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.