Thoughts and Discoveries

* There is nothing better than watching two little boys sleep at night - one because they are not moving and two because you are overwhelmed by how blessed you are.
* There is nothing like being called "Mommy" (or in my case
"Mommy-a") by your own children.
* There is not better picture than two smiling boys, smiling simply because they are happy.
* Nothing sounds better in our house than children's laughter and running feet.
* When the train lets out, it is a great time to watch out the window for "mock-e-naws": * It is okay if the television is on in both the living room and the playroom with nobody watching it (because as soon as it gets turned off, a little hand will turn it back on!).
* It takes a few days to establish a routine.
* When restarting the computer, check to make sure the volume is turned back down.
* It's hilarious to wear Mommy and Daddy's slippers:* Walks outside should last a looooong time simply because there are so many things to stop and look at.
* Ryan Ephrem likes bananas and grapes but John Eyob only likes grapes (Eyob no bananas Mommy-a!).
* Clementines are fun (and easy) for little boys to peel.
* John Eyob is great a seeing something and then doing it himself. This is his version of Uncle Don, Sami, Maddy, Gramma, and Bompa riding in Gramma's car (drawn after Mike drew a picture of it first):
* John Eyob and I put this alphabet puzzle together one afternoon. I would give him the next piece, telling him the letter and naming the picture. the next day, he spent over 20 minutes working on this and only asked for and needed a little help at the end:
* Socks can double as hand puppets:* Lots of things can wait until tomorrow.
* The first week home is really, really hard but then everything starts to get a lot easier.
* There are big melt downs and mini meltdowns. This is a mini melt down over have to come inside for dinner, no-bones-boy lying on the kitchen floor:* This is his younger brother who thought it would be funny to imitate his older brother and lay on the floor too:* Cuddling after nap time is one of my favorite times. And I know it won't last forever.
* The bottom of the slide is called the 'window'- "Stand at the window, Mommy-a!"
* The boys love setting the table.
* There is slight confusion over 'garbage' being throw out and 'dirty' clothes which are washed. ("Oh, garbage Mommy'a" as dirty clothes are but in the laundry basket.
* The word the biys know for shoes is 'jama.' What must they have thought the first bedtime when we said we are putting out 'pajamas' on!
* Pretending to sleep in a box is a great photo opportunity:* Pretending to sleep on the back of the cough like Scout is another great photo opportunity:
* It is amazing how many hundreds (literally!) of people have been part of our adoption journey - that's a lot of joy to share!!