Week 4

Things are slowly but surely getting a little better.  Some days last week (which was our fourth week at home) felt terrible, but even on those days, I could see that we had made progress over the previous few weeks.  Two or three times last week, I found myself feeling genuinely happy...because I could start to see light at the end of the proverbial tunnel and envision more clearly what our family life is going to be at some point.

Here are a few highlights/lowlights of the past week:

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Last week started with having good friends over for a bbq on the deck.  Here is Matthew with his best buddy, and his dear family.

 

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Over the past five years or so, we have come to know our letter carrier, Michelle, quite well; she and Matthew have become good friends.  Last week, she offered Matthew the opportunity to do walk part of her route with her.  Needless to say, Matthew was thrilled to go with her for about 45 minutes.  The two younger kids became quite worried that Matthew was gone, so I eventually loaded them up into the van and we hunted the two mail deliverers down.  They were adorable together.  Matthew was allowed to read the house number on each grouping of letters and, under Michelle's careful supervision, put letters into the house's mailboxes.  Best of all, she then gave him a ride home in her delivery truck.  Matthew was elated!

 

 

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All three kids seem to love grocery shopping (so far!).  The two younger kids sit in the cart, and Matthew and I push it.  Seth insists on loading all of the groceries onto the cashier's conveyor belt, and helps me load the groceries into the van when we're ready to go.  Best of all, Seth loves helping with the unloading of groceries at home...in truth, I haven't had to lift a bag of groceries into the house since coming home with the two younger kids because Seth insists on carrying everything...even the heavy jugs of milk, and bags of flour or sugar, etc.  He's a fantastic little helper at times, that one!

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It's not too often that the two younger kids actually sit somewhere together.  Though clearly extremely comfortable with each other, they don't really play together that much...usually the playing is between Matthew and Seth, or Matthew and Lizzie.  Here I found the two listening to one of their beloved tape recorders; they were listening to one of the recordings that Geoff, Matthew and I made before we travelled to Ethiopia the first time, for court.

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This is the third summer that Matthew (and his cousin, M, below) have taken summer swimming lessons together, in a private pool just outside the city.  There are four or five in the class, with a phenomenal teacher, and they go for one hour each day, for five consecutive days.  We do this instead of dragging him to the public pools for weekly swimming lessons in winter.  They have learned and improved sooo much - they're little fish in the water.  Some of the things they do are: front crawl; back crawl; diving from the edge of the pool into the deep end and swimming to the shallow end; swimming from the water surface to the bottom of the deep end, to pick up bricks and rings; etc etc.   Matthew just graduated from Red Cross Level 2, and will work on Level 3 in August, when he participates in one more week of intensive lessons.

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Matthew is a terrific little diver already.

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One of the things the kids were asked to do was slide into the deep end and then swim front crawl back to the shallow end; in the alternative, they would tread water in the deep end for a couple of minutes.

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Matthew with Amber, his teacher (two years in a row)

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While Matthew was in his swimming lessons, the younger kids and I hung out at the side of the pool, eating cheerios and chatting.

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Aren't they adorable??  Of course, I'm biased!

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Can you see Seth's missing front teeth, a few of the extractions from the previous week's surgery!

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Can you see the kids staring (half terrified, half excited) at the parrot sitting outside of his cage?  The parrot swims, too!

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Last week, the kids experienced their first rain since being home...and it was quite the rain/thunder storm.  They ran outside onto the driveway and simply played for a while, getting soaked to the skin and having a blast.  I couldn't capture their delight well enough with the camera, but they raised arms and faces to the sky, enjoying what was clearly their first ever rain storm. 

 

 

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I was touched when Seth approached me for a huge hug and cuddle session last week, followed with him 'doing my nails' with stickers.  After going through such terribly difficult times with him in the past month, it was really gratifying that he started wanting to be close to me. 

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One day, while out and about around lunch time (with no lunch with me), I picked up a couple of small pizzas and took the kids (along with their beloved water bottles!) to a little park for an impromptu picnic. Of the sixteen pieces of pizza, I had two pieces; the three kids consumed thirteen of the remaining pieces.  Lizzie would have eaten the last piece (for a total of five!) but Seth got tired of sitting and starting collecting the garbage together; he declared, in a loud and deep voice:  "NO MORE PIZZA.  CAR."  Lizzie complied, and we eventually made our way back to the car!  Below are the kids eating pizza - all three kids were sitting on my lap/legs at this point!

 

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Here's Uncle Andrew with four kids (my three and my niece) piled onto his lap.  He kept them howling with laughter as he repeatedly dumped them off...only to have them clamber back on again.

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One of the main activities of enjoyment continued to be bike riding last week.  They are crazy about their bikes!  It wouldn't surprise me if Seth is off of his training wheels sometime this summer yet - he's sooooo determined to do whatever his big brother does.

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I don't know what it is, but Lizzie will not smile for pictures.  She is normally so bubbly in personality, but turn the camera on and she reverts to the way most children seem to be in Ethiopia - non-smiling for the camera.  Here, I took the kids to a local environment centre for a walk and saw a perfect photo opp presenting itself.  I took about thirty pictures, and Lizzie smiled for none of them...despite laughing and smiling between every take.  Well, I tried!!

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Even Seth and Matthew tried to get her to smile.  Seth put her in a headlock (which usually makes her laugh) and still - nothing!

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At least I got one of her kissing one of her brothers.  She gives big, open-mouth, suction-cup kisses - it's sweet.

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I love Lizzie's face on this one...a very common sight when things don't go exactly her way!

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Her first time eating fishie crackers - what are those things, mommy?

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Lizzie with her adoring cousin!

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I don't think words are needed for these few pictures!

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A big hit of the week was blowing bubbles in the backyard...they did it for hours.

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The kids goofing around, just before heading out for a bike ride with Daddy (which was a chance to let a tired mommy go out for breakfast with a friend)

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She has many movie star qualities, being the dramatic sort!

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And of course, we had many of these moments last week, too!

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A cuddly moment between oldest and youngest...they are really starting to love each other.

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All three, likely trying to break the up/down feature on the chair's leg rest!

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Love this shot...but ignore the mess in the background, please!

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Discovering the 'vehicle cupboard.'

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One of the things that the boys have found in common is running...and chasing each other.  They love to run the 'main floor circuit' over and over...and over.  It's so great to see them starting to play together on occasion.  Being only seventeen months apart, they can be very competitive, but when they do play together, they are awesome.

Well, that's our last week in pictures!  I have so terribly many posts in my head that are waiting to be written or that are partially written...I just need the time to get to them. But they're coming eventually!!