Life as a family of three is going great. We're doing well with bonding; spending time together; introducing B to our friends, family, and neighborhood, and learning how to be a family...we're not doing to great with laundry; responding to calls, emails, or gifts; or giving people detailed accounts of our time in Addis. My job is very demanding and has proven to be very unfamily friendly right now, Ababa's EMT class is going well but very busy for him. So, it's taking all we've got right now to focus on our family. Hopefully in the next few months we'll start getting the other things together:-)
For now, here are a few photos and B-isms to introduce you to our amazing little guy.
B is a HUGE sponge and mimic. He's pretty much fluent in English now and is great at letting you know what he wants. He also repeats EVERYTHING, so mama is working on cleaning up her potty mouth (which needed to happen anyway). Some our favorite B-isms are below.
"Mama, Happy Birthday Cake" "More candles...candles are fire...mama, candles"
I heard this for about 2 hours a day, EVERYDAY during our last month in Ethiopia as B's favorite activity was making playdough brithday cakes with candles (which meant I made the cakes and candles and then he cut them into little pieces). B celebrated 3 birthday parties for other little kids and figured out really quickly the joys of birthday parties (namely cake and fire). Since he's severely allergic to eggs, he only had cake once (only in Ethiopia is it common and relatively easy to get a "fasting" cake which has no milk or dairy:-) We celebrated Ababa's birthday tonight with an egg-free Wacky Cake (mommy's recipe from college, cheap, easy, and yummy). B isn't really scowling, he just makes a serious face for pictures while saying "mommy, I smile"...and yes, mommy-fail, we had no birthday candles in the house (note to self-must rectify before B's birthday later this month) so I just stuck a taper in the middle of the cake. It kind of looked like a torch:-)
B has discovered the joy of the playground, especially the slide. he also got his first playground injury. As you can see from this pic, he decided after many runs down the slide to mix it up by switching from seated on his bottom to lying on his tummy MID-SLIDE! Yeah, not a great idea! He wacked his face on the slide and got a bloody nose. (It's a sad miracle that I caught this moment on camera as we take pics with our crappy cell phone cameras that have 5 second delays on all photos, since our digital camera sucks the life out of batteries like no other...we're saving to get a new digital camera for Christmas:-)
We are still co-sleeping and I have to say it has greatly helped bonding, sleeping, and fostering a sense of family...but...B drools...ALOT...'nough said!
He repeats everything we say, but doesn't always get the meaning quite right. So, currently he says "that's gis-dusting" when he thinks something is good (b/c I say "that's disgusting" when something is yucky:-) and "mommy, that's Masty" when something is funny (b/c I say "that's nasty" when something is yucky:-)
We just started official pottytraining today (he has pooped in the potty ever since we met him, but pee is usually in his diaper:-( He loves the book "Everybody Poops" (which Ababa and I think is kind of disturbing and gross). We started rewarding him today when his diaper is dry AND he pees in the potty and he had a dry diaper all day. So, we'll see. After 3 months of diapers, and at almost 3 years old, it'd be awesome if he was potty-trained. But, if he needs more time that's fine with us too...For now, we are using the bigger diapers in the awesome cloth diaper stash I amassed during the past 2 years and we're learning the joys of cloth diapering in the city...
For now, here are a few photos and B-isms to introduce you to our amazing little guy.
B is a HUGE sponge and mimic. He's pretty much fluent in English now and is great at letting you know what he wants. He also repeats EVERYTHING, so mama is working on cleaning up her potty mouth (which needed to happen anyway). Some our favorite B-isms are below.
"Mama, Happy Birthday Cake" "More candles...candles are fire...mama, candles"
I heard this for about 2 hours a day, EVERYDAY during our last month in Ethiopia as B's favorite activity was making playdough brithday cakes with candles (which meant I made the cakes and candles and then he cut them into little pieces). B celebrated 3 birthday parties for other little kids and figured out really quickly the joys of birthday parties (namely cake and fire). Since he's severely allergic to eggs, he only had cake once (only in Ethiopia is it common and relatively easy to get a "fasting" cake which has no milk or dairy:-) We celebrated Ababa's birthday tonight with an egg-free Wacky Cake (mommy's recipe from college, cheap, easy, and yummy). B isn't really scowling, he just makes a serious face for pictures while saying "mommy, I smile"...and yes, mommy-fail, we had no birthday candles in the house (note to self-must rectify before B's birthday later this month) so I just stuck a taper in the middle of the cake. It kind of looked like a torch:-)
B has discovered the joy of the playground, especially the slide. he also got his first playground injury. As you can see from this pic, he decided after many runs down the slide to mix it up by switching from seated on his bottom to lying on his tummy MID-SLIDE! Yeah, not a great idea! He wacked his face on the slide and got a bloody nose. (It's a sad miracle that I caught this moment on camera as we take pics with our crappy cell phone cameras that have 5 second delays on all photos, since our digital camera sucks the life out of batteries like no other...we're saving to get a new digital camera for Christmas:-)
We are still co-sleeping and I have to say it has greatly helped bonding, sleeping, and fostering a sense of family...but...B drools...ALOT...'nough said!
I was very sick for about a week after we got back from Ethiopia. Once I was feeling better, we ordered pizza from Dominos one night. The online order ticker was Pirate-themed and a parrot keept squacking "Auck, prepping your order". B thought that was HILARIOUS and now walks around the house randomly saying "Auck, pemping your ordah"...B is a great eater. Loves anything with fish and rice (his two favorite foods), soups, stews (like Ethiopian wats, Indian dals, chili, etc.) and he loves fruit (especially, apples, pears, oranges, plums, tomatoes...). He also loves corn on the cob and chicken. He cleaned his corn cob the very first time and had his first drumstick the other day. He sucked the bones dry and even ate the cartilege! The only foods that he really hates so far are pasta, cheese, pickles, and peaches.
He repeats everything we say, but doesn't always get the meaning quite right. So, currently he says "that's gis-dusting" when he thinks something is good (b/c I say "that's disgusting" when something is yucky:-) and "mommy, that's Masty" when something is funny (b/c I say "that's nasty" when something is yucky:-)
We just started official pottytraining today (he has pooped in the potty ever since we met him, but pee is usually in his diaper:-( He loves the book "Everybody Poops" (which Ababa and I think is kind of disturbing and gross). We started rewarding him today when his diaper is dry AND he pees in the potty and he had a dry diaper all day. So, we'll see. After 3 months of diapers, and at almost 3 years old, it'd be awesome if he was potty-trained. But, if he needs more time that's fine with us too...For now, we are using the bigger diapers in the awesome cloth diaper stash I amassed during the past 2 years and we're learning the joys of cloth diapering in the city...
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