4 Months Later

Well last weekend was our second post adoption visit. I can't believe we've been home for over four months and have two of our three post adoption visits finished. Since the visit I've been thinking about how far Eyob's come these last four months. The little boy who would not even hold my hand in Ethiopia sat on my lap during most of the time the social worker was at our home hugging and kissing me. He regularly says "I love you" just out of the blue. The first few weeks home Eyob refused to listen to anything we said and would throw MAJOR 30min tantrums at any attempt to discipline him. He now responds very well to warnings about his behavior and when he does require discipline he does his "time out" with a smile on his face(most of the time). Although food is still an issue, that has shown some wonderful improvements making mealtime so much more pleasant. While at first Eyob would push his plate away if we had any food he wasn't familiar with, he now happily tries most food and most of the time replies, "um, mom this good." The biggest adjustment though has been his relationship with the other kids. He was very aggressive at first and didn't seem to know how to play much better than a toddler. Eyob was also very strongwilled and always wanted to do things his way. Now the kids play great together. They are typical siblings who love each other one minute and are fighting the next. Eyob adores the baby. One day this week he was "playing with her." She was running around the house as usual and he was following her saying "you so fast Ilannie, I can't catch you." It was great to see him making her feel special when usually he trying to be the center of attention. Although a comment Izzy made today might bast sum up how he's doing. Our family was taking a walk around our neighbor hood. Izzy and I were behind the others because the older kids were riding bikes. Izzy says out of the blue "I like Eyob" and then went on to tell me all the reasons she liked him. This comes from the same child , who after a week of being tackled and pushed around by her new brother, said "I don't want a brother from Ethiopia, I want a brother from your belly" (thank goodness he didn't speak English yet!). The two of them are now best friends and inseparable.

Here are some pictures of the kids playing

The kids playing school the day of our post adoption visit

Eyob and Izzy playing

My future muscians