do

First Day of School

Yesterday was Maya and Elias' first day of school. Maya got on the bus without a hitch and I drove Elias to school. I could tell that Elias was nervous but I know he'll love being around other kids all day. I didn't drag out my good-bye to him, I could tell he was getting upset. So after a quick hug and kiss I left him in the care of his very capable teachers. I made a quick stop on my way out to wave to Maya and remind her to look for Elias after school at the buses. Hannah and I waited at the bus stop for the kids after school. Elias got off the bus with a huge smile on his face. Both kids took the bus to school this morning.
Hannah and I have been hanging out looking at each other and laughing. We are both a little shocked at the quiet and calm around here without the other two. We've read tons of books, made bread, and colored pictures. Unfortunately we can't walk to the park to play because Hannah has the chicken pox so the back yard will have to do for now. Hopefully she'll get better soon.

Traveling

Earlier this week I took the kids to Duluth for the day to visit a family whose kids I used to babysit for. The oldest in that family just graduated from high school and is starting college now. How did that happen? Twelve years went by way to fast.
While in Duluth we visited one of my favorite beaches in Duluth, the flat rock beach, also known as Brighton Beach. The little kids got to see the big lake and throw rocks in the water. Elias amazed us all with his throwing arm, he could pitch them farther than I can. Then the kids decided to stick their feet in. Soon their feet turned into halfway up their legs, then both Elias and Hannah slipped and ended up sitting in the water. By the time we left they were both soaking wet but had huge smiles on their faces. Lake Superior was a hit. Later we toured my old neighborhood and I commented to the kids on all the changes. Maya was the only one listening, she loves hearing stories from my childhood. We had a great time on our trip and the kids were great travelers.
The last couple of days we have enjoyed spending more time outside in the cooler weather. Elias had his first soccer practice, he was timid at first but ended up running around the field with a big smile on his face. Then we all played on the playground. Hannah had her first ride in a swing. She loved it and soon learned the words "push please mommy". She also proved to be quite fearless on the twisty slide and the tunnel slide. Elias and Maya had fun in the pool yesterday, creating a water slide and later hurdling themselves over the side of the pool. Today we will search out more fun things we can do right in our neighborhood.

Word of the Day

Hannah's word of the day today is "Eataco" to which I reply "No, eat Hannah" then proceed to eat, kiss and tickle her all over. She melts into a fit of giggles then starts all over, "Eataco".

The kids have been home for a month now. It doesn't seem like it could be that long yet at other times it feels as as if they have been here longer. Elias is understanding just about everything I say to him now. I know that soon he is going to start spewing out English like a native. For now though I love the mix of Amharic and English in his husky accent. He rolls his r's so everyday words turn have a fun little twist to them, "green three" are two that sound especially fun. He also believes that the correct way to pronounce our state is "Minnesitota". He's still making jokes daily and keeping us laughing. Hannah is picking up English too. She has a soft whispery voice but not much accent. She still uses some Amharic though she wasn't speaking it as much as Elias.
We took a weekend trip to visit my sister and her family in the Fargo area. The kids got along well with their cousins so it was a nice visit. Elias impressed my sister with his running. We headed out one evening after dinner for a walk. Elias, Maya and my niece Greta took off ahead running. Elias ran the entire 1.5 miles, he just paced himself and ran like a distance runner, he wasn't even out of breath at then end. The girls couldn't keep up with him and resorted to walking after awhile. So now I guess I'll have a cross country runner, just as long as he doesn't want to play football I'm okay with it. While we were in Fargo Elias discovered that he loves to play with baby dolls. I am sure when he is 15 this fact will be quite embarrassing to him but for now I think it is wonderful. He likes to change their clothes and even carried one with him in a backpack carrier as we went to garage sales today. He is showing what a compassionate kid he can be and I couldn't be happier.
Hannah is getting better about being around dogs. My sister has medium sized, super mellow dog that loves kids. Hannah didn't like being licked on the face but she would sneak in some petting time if the dog didn't look at her. Elias loved the dog. Now Maya is begging me to get another dog soon. We had to give up our dog when the kids came home for a number of reasons but the biggest reason being that they were both terrified of dogs. In Ethiopia dogs run wild, eat garbage, drink out of puddles, and wander wherever they want, they are not pets. Someone told us that the butchers throw their scraps out for the "hyenas" each night. They may have meant dogs though I did see one weird looking dog that could have been some kind of hyena for all I know. I would think that coming from a culture like that that seeing a dog as a pet would be like me seeing someone with a cougar for a pet. Getting a new dog is something to think about though I don't think it will happen anytime soon.
Maya and Elias start school soon. I think they are both excited. Elias was asking all day yesterday if we were going to school as we ran errands. Maya has been keeping busy the last few weeks running her own school in the living room for both Elias and Hannah. We meet the teachers next week. One of Elias' teachers is male, a fact that makes me happy because he can use all the positive male role models around. This teacher also uses music a lot in his teachings, this is great for Elias because he is really likes music, he has learned songs sung in English quicker than he has learned any other English. Using music for learning for him will be perfect. Maya has a new teacher this year that is also new to the school. Her teacher spent the last year traveling and teaching in South America. I'm sure she has a lot of interesting experiences that can help her in the classroom this year. I need to figure out what Hannah will do when I go back to work so I can get her started going to day care for a few hours at a time. In the meantime she ans I will go to ECFE once a week starting in September. So we'll all be in school.

How It's Going

We've been home now for almost 3 weeks. It just doesn't seem like it has really been that long yet at the same time I feel that we have been home longer. The kids had their first doctor visit with their first round of immunizations and blood work. We had a lot of crying that day though later they were showing off their band aids like they were trophies. We are all adjusting to the newness of our family.

For the most part Maya is enjoying being an older sister. She loves helping Hannah Meretech get dressed in the morning and cleaning her up after meals. She loves that there are people around to play with besides Mom. Sometimes though her brother and sister don't want to do what she wants or they might be playing with her toys that she doesn't want them to play with it's at those times that she realizes that being a sister isn't always fun. I have been amazed at how well she is sharing her toys and how much responsibility she is taking on in helping with the younger kids.

We discovered that Elias is a jokester. After being home only one day he was acting dramatically when throwing away something into the stinky trash. He'll tell you his name is Mommy with a straight face then crack up. He'll pretend that he is afraid of Maya when she walks in a room and he'll hide behind me. He does have his bad moments too. It hasn't been so easy learning the rules of the house and he's been testing me to see what he can get away with. For the most part he is having fun. He loves to play outside, especially if it involves getting wet or it involves a ball. He is also really excited about learning and we are working on getting him to recognize letters, numbers, shapes and colors. He is practicing writing too and can already write his name. He should be ready for Kindergarten in a month.

Hannah Meretech is a sweet girl. She has a stubborn streak in her but mostly she is just happy to be doing whatever her big brother and sister are doing. She finally started talking (all the time) after about 2 days at home. She has a very cute little squeaky voice. She has done some testing of the limits and discovered that I don't like whining. Her manners get better every day. She is very girly in that she likes to wear dresses, have her hair done and loves babies. She had a ball playing dress-up in old costumes of Maya's. Many of Maya's hair binders end up as bracelets on her little arms.
I am enjoying getting to know the kids during my time off work. We are taking things easy for now and mostly staying around home. I did start signing kids up for fall activities. Elias will be playing soccer, Maya will be swimming and Hannah and I will go to ECFE. We are planning a short trip to visit my sister and her family next week, hopefully the kids will travel well and behave well when we get there.
Enjoy the new pictures for now.

Thursday July 19 - We finally had a free day to do do some sightseeing and shopping on our own. A number of us took the kids to a mall not far from the guesthouse. I did buy a couple of things but most of the stores had clothing I could buy in the US. We had a snack, ice cream, at a coffee shop then we went to a supermarket and bout some snacks for the plane ride home. The rest of the day we stayed around the guesthouse. I was finally able to call Maya before she went to school (4pm Addis Ababa time). the kids had a great nap and I started packing the souvenirs in our luggage. That night we let the cooks have a night off and ordered pizza, it was good, though not quite the same as American pizza (some other kinds of spice in the sauce).

Friday July 20 - Friday AM was low key day, we finished packing and walked to the office to check e-mail. Later in the afternoon we all drove to the office to get our children's passports, life books and DVD's the staff had made for each child. One DVD was of their stay at the care center, just typical day to day stuff and messages from the nannies. The other DVD is of their birth family. CHSFS sent a videographer to video and interview the birth family. After dinner we left for the airport. Elias loved his first escalator ride in the airport. There wasn't much to do at the airport but wait. The kids found new friends to play with and ran around.

ready to go

At the airport

They didn't even start loading us on to the plane until it was our schedule take off time. Elias was excited to be on an "areoplan" though he didn't like having to wear a seat belt. After 15 hours, 3 tantrums, plenty of food, and not enough sleep we made it to Washington DC at 8:30AM. We made it though customs without a hitch, got our boarding passes for the flight home. waited in line to go through security for an hour and finally made it to our gate. We got some lunch before leaving. Elias liked the fries and ketchup but turned up his nose at the cheeseburger - we'll have to work on that. Sadly we had to say goodbye to Eva and Adam at the gate, we didn't make a big deal out of it because I wasn't sure how Elias would react to leaving Adam. Both kids fell asleep before take-off and I had to wake them to get off the plane in Minneapolis. After 17 hours of flying, numerous hours waiting in lines, incalculable hours of just waiting we were home. Maya and my parents met us at the airport. Both Elias and Meretech were exhausted and a little crabby but cheered up after some food then we all went to bed. That was it no other transition to MN time. They have been on MN time ever since. Nice. Watch here for more updates and pictures.