Home life

Life around our house (like at most people's) can range from the mundane to the special. Here are a few pictures of the past few days that capture the spectrum.

Eskil pulls his diapers out of the laundry basket while Eirena hangs them up on the line and Adisu bounces a ball.

You never know what you may find...

Eskil learning cause and effect and clapping

Advent

getting ready for St. Nicholas Day and Christmas

never a dull moment... or if there is, be suspicious!

Eirena's mind part 2

Today at lunch Eirena asked for something else to eat after she finished her slice of pizza. She asked for frozen peas. I obliged and gave her a fair helping of frozen peas. (She likes to eat them just like that.) She ate them rather quickly, which if you know her, you know that is a true witness to how much she likes them.
Teasing her, I told her that she was eating so many peas she was about to turn green. As proof I pointed to her toes, showing her how they were already green. (She has bright green nail polish on her toes.) I showed that to her and then explained how each toe would turn green and then her legs and then her fingers and arms and finally her nose would turn green. She asked me to explain it to her again. So I did. I kept expecting her to tell me I was being silly because the green on her toes was nail polish. Nothing.
But after a little pause she said, "no, it wouldn't start in my toes because the peas go in here" (pointing to her mouth). Entirely too logical.

BBQ, Texas style

Last week two of my college roommates came to visit. We had a great time (at least I did!) reminiscing and catching up. Although they said they were just coming to visit me, I felt like they should have some authentic Texas experience to tell others about. Tex-mex food is a little too ubiquitous in the rest of the continental 48 and since I'm under "house arrest" after 8pm, discovering the "live music capital of the world" is challenging (and not really my cup of tea).
So... we went to a nearby town for authentic Texas BBQ. (My mom heard about this place on a tv show way over in India.- That's how famous it is!) The restaurant has been around for over 100 years. They are offended if you ask for sauce. You don't get forks, just a knife to slice some meat. You don't get plates, just the paper they wrap the meat in. You order right in front of the BBQ pit where you can see the flame and smell the smokey smell. (Vegetarians are allowed in, but escorted into the dining room before ordering. ;) )You choose your meat, get your plain white bread or crackers and chow. (They do have some sides like pickles and german potato salad or baked beans. ) For a meal that is solidly meat, it is really good. The meat is very tender and has great flavor. Of course, we ended up eating greens for the next couple of meals to make up for it, but it is a fun experience.

at Kreutz Marketplace

imagination explosion

Eirena is at the age when her creativity and imagination are exploding- often with funny ideas and stories. She apparently has an imaginary friend now, Noddy vaguely based on the character of the books I (and now she)grew up with. Just about every morning Noddy has some adventure, often while waiting for us to get her out of bed. Then she tells us all about it during breakfast and lunch with frequent status updates. It is a little dizzying to keep all the stories straight but quite fun to hear what she finds fascinating of our day to day activities.

Eirena quotes

• Upon being asked why she unrolled an entire roll of toilet paper into the toilet: "I thought it would be easier that way."
• Helping me bake a pie, "Mommy, may I help you hatch the eggs? I know how to, Daddy showed me how."
• Looking at a plate of black beans for lunch, "These aren't beetles. They look kind of like footballs."
  

One Year

A year ago today we met our second child. We were pretty nervous about how the meeting would go, wondering what Adisu would be like and how he would react to leaving the foster home/orphanage and getting in a van with strangers. We ate breakfast and then waited for the van to come get us. There was another couple who were also getting their son that day. Finally the van came. We piled in and drove for about 15-20 minutes to the orphanage.

The gates opened and in the van pulled. Children everywhere. We looked for a child that would resemble the few pictures we had of Adisu. There were a lot of boys, all eager for attention. We looked past them. And standing there, off to the side, looking at all the activity was a tiny little boy. Dr. Daddy and I looked at each other and nodded, yes, that must be him. With Eirena holding my hand, we approached him. I got down on my knees and introduced sister and brother. Eirena was instantly excited and held his hand. His face was void of emotion. The other family had met their son, changed him out of his orphanage clothes (they leave those behind for other children) and were carrying him around, smiling and talking.

I picked Adisu up and held him. He didn't seem to care at all. The nurse told me that he was sick but assured me that normally he was a happy, lively little boy. I carried him as I tried to look around the orphanage to see what his home had been like. Dr. Daddy was busy taking pictures of the children for their prospective families and distributing the treats we had brought for the remaining children. Adisu said nothing, did nothing the whole time. We got some pictures of Adisu with his caregivers. They tried to get him to smile for the camera. No luck.

When we got back to the guesthouse he followed us upstairs to our room. He was still clutching the lollipop we had given him, not eating it, just holding it in his hand. I helped him unwrap it and tried to convince him to eat it. He took a few licks but wasn't really interested in it. Dr. Daddy ran over to a pharmacy to get him some medicine. At lunch he just sat. He didn't want to eat. Didn't want to communicate. The other boy was chattering away, not that his parents could understand, and eating everything in sight. Adisu did none of this. He didn't want to play with the toys we got for him, didn't want to interact with us or Eirena or the guesthouse workers. We hoped that once the fever was gone he would perk up. For all the reading we did on the first few days of meeting your child, we expected rage or frenzied (stressed) activity or "honeymoon bonding" perhaps. But no one mentioned near catatonic shut down. It was two days before we saw a smile from him.

In truth, we have all come a very long way since that day one year ago. But it has been far from easy for any of us. In a perfect world, there would be no adoption. The fact that there is adoption points to the brokenness of our world. You're taking a very broken child and trying to help make him whole, all the while realizing your own fallibleness. We have come a long way. We still have so far to go.

Update on Activity Cards

For those curious enough to comment on the activity cards here is my update:
We have used them for almost a week, so these are still initial results.
So far, they have eliminated the standing around.
Eirena has become interested in using them too, which no doubt helps them being viewed as fun, not torturous. :)
We haven't really had an outright refusal to do one of them yet, although we came close a couple days ago. I think if that happened I would insist on the activity being done for at least 5 minutes before a new card could be chosen (kind of like the 3 bite rule for trying new food, not that we really do that around here).
They have gotten him (and Eirena) doing things he hasn't done in a long time.

Funny anecdote:
When we got Adisu we noticed he had rhythm. He heard a neighbor's stereo blasting a beat and got all groovy when he thought no one was looking. But he hadn't done much dancing for a long while. Fast forward to Saturday and he chose the "dancing card". We put on some musical and he did the weirdest "dance" that looked like a black kid imitating a white kid dancing by wiping his feet on a door mat. It was dreadful. So we tried to find some clips of dancing for him to get a better idea of what he should be doing. And we tried to explain and demonstrate. Unfortunately neither Dr. Daddy and I are dancers. And Adisu is a very literal sort of person. So when we said, "tap your foot, spin around, jump", that is exactly what he did. All. The. Time.
Well then on Monday Eirena chose the dancing card. So I put on some other music. He was doing his odd thing again. (The only reason I really cared was that I knew he used actually be able to dance naturally.) So I got online (the wonders of the internet again!) and found clips of Ethiopian dancers. I showed those to him. Apparently something clicked because now he looks much more natural. Its like he's feeling the beat again!

Recipe

The other day Dr. Daddy and I were at Costco and decided to get some bagels for breakfast as a change. Of course, then we realized we wanted cream cheese to go with the bagels. Not wanting to make another stop, we just got a Costco-sized amount of cream cheese. Now here's a question for you... how many packets of bagels would you have to buy to use up 3 lbs of cream cheese?
I don't know the answer. All I know is that it makes much more sense to use cream cheese to make.... CHEESECAKE!
And now I want to take a moment to give thanks to the internet without which I would not have this lovely new recipe:
Sun dried tomato and havarti cheesecake
They say it is meant to be an appetizer. We ate it (with salads and crackers) for dinner. It was yummy and very easy to make. Success!

Kiddie Amusement

We took the kids to a kiddie amusement park. We gave them 5 tickets each and told them to choose what they wanted to do. All the rides except the train were just one ticket. In case you felt like you needed to see updated pics of the kids, here you go. . . (they haven't changed too much since Saturday- except maybe Eskil who is eating us out of every fruit and vegetable around).

Eirena chose to ride the train- with Dr. Daddy

they both chose the Ferris wheel

and the airplane "swings"

Then Adisu chose to ride the boats

Eskil took it all in

Adisu then chose the carousel
while Eirena wanted to go on the airplane again.
Do you think she had fun on there?

Adisu used his last ticket to ride the cars, I think he wanted to try every ride.

It didn't seem like much from an adult perspective, but the kids really liked it, reminding us yet again of how fun the simple things can be.