Throw all the rules out the window
We’ve been home on our third full day now. They love their room, they still seem to like us, and they seem to tolerate the food we have been feeding them, for the most part. They absolutely love the swing set we were surprised with being built while we were gone (Thanks, Uncle Jay, Chad and Ashley!).
The first full day, Adam and I were both not feeling well – but the kids were just fine. Adam actually went to the urgent care. I just had this weird vertigo thing that probably had to do with the long plane ride and getting used to the time change again and was going to go to the urgent care if it didn’t get better, but by Friday I felt almost human again. We’re quickly finding out that Aman wants to play with all of Serawit’s toys, and vice verse, which is causing quite a few arguments. Typical sibling stuff. However, they do listen to us when it comes to the important stuff, like bathroom, bedtime, naptime, baths, come to the table for meals, etc. So, we decided we have to change the parenting plan. We aren’t throwing them into everything right away, but we are taking them out, and letting a few people at a time come over. Finally yesterday, we separated them and had an afternoon of relative peace. Adam took Aman and they both went out to get a hair cut, and I washed Serawit’s hair, painted her fingernails and toenails and put her hair up in new pom poms. We watched TV together and she let me pamper her.
Funny about the TV, the only things they like to watch are the Amharic children’s DVDs we got them, and Barney. Spongebob freaks them out now, and they don’t care for Thomas, Blue’s Clues, Sesame Street, Bob the Builder or even Dora. They did sit with us to watch the first half of Shrek the other night, but I think they saw it as a treat because it was at their typical bedtime when we were in Ethiopia.
On the first full day, we went for a car ride around, which they liked. The adventure made a stop at my parents’ house and they came out to say hi – we didn’t get out of the car. At the end, we ended up at Jefferson Barracks. In front of one of the buildings is an old WWII fighter airplane. We drove by it and I pointed out the plane to the kids. They both started screaming “no air-o-plan, mommy, no!!” LOL! So one of the running jokes is we say “airplane” just to get a rise out of them.
Yesterday we went to the grocery store because we were already out of bananas – they can’t get enough of the bananas. We went in the morning when it wouldn’t be too crowded. The kids pointed to all kinds of fruit that looked good to them so I decided on a big plate of fruit for lunch. They liked everything but the watermelon. I guessed they saw the melon and thought it was something else.
Earlier today, my sister, niece and sister’s friend here from England came over and we went to our favorite Chinese/Vietnamese restaurant for lunch. The kids were very good. They loved watching the fish in the fish tank. I got them the curry chicken off the Vietnamese menu (got me some too), but instead of rice, I got them lo mein noodles (pasta!). She didn’t like the chicken but he did. They both loved the noodles. She took the lemon off my iced tea and ate it. The owner, Tien, thought that was cute and brought her a plate of lemon slices and she ate them all. Hmmmm.
Food is interesting. In everything I (and Adam) have fixed, they will eat something, and if they felt they didn’t get enough, or if they didn’t like the main part, they ask for a banana or mango – actually since we’ve been home they haven’t asked for any candy, nor have we offered it. It was interesting Thursday night. I had mustered the energy to make miser wat, to try to give them a taste of home. Serawit came into the kitchen while I was cooking and I think she was surprised to see me cooking. I made scrambled eggs that morning and they were still in bed. At lunch we had leftover pizza and fruit. I guess she thought we had a cook. She was fascinated. I got out the berbere and let her smell it and her eyes grew wide and ran to get Aman, and he was happy about it too. I fixed it go over rice since we didn’t have any injera. We sat down to dinner and after their cute Wolayta prayer, Serawit dug in and seemed to love it. However, Aman had a bite and decided he didn’t like it and spit it out. Then Serawit decided she didn’t like hers (this happened a lot over there). So, I scraped off their plates and gave them miser wat with a tortilla and I told them it was American injera. They both ate two bites and asked for bananas.
Yesterday for dinner, I fixed pasta with the Trader Joe’s Marinara sauce that I have doctored up with some garlic, olive oil and crushed red peppers. They loved that. This mornng, Adam had made homemade pancakes, and they loved that (whoo hoo 2 in a row). They ate their pancakes in Ethiopia plain with bananas – so that’s how we served it. Adam let them have a bite of his with the maple syrup and they seemed to like it. Ok then. We got it right twice in a row – whoo hoo! Tonight I’m making an Indian dish, Chicken Korma. Hope they like it – the flavors are similar to what we had over there.
Last night, friends of ours stopped by our house on their way back from Pigeon Forge. They have two girls the same age. They all played for a couple hours on the swing set, which was nice.
Tomorrow we are going to church, and then over to my sister-in-laws so they can play with their cousins, one of whom is the same age. We are thinking about the zoo, and swimming on different days next week – during the week when it won’t be as crowded. We are watching them closely to make sure we aren’t overwhelming them too much, but they seem to like getting out of the house and meeting other people. The neighbors have all come over while we were playing in the back yard and they hammed it up with them. They still find one of us if they have to go to the bathroom, or if they want anything at all, or if one falls down while playing – they know we are their parents. Not ready to have a big party at the house or take them to Incredible Pizza, or anything like that. If you want to get together or come over, still please call us first. We are still taking baby steps with it all.
This is really going so well that Adam and I are waiting for some proverbial ball to drop. We are certainly not doing things the way we thought we would. Not complaining – I wasn’t looking forward to staying holed up in the house with Adam and the kids for 30 days.
I do have that new mommy feeling – haven’t flat ironed my hair in 3 weeks, and maybe wore makeup 3 days in that time. I hope I can find some time before church tomorrow morning to possibly fix my hair and put on a little makeup. If not, oh well. It doesn’t seem to bother me much.
Welcome to parenthood none of us are doing anything by the “book” its all a wing and prayer OK lots of prayers. It sounds like you are doing a great job.