March 10 - He Comes Home with Us!

This morning, before we get to go and get Sintayehu at the Transition Home, we go shopping. Robel goes along with us, since I think he was worried we'd get taken and, since there's only one family, he can afford to cater to us a bit. We learn to bargain and made some fun purchases, like a dress for Dagny and a shirt for Sintayehu for a picture when we get back, a basket, a couple necklaces, and two wooden giraffes for the kids to have in their rooms. We have a good time and don't spend that much money, actually.

And then Robel decides to take us to lunch at a place called Dreamland, which is about an hour outside of Addis. The drive in the car is a bit of a problem, since you have a choice of rolling down the window and dealing with the pollution (there's a LOT - no catalytic converters on these cars) or leaving the windows up and dealing with the heat. It's a hard choice, actually. When we get to Dreamland, we can see why Ethiopians would like to go there - it's a crater lake in a dormant volcano and the seats for the restaurant are high enough up you get a great view.

As much as I enjoyed looking at the lake itself, I don't think the trip was really worth it. The food was okay (the Hilton was better) and it was so far that we could just have been spending more time at the transition home instead.

As it was, we didn't get to the home until 4 in the afternoon and Furtuna was just leaving so we didn't get to spend any more time with her. One of the other nannies helped us hand out our care packages. I can't post pictures of those kids, since those are for the families to post when they pass court, but it was a wonderful few hours. They were all so excited about their things and had such a good time and I just felt great handing everyone their presents! They were so happy!

We had gotten a soccer ball for Sintayehu in the morning and it was the best present ever. He was standing out on the grass with us while we took pictures and, all of a sudden, we heard "Papi! Papi!"

Sintayehu was standing behind Marc with the ball and trying to get him to play catch. It was amazing, hearing him call Marc papi so soon.

Between taking pictures for families, the two of them played catch with the soccer ball and it melted my heart.

We only had a few hours and then we got ready to leave. Sintayehu began to scream hysterically when we went to put him in the car. I think he knew what was going on. One of the men who was there began to cry a bit, too, and I think they two of them had formed a good bond. I started to cry, too, and I honestly wondered if we were doing the right thing, but once we got into the car and started moving, Sintayehu just buried his head against my shoulder and fell asleep for the ride back to the hotel. Don't ask me how he managed that since the ride was so bumpy, but he did.

We decided to order room service for dinner rather than going anywhere and I think that was a good thing. Sintayehu hid in the bedroom, though Marc got him to play a bit with his matchbox cars and crayons. We had to lure him into the main room with pieces of bread and I ended up sitting on the floor by the bed feeding him spaghetti, which he ate quite willingly. He just didn't want to come out of the bedroom.

Once he ate, he was a bit more willing to do things. We got him naked and gave him a bath. He liked it, but he didn't like washing his hair. I know that sounds weird, but he didn't smell like my kid (he still doesn't yet) and I really wanted him to. Once the bath was over, there was a ring of dirt in the tub. We'll try for his nails in the morning.

Bedtime was actually really easy. He laid down in his crib and went to sleep after about twenty minutes of playing with two cars and a stuffed fish. He has a bad cold, so he's snoring, and he fell asleep with a matchbox car clutched in each fist. Adorable.

I doubt I'll sleep (but I do) and we end up sleeping for almost 11 hours.

I know they do the best they can at the Transition home. The kids are given medical care, food, clothing, and shelter, and there are so many of them that individual attention must be hard to give. And it shows. I can tell in how he interacts with me that he expects me to take food away from him (like the other kids) or toys and it'll take time for him to get used to the fact that I won't do that.

We've had a very overwhelming day. And now we're a family, for better or for worse.