Tid Bits Sept 2008

Monday, September 8, 2008

Tid Bits

Some thoughts I had on Ethiopia.
Interesting things that were funny: they do not have any chains there, but we did see a "Dairy King", "Addis Home Depot", "MacD's". We also ate at the Denver Cafe, which had as it's logo the Denver Bronco insignia horse head with colors and all. They just used it as is. The place had hamburgers, etc and a wonderful juice bar. Obviously catering to ferengi, it advertised no added sugar and no water.

Ethiopians seem to add sugar to most everything. The tea has a thick layer at the bottom as does the coffee. The popcorn is even sugared. I have to say it is good that way! The boys don't seem to like our butter flavored popcorn. Of course the flavoring is likely as bad for you as the real thing.

In Ethiopia it seems that every other car is a VW bug, bus, truck van combo or a thing. We play a fun game here where we get points for seeing different VW's. Each variety is assigned a point number and you keep track of your own points. Here an old bug is worth 3 points and a new one is worth one. In Ethiopia however, we only saw one new bug and literally hundreds of old ones. The truck/van combo vehicle is so rare here it is worth 8 points. We have only ever seen one. There we saw many of them each day, everywhere we went we saw more than one. There were many VW's on every street. We gave up on the points and just counted the number we saw the entire trip. We counted some 300 bugs alone!

We visited the mountains over Labor Day weekend. Photos are of that time. We had fun hiking two times and after the boys got used to the idea of walking in the woods, they were fine. I think they were honestly afraid of "wilderness", and it is hardly that. They slept happily in sleeping bags with sisters in the same room. Phoebe and Olivia got a grandparents fix and the boys got to know them a bit better. Dave and Daddy rode motorcycles and the boys were totally and uterly enthralled with them. They kept talking about it and telling about it. Then the last day they and the girls too, got a little ride with Dave. That was the highlight for the boys and has been mentioned repeatedly. Daddy, motorcycle...........
Nate gets motion sickness in the car when there are a lot of turns. He threw up on the road to the cabin. We will have to go a different way or very slowly. Then he falls asleep.

The question I am being asked everywhere is how are they doing? Fine. We are working on bonding and English. When Daddy is home they prefer him, Nate more so. We have initiated many tactics from books and other's experience to aide him/them in Mommy bonding. :) I have read up to phase 2 in the attachment book. They have definitely reached that phase. Maybe more. I need to read more. On the English side; they seem to understand most of what we say. They are using some words in English and use with prompting others. Playing at playgrounds and with other children is VERY helpful as they see that others can not understand them and they can not understand others. This is frustrating and bewildering for them. That is motivation. I need to find more of that. They love copy me games and so that is good. They know colors and can sing the ABC song and count alone to 7 in English. They can count very high in Amharic. I think they are doing better than we expected.
Olivia and Phoebe are doing well too. Sometimes they are stressed with new things and noise. But, all in all they are taking it in stride. Mommy is trying to figure out a workable and beneficial schedule. Daddy is loving having little boys.

Olivia is doing well at school and loving third grade at TCA. We are thrilled with her teacher and she is finding friends in classmates. Phoebe is loving fifth grade at TCA and we are so excited about her teacher too! She is glad to have some familiar friends in class and making some new ones as well. This is a promising year for her already.

Health: Well, we have all recovered from whatever virus we got in Ethioipia. Just in time for seasonal allergies to set in for the girls and I. Dave and I seem to have a little bit of ringworm, a fungus of the skin contracted by contact. We had to have gotten it in Ethiopia, but where we have no idea. They boys do not have it. No one caught scabies from Kedus because it had been being treated and I continued it. They seem mostly healthy. Anyway, we are getting better from that too and no one else is effected. The boys have their first dentist appointment this week and pediatrician appointment next week. That will be interesting, not just in what we learn but in how they take it!

If you think to pray for us please pray for these appointments and for our bonding and the boys acquisition of English.
Thanks!