Serawit came in about 6:30 this morning. “Shint!” = “I have to pee”.
We were all up and eating breakfast when the van arrived with one of the families that are still in Addis to pick us up for church.
The service that Fikret took us to was at the International Evangelical Church. Service was contemporary, upbeat, and in English. The kids did GREAT. This bodes well, service and space were similar to what they will experience at our church.
Back to HOH2. Waved good bye to the other kids. Looks like we are going to have to download Skype so the kids can keep in touch with each other. Aman and Serawit played in the courtyard with one of the cook/nannies daughters, it was so cute.
For what ever reason, both Serawit and Aman seem to be tired/wore out. It is probably a combination of all the excitement this week, seeing their friends all leave for the states, and nerves about their own upcoming trip. Anyway, they are both a little grumpy (first time we’ve seen Aman whiny, Serawit was even more so).
Aman slipped and banged his forehead when he ran up the stairs after lunch and slipped on the wet floor. He cried some, not a lot. Mommy and daddy both kissed the ouchie and then daddy held him for a little bit. Before long, he was getting out a book to read, was smiling, and was ready for quiet(ish) time.
(Felicia insert) – Adam had Aman in his lap and was trying to teach him the Vulcan hand sign and got him to say “Live Long and Prosper.” A dork in the making!
Even after quiet time, they started on each other again. Finally after Serawit ran over to the wall with a crayon (after I told her she had to color in her book and not Aman’s), we just had to separate them and put them into time out – which works, along with “time in” which is usually on daddy’s lap. Finally late in the afternoon, when it was raining and we couldn’t go outside (though they really wanted to), we broke down and got out the portable DVD player. We had a couple of Amharic language kids shows, which they loved, but they really got into Spongebob. Even then, when I tried to give them a lollypop (the only candy we brought that they like, and they ask for one all the time – “kalimino”), Serawit threw a fit because hers wasn’t the same color as Aman’s. I took it back and put it back in the wrapper. After 5 minutes of “kalimino mommy kalimino” I gave her the same lollypop and she took it.
For only the second time since we got here, we also turned on the TV. 150 stations, only 3 in English and I think two of them were American movies with subtitles.
All the windows are open in our suite. We can only imagine what the staff thinks of us saying “no Serawit” and “no Aman” all the time. We would be feeling really horrible if we hadn’t heard the other parents with preschoolers were having the same problems. Really, she is acting like a 4 year old and he is acting like a 5 year old. We just really didn’t expect this until after they had been home for a while.