So I know everyone is dying to hear about stuff... unfortunately I now have four kids. It worked out crappy that way. So I'll give it my best shot, but be warned, I may need to cut this (or any) post short and pick back up in a day or two.
We are all doing just great at home now. Tinsaye and Solomon are eating and sleeping really well. Solomon eats like he does everything: full bore, nonstop, intense and stay out of his way. Yesterday for lunch he ate: three pieces of pizza, a banana, an avocado, three tubes of Gogurt, a glass of juice, a glass of milk, at least two glasses of water, and he would have kept going if I hadn't removed him physically from the table. Unfortunately, about 20% of all that food wound up on him, the chair, and the floor. Using a fork is still a relatively new concept for him, since traditional Ethiopian food is mostly always served on injera flat bread and the bread is the utensil, you just shovel it into your mouth. The second Solomon realizes the meal is over, he says, "Lunch finished? Go bicycle now?" and regardless of the answer he is out the door. The only good thing is that he actually thinks the garage door is magic and we've neglected to tell him how to open it, so he can't get his bicycle into the street if we keep it down. And of course, as I mentioned in the previous post, he does not know how to ride his bicycle. When he's not perseverating on his bike, he's playing soccer with the crew of 10 year old neighborhood boys who are in awe of his amazing soccer prowess. When he's finally in bed at the end of the day, he is completely asleep in about 30 seconds. As soon as his eyes open in the morning he says, "Sleep finished. Go bicycle?"
Tinsaye is much more sophisticated and ladylike in her meal routine. She takes everything we give her, cuts it all up into tiny pieces, smooshes it all together and eats it in a "sandwich" of wheat bread, which is mostly scooped up like injera. She is pickier that Solomon and frequently doesn't want to try new things, refusing to even have them on her plate and whining dramatically that "I don't like!" Yesterday at the grocery store she found a display of pineapples and jumped for joy, grabbed one and kissed it, saying "I LOVE pineapple! I love it!!" But when I cut it all up and gave it to her she pushed it off her plate and wouldn't eat it. Who knows? It appears she could live on bananas and peanut butter and scrambled eggs, so no problem. Her obsessive activity is swimming. Everyday, it's "Go swimming today Mama?" Tragically, we don't have a pool, so we are reliant on the kindness of neighbors.
Their English is very good, especially Tinsaye's. Unfortunately, their accent is very heavy and for some reason, they sound like Boris and Natasha from the old Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons. "Vat iz zees, Mama?" "You are cRRRRRazy driver, Mama!" (rolled R). Plus they have learned English from Ethiopians who learned it from British, so they say weird non-American things like "Need a plaster!" instead of asking for a Band-Aid.
Meredith, as usual, is just floating happily along with her new brother and sister. No worries, no problems. Thomas is taking his role as oldest child WAY too seriously and worrying about them a lot. He made himself sick with anxiety right before we came home, but he's lightening up now. He's at a day camp this week, and it has been wonderful for him to have a break and do his own thing.
That's it for now. Next time I'll fill you all in on the trip.
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