Bits and Pieces

I haven't been doing so well with posting lately, but that's mainly because life is starting to feel so NORMAL! We've been doing great, and really, just trying to enjoy every single moment with Yikealo. These last few weeks have felt idyllic in a way - days of discovery and snuggles and joy, and I just don't want to miss a single moment, because I know that they'll be gone much too soon.

I feel like he's making so much progress with trusting us, and that is such a gift from God. Yesterday, for example, David left for work before Yikealo woke up for the morning. Typically, David and the boy spend 40 minutes or so together every morning eating breakfast, exercising, or just spending some boy time, and yesterday they missed that. A few weeks ago, Yikealo would've had a total meltdown, and this time, he was okay with the fact that Ababa would be back later.

In the evening, I met Candi and Gwen for our annual birthday-celebration-girl's-night-out. It was the first time that I had left Yikealo for any length of time, and he did okay. A month ago or so, I left him with David for about a half-hour, and he sobbed his heart out until I got back. This time, David said that he asked about me every half-hour or so, and he wasn't too sure about going to bed without seeing me, but when David reassured him that I was coming back in a little while, he did fine.

He now LOVES to take baths. I'll fill up the tub, give him an empty cup and his rubber ducky, and he'll spend up to an hour splashing water everywhere and singing.

This morning, when we were out for our morning tricycle ride, instead of being scared to death of all of the little dogs barking at him from inside neighbors' houses, he was happily barking back at them.

I DID find the album of Mihiret, by the way. It was buried at the bottom of his plastic tub of Mega-Blocks. A few days ago, I brought the tub out to the family room for him, dumped it out on the floor, and there was the album. He saw it, and shouted, "Look Mom! Photo!" - as if he'd completely forgotten that's where he had put it. This is a child who is so obsessive-compulsive about putting his toys away, that every block has to be seperated from every other piece before he'll put it back in the tub, so I know that he would have chosen to put the album there. I pulled it out and asked if we should put it back with his books. He shook his head and said, "No Mom - in here," and pointed back to the tub of blocks. Okay, sweetie, if that's where you want it! I was so glad to know that he hadn't thrown it away - that would've felt like a lot of buried anger to me - but if he wants to keep it somewhere out of sight, that's totally fine.

As a total aside, he witnessed his first baptism last week at church, which he obviously found to be very strange! Our baptismal area is on a platform behind the pulpit, so from the pews you can't actually see the water itself, although you can see the people walking in and out of it. When the first girl stepped out dripping wet, he turned around and looked at me with a VERY confused look on his face and asked, "Menden no?" (what is it?) I told him it was a baptism, which he repeated, and then asked in a completely bewildered tone, "Woha??" (water?) Yeah, bud, it's water, and we'll have to wait until you have a bit more of a handle on the language until we explain more!

He had to get a couple of vaccinations last week, and he screamed his head off when the nurse poked him. He was very excited to tell David all about it that evening, "Ababa, Yikealo doctor. Ouchie. Big cryin," followed by an imitation of his screaming fit. The next day, he discovered the story of "Curious George Goes to the Hospital" in which there is a picture of Curious George getting a shot, and now, that is his very favorite story. Every day he wants to see "George shot." I guess that misery really does love company!