Brothers

Mason loves being a big brother. Sometimes it seems a little hard for him as he adjust to being the "middle child," but he stepped very quickly into the role of big brother. He has a constant playmate now, and someone who idolizes him.

New best friends

Saturday morning goofing

Bingo

Pint sized

Two weeks

I had to look back in this forum to make sure it's only been two weeks! Yes, two weeks ago today we landed and about this time of day we were settling into our beds with a new number of people under the roof.

I also realized that I didn't quite tell the end of the story on his illness. Time stood still in the hospital, then went triple time when we got out. As it turns out, he had Hepatitis A (the "good" Hepatitis, the curable one at least.) The disease has a 2 to 7 week incubation period so we know that he contracted it while he was still in the orphanage. It was just coincidence that he got sick when we got him and with all the other variables we thought it was either carsickness or the change in food that made him vomit and be so lethargic. But actually we feel very fortunate to have gotten him out of the country when we did. He was a very sick little boy and needed immediate medical attention--the first world kind.

And since that day that he broke free he has not looked back. He is feeling 100% better and, although his liver enzymes are still elevated, there is no external indication that he is anything but 100% healthy. (And he is not contagious.)

Cindy and I were talking tonight, amazed at how we got this kid who is absolutely perfect for our family. He laughs easily, loves people, goes headfirst into everything ahead of him, and likes to stay busy. He wrestles with Mason and loves that Kenzie mothers him. He just has a big personality and we all love being around him. His giggle is infectious.

The English is getting easier. He seems to understand a lot of what we say, and he's picking up on key phrases like "what is this!??" (with his arms stretched out, hands pointed up in seeming dismay).

He has completely bonded to us, to Cindy in particular. Although he loves to go to new people and be affectionate and play, he doesn't like her too far out of his sights. The social worker at the orphanage had told us that he really wanted a family, and that seems to be true. It seems like he is very happy to be part of us and all of the dimensions that brings. He is six, and sometimes we see a little fit if he doesn't get his way, but the vast majority of the time is just easy with him. Busy, but easy. I feel like I should be knocking on wood when I say that, but it wouldn't be honest to say anything different. We had prepared ourselves to go into lockdown mode for the first couple of months and not introduce him to many people, allowing him to bond and really know who his family is. But that has not been our reality. We run in multiple directions all week long, and he just goes with it.

We remembered back to the first time that we saw his picture. There was something in those eyes. Before we saw that picture we were worried about the range of kids that we might get that might be hard to fit into our family. What if he doesn't want to be a part of our family? What if he wasn't fun-loving? What if he didn't like to stay busy with us? What if he wasn't very social? What if he didn't like sports?!?! And, because these are things you can't pick with your own biological child, we knew that it was too much to ask to try to specify exactly what we were hoping for.

But, if we had been able to put it on a piece of paper, we would have described Ermias.

 

New perspectives

Adaptive and resilient

Ermias is amazingly adaptive. He shows no signs of sadness or stress. He is giggly and cracks jokes at just about every turn. He loves to pretend that he's asleep, closing his eyes and fake snoring in the middle of anything, particularly when he needs just a little bit of attention. He loves that we call him "Injera Boy" and pumps his fists in the air to own it. 

He greeted me at the car last night, I handed him a bag. He said "injera, no?" U nodded and he instantly and excitedly said "oh good job!"

He put on 3 pounds in a week. Watching him eat, it's no surprise. He eats massive quantities...massive...and also is started to experiment a bit with things like peanut butter and popcorn. We are still serving traditional Ethiopian food at three meals, but are encouraged that he's becoming curious. The nutritionist was right. She told me to give him a couple of weeks of food that felt comfortable to him, not have it be a battle between us, and he would be influenced by the kids around him. 

He has now been to two bouncy houses and has zero fears there, even though three days ago he had never seen anything even remotely similar. He embraces our friends with an open heart, hugging and laughing as quickly as he can. 

Nights are easy. He goes to bed with either Kenzie or Mason, and if he needs to use the bathroom in the middle of the night, he does, then puts himself back to bed. 

English evolves every day. He now practices with the kids and uses the English word before the Amharic one if he knows it. He doesn't know many yet, but the list grows every day. 

He is amazingly comfortable and affectionate. When I came home last night he gave me two big hugs and huge smiles. Kenzie and Mason each love him and care for him in their different ways. Kenzie is a Big Sister caretaker, quickly making a meal for him or taking him to the bathroom. Mason also cares for him but is anxious to play with him at every turn. Church this week was fun to watch. Each kid took one of his hands and together they led him through the maze of people until he was comfortable enough on his own to run free. 

We keep waiting for it to be harder than it appears to be. After our little four-day stay in the hospital, he has quickly integrated into our family. 

Brothers

Mason and Ermi dressed themselves today. 

first videos

Here are the first videos we saw of Ermias in the ophanage.

Not bouncey

Injera

This kid as a new nickname: Injera. It's the first thing he says in the morning. There's nothing he loves more. We went to an Ethiopian grocery store and somehow talked the owner into giving him his own piece in a bag. He carried it around all day. Happiness. 

Monkey see, Monkey do