New Brothers

 

 

Things are going amazingly well around our house, in spite of two take-charge, attention-loving little boys trying to find where they fit in the new family dynamics. Essentially the situation is this: Yikealo is a 2nd child by birth, who became an only child for three years, and has now become a big brother. Sintayehu is a first-born only child who has suddenly been thrust into the role of baby brother, and he doesn't necessarily like it! He is also one of the bossiest little people I have ever met, and Yikealo doesn't take real well to being bossed...so we've definitely had our share of little melt-downs from Mr. S!  We'll probably be keeping our distance from people for a little while, until S has figured out that the four of us are a family and that he and Yikealo are equal in our eyes. We definitely don't need to load down his little world with lots of other unknown kids at this point.

Having said that, we've had a lot of fun too. Sintay (as they nicknamed him at HH) has a big, loud personality, and he loves to joke around. He also loves to imitate others, which Mr. Y is finding to be quite fun. I asked Yikealo this afternoon what is his favorite thing about having a little brother. His response? "Teaching him to belch." (How in the world did I, of all people, get stuck with gross little boys, anyway?!) I asked what his least favorite thing was, and he replied, "Teaching him to be good, because being good is too boring." I think I'm in for a long summer! ;-)

Right before we left for Ethiopia, Yikealo drew this picture for me:

He described it this way: "This is you and Dad kissing, and there is a heart beside you. Down here, in the corner, are me and Ty going "BLECH!!" Sure enough, on our first morning at home, David and I were kissing in the living room, while both boys shouted "BLECH!! at the top of their lungs. It's good to know that some things havn't changed, although apparently, kissing each other is just fine!

Right now, we're all just trying to catch up on sleep and find our equilibrium, but things are looking very promising! Here are a couple of photos of our new little guy to enjoy in the meantime...