Sisters!

After five or so weeks, things seem to be settling down. Denbele is no longer attempting to eat cat barf or staples or pebbles and is also no longer inhaling every meal as though it were the Last Morsel of Food on the Planet. Willa no longer seems murderously insecure, fearful that our love for her will vanish like, oh, I don't know, the budget surplus. In fact, now the girls really do seem like sisters, and not just because they own a closet full of matching dresses (grandparents: they can't resist).

A few mornings ago, we woke up at 7:30 (in and of itself a minor miracle in the household of Denbele, she of the let's wake up with the first fingers of dawn). Willa called to us: "Mommy, my baby and I woke up at the same time." We went into their room to discover Willa in D's crib, D on her lap and happily babbling "Wiwwa, Wiwwa," this being the most recognizable new English word she has acquired. Mostly she still speaks in her own language, what my friend Marjorie calls Klingon. Willa, who is as moody as Bette Davis, can be ridiculously sweet, murmuring "Sweetheart, I love you" to Denbele a lot. The foul moods now seem aimed more at me, which is as it was before, though as I write this, there is conflict as Denbele makes incursions onto Willa's food. She's better, but still a food scavenger.

Last night, Willa drew this picture:

It's of her and Denbele in the bunkbeds, the bottom bunk of which still remains vacant as D is too small for it. Willa had to practice. There are a few bunkbed pictures scattered about. But I think this is actually the first picture Willa has drawn of the two sisters (I'm pretty sure the small Martian-esque thing on the bottom bunk is Denbele). This seems Significant. It seems Sisterly.

Anyhow, that's this weekend's milestone. They come fast and furious. We have to go. Everyone clambering to go to the playground now and Denbele is licking the phone. Baby steps.

XX

Gayle

Whirlwind Summers...

So, imagine a photo of Degefa with his shirt pulled up, a big grin on his face, and his belly sticking out like a beach ball. That is the one that I would have posted if I wasn't technically challenged. It was taken when we took him out to our local Ethiopian Restaurant where he out-ate all 6 adults and 5 kids that went along. We told him "injera" and "machina" and a bunch of hand motions starting at lunch to get the idea that we would be driving to an Ethiopian Restaurant for dinner that night. You know what, I think that he got it. Well, sort of. On the way to driving to the restaurant, he started asking about Mitiku, Yonas, and Hisikiel. And then I got it. He thought that not only would we be eating injera, but his buddies would be there too because that is who he is use to eating injera with. We helped him understand that it was just our family, but it did point out how confusing things still must be swirling around in his little mind.

Adjusting to our family and our crazy summer schedule hasn't been a problem for him. He has been going from one adventure to another and I think he is going to be a bit disappointed when the school year starts and we aren't nearly as exciting. I am still wrestling with the preschool vs. kindergarten dilemma.

Let's see. Some observations. I have found that equality is the name of the game. If I ask him to take a nap, he starts going through his siblings' names to see why they aren't taking a nap. If someone gets a bigger helping of some food, there is a "hey mommmm". There often is an "oulet" meaning why does she have 2 and I only have one? Its hard to explain using sign language and my 10 word amharic vocabulary just why in each of those instances, there is a good reason.

Scott calls Degefa his "half full" kid because he is a sunny kid. He is resilient. He has been through so much and he still greets each day with a smile. He adores Scott, aka the fun guy, and can't get enough of swinging around and shoulder rides and crazy, noisy, run around the house games. Me as mom, schleps through the day and is not quite as fun. I'm the one policing tooth brushing, telling him to put the telephone down for the millionth time, and chasing all kids outside to play.

He is kind of like having a toddler. A very fast toddler who wants to touch everything. I rationalize that curiosity is a very good thing. Degefa's mind is busy learning a ton of stuff in the process. Sometimes there is a disconnect with my expectations of him because of his age/size. We're both still adjusting.

Over the weekend, we got together with folks that had adopted a 6 year old girl in January. That makes it about 7 months that she has been home. She spoke English so well that you would have never known it was not her first language. That is the good news. The bad news is that she didn't retain any Amharic and she had no desire to. I would say that I'd like Degefa to retain his Amharic, but I'm not so sure he has a lot of it to retain. Like a lot of our kids, it was not his first language and I'm not sure how much of it he had processed before being adopted.

We miss you all very much. Degefa loves the pictures on your posts. I'll have to get my technical guy to get some pictures posted of Degefa...so stay tuned.

Reunion

We found out a couple of weeks ago that a family from Iowa adopted a child from Ethiopia two weeks before we did. I actually went to high school with the father and his parents still live near us. Well they have come home for the weekend to visit his parents and today they spent the day hanging out with Kim, Mac, TJ and Mitiku at the pool.

Mitiku was so happy to see and play with his old friend from Ethiopia. It was such a joy to watch them play and interact with each other. It was a great day!

SOST weeks.

Long time, short time, time. It's all a blur. But we miss you. Every single one of you. Tirfe is SITTING. CLAPPING. HIGH-5-ING. POINTing (especially at noses, tee hee) She is squeeling when the boys squeel (whether in joy or frustration), eating like a happy, happy baby. Beginning to look in our eyes time and again when we feed, rock, and love her. She is really something. I know you know. I know your kids are too, I really know. Our families are quite amazing.