'Tep' + 'Pepalin' = Camping Fun

It has been awhile since I've blogged... Lots to catch up on!

Tesfanesh had her first experience with camping - and loved it! Mom, on the other hand, found that two nights of outdoor extravaganza is really enough when toddler is in tow - so we headed home a day earlier than planned. Tes never knew the difference. Sneaky Sneaky parents...

We went with our friends whom we met in one of our first adoption classes, and their little boy Kefelen. The kids were absolutely adorable together, and Kefelen was ever playful even when Tes brought out her bossy side and made him roll her around the campsite in her stroller. She would occasionally hold up a goldfish cracker in the air from her sitting position, so he could refuel and continue his pushing duties. Training him already!

Hugging in Kefelen's Trailer

Hanging Out in Tesfanesh's Tent

Breaking Sticks on Daddy's Knee (who knew that would be fun?!)

Practicing Our Sharing

Chill-axing

Have a good summer!

Wordless, But Cute

No energy for lots' o' words, but here is some random pictures:

A mama bird and three babies have taken up residence in our winter wreath. So, if you come by my house and wonder why I still have a berry and pine cone wreath up even though it is spring - well, I just can't bear to uproot the chirping babes.

We haven't forgotten about you, Fischer!
Tes hearts sidewalk chalk and days warm enough to take off your chammas (shoes).
Picking flowers with Daddy!
Milk + Yogurt = Dairy Overload

Peace!

For The Love Of All That Is Holy, Please Go The *beepity-beep* To Bed

Okay, I've never actually uttered those words to my daughter, but I may have said them silently to myself while doing some deep breathing exercises. I am starting to think she is scared to fall asleep - she will do anything in her little 2-year old power for it not to happen. Pinch her lips, pull her eyebrows, continuously rub her eyes... and make lots and lots of requests. Request #4 tonight was a bandaid for one of her teeth. This was after there was bandaid #1 for a scab she picked off and it started to bleed and bandaid #2 to cover the no-longer existant spot where her Mantoux test was last week, but we still have to consistently put a cover on it. Whew - what a day. Mommy is exhausted, Tesfu is exhausted, and us girls make Daddy exhausted... it is a viscous triangle indeed.

Onto better times - though Mommy was super crabby and probably not very good company at all, we still had a fun play-date this evening. The pizza was super tasty, the company is always good, and the park was a delightful way to get crabby Tes and even crabbier mom out of the house. And I didn't even cry at Tesfanesh's 11th request to potty in the last 2 hours - although admittedly I came very very close.

Thanks for brightening our day, Kefelen!

Mothering

My first Mother's Day brought a few wonderful surprises. First off, a breath-taking garnet ring (Tes' birthstone) from the Little-One and the hubby. It is currently being resized - get to pick it up tomorrow! Whoopee!

Second lovely moment - Tesfanesh spontaneously gave me a kiss for the first time! True, I think it was partly her way to postpone her nap just a little bit longer (she has become quite masterful at that) - but still, it was supremely sweet. It is a whole process, and really quite funny. She gives a kiss on the right cheek, then the left, then the forehead, then the nose. Who taught her that?! It is adorable and incredibly heartwarming.

Lastly, my little baby showed a little bit of mothering skills to her own little baby. She hasn't quite got the concept of giving the dolly a name, but instead just calls her 'Baby'. She discovered Baby one of her first days home, but never really played with her. Then all of a sudden Sunday she started holding Baby, talking about Baby, and taking Baby around. She was quietly playing that night when I peeked around the corner and saw she was feeding Baby from her sippy cup. It was wonderful to see on so many levels - number one she was showing some wonderful little mothering skills. Number two - she was pretending! When she first came home she was a little timid mouse, would push buttons on toys and stack blocks - but not really play. Lately her wonderful real (and loud) little personality has been imerging - and this was an example of the start of it. Number three - she was playing by herself! Whew - Mommy and Daddy like to take breaks once in awhile...

A little for you...

A little for me...
Here she is telling Baby to 'tena' (go to sleep). FYI: No, poking her in the eyes is not how we put Tesfanesh to sleep. But that is apparently part of Tes putting Baby to tena.

Seriously, Mom, quit talking my picture!

Peace!

Busy Days Make for Busy Toddlers

We have found it best to keep Tesfanesh busy - busy days make for busy toddlers, and when this toddler is doing something she is much much happier. So, we started out the day with another doctor's visit to read her Mantoux test - no TB! Not that we were worried, but they did the test anyway. Tes loved the bandaid, so all was well.

Then there was play-dough with dad. Good times will always be had when making googly-eyed creatures is the plan.

After lunch and nap we had two (count them - two!) play-dates today. One with Ruby-Roo, where Tesfanesh ran around like a mad woman, and little Ruby tried to crawl after and watched with awe at her mobile little legs. Tes wouldn't share her colored pencils, but Ruby seemed quick to forgive. Thanks for playing, Ruby!
Play-date number two was dinner at the best Ethiopian restaurant we have found in the metro area with our future son-in-law Kefelen. Besides the four trips to the restroom Tes decided she needed to take, it was a great time. Love love love the food - I've never seen her eat as fast as when she has injera and wat. She turns into a little eating machine! Oh- and just kidding about the future son-in-law, kids, no pressure. I'll try to wait until you are at least 18 to start dropping the hints. Or at least not until both of you aren't still sitting in high chairs.
Whew! Being two years old is exhausting work!

Ketchup Rocks!

Tesfanesh has developed some intense food cravings. She definitely has her absolute favs - the one I don't have a picture of is her constant milk mustache. This kid can seriously drink milk - to the point we are either going to go broke or her body is going to stop digesting it. I am waiting to see which happens first.

It was her first Twins game that we realized she loves hot dogs. She may not look like it here, but silly parents were stupidly impeding on nap time just so they could see the game. Tes quickly showed us the error of our ways, and we left during the 3rd inning. Lesson dutifully learned.

Companion to the hot dog is ketchup - if there is any left after dipping she will eat it with a spoon. You only wish you could eat your ketchup with a spoon while looking this cool.

Peanut butter sandwiches - the old standby if she won't eat what we made for dinner. In her world, these are called 'dabo and peanut butter'. Well, actually, she can't say 'peanut butter' yet, so it is actually 'dabo and *grunt*' while she wildly points to the cupboard. I get her gist.

Silly dabo and peanut butter face.

'True' dabo and peanut butter face. The others are really far too clean to do the reality justice.

Happy eating!

Trip Day #1

Whew... let me take a deep breath. The tiny terror - I mean my wonderful daughter is finally starting to feel better, and is ( finally) asleep for the night. So, as promised days ago, I will start the recount of our trip to Ethiopia.

April 16th, Day #1 & April 17th (the long continuation of Day #1)

Nothing too exciting - the plane ride was very long but fairly uneventful. We took a Northwest flight from Mpls to Washington DC, than transferred to Ethiopian Air.

Don't we look all cute and fresh-faced here?

We had no stinking clue what to do once we got to DC - thank goodness for Jim the Info Guy at the tiny kiosk in the middle of nowhere. Apparently you need to take a shuttle to the other side of the airport - who knew? Well, Jim did. No worries, we did make it - with time to spare, in fact. The Ethiopian Air flight took us from DC to Rome, where they refueled, vacuumed, and restocked the tp. Didn't even get to get off the plan for some fresh air.

Not looking nearly as fresh-faced here. Trying to sleep on my tray table. This is at about hour 20 of traveling. Hurts my neck to even reminisce.

But, we have now seen the landing strip of Rome. Can I say I've been to Italy, or does staring at the runway for an hour not count? From Rome finally to Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia. All I can say about the airport in Addis is - I'm shocked we aren't still wading through the people and waiting in lines. We first had to get into a line to apply for visitor visas for Brad and I; then wait in line to pay for the visas we just were given; then wait in line to go through customs? Or immigration? I'm not even quite sure what they did - it was all a bit of a blur, to be honest. But, I will tell you the people of Ethiopia are very patient, giving people. If you have a child, you are ushered to the front of the line. That was a bit hard on the 'don't bud in line!' Americans who felt they had been traveling forever and just wanted to get through customs - or immigration - or whatever it was... but then it dawned on me that we were all on the same plane, so they had been traveling just as long as we had. My first lesson in patience for the week. It was on to find our luggage next - which was a bit of a scare when we were still standing looking for ours and we saw the same baggage go around - and around - and no new ones being added... We tried to pack intelligently in case one of our bags were lost - we put a little of each of our stuff in each bag. But to lose all?! It didn't help that there was a lady next to us with a itty-bitty infant looking very sour, she said she had been waiting since Tuesday for her luggage to arrive. The person behind us - also been coming back to the airport for days looking for his clean underwear and toothbrush. Thank goodness ours did finally show up, out of the blue, I have no idea what they were doing with it, or why it took ours so long to pop out of the shoot after everyone elses. So, we have our visas. They are paid for. We've gone through customs/immigration/whatever. We have our luggage. Think you are home free, right? I mean, we had already had to go through some serious airport security checks to get on the plane, but apparently we had to go through security to get out of the plane, too. We waited in another line to have our luggage re-scanned, my boobies fondled (honestly, I am not sure why it is - but I have never been searched so much in my life as I had been in Ethiopia. I was treated to quite personal pat down even to go into the museum) and were finally given the go ahead. We made our way through a mass of people, all while I was panicking thinking 'there is no way we are going to find one person holding a sign in here!' - but an armed guard saw us apparently looking very lost and tired, and knew exactly where we needed to go. He pointed us in the direction of Ato. Girma holding a CHSFS sign near the back of the crowd, our first meeting with the kind man who would be our guide throughout the week. Needed something? Ato. Girma was there to tell you 'no worries'. The man got it done, and even said a prayer for us and the children at our good-bye ceremony. He is a wonderful man, and made our stay in his beautiful country a much more smooth and orderly one.

Found out a few days later you are not supposed to take pictures of the airport - so after you look at this picture please burn your eyes.

Us and two other families squished into a van with one seat, and were off to the guesthouse. I took some Tylenol PM because I knew I would need my energy, and this night would probably be the best sleep I would get all week. It was the next day that we would meet little Tesfanesh - but that is a whole other story... (to be continued)