Trip 2: Day 3?

Is it really only day 3? Time is so weird here. Today we decided we would mostly stay at the guest house and lay low. Nap, bond, etc.

I might have forgotten how much work it is to have a toddler, yo. We are exhausted. I know it has a lot to do with the many changes and transitions, but we are beat. Rob might have napped twice today... maybe.

It was another good day, we ventured out to do a little shoe shopping (Google: Sole Rebels) on our own. Well, we grabbed a ride from the driver, but we didn't have a translator come with us. We might have bought some purple shoes... and we don't mean for the girls. We stopped into the Ethiopian version of Starbucks and got some coffee and sweets to go. Everywhere we go people react to Sitota.  Everywhere.

Today was another big transition for us. Our friends Autumn and Mihretu left for home. I probably mentioned M before- they were both brought to the same orphanage as infants. I met Sitota in Oct 2010, Autumn met M in July of 2011. We've both ridden the roller coaster and the kids transitioned to the care center together. Autumn went to court the week that we did, and now, finally, we came to get them the same week. Although they live in Nashville, we expect to stay connected and keep the kids connected as much as possible. They are a huge part of each other's stories.

The kids love each other, and I love and admire Autumn for following her heart and adopting as a single parent. She is a wonderful mom, and her boy will thrive in her home. It was super sweet today- Sitota was having a bath in one side of a double sink, M heard her and they came in and he bathed in the other side of the sink. They made one heck of a mess, but had a great time. We took lots of pictures and videos.

Sitota is definitely feeling all of these transitions, but boy howdy (did I just type that?) is she ever making progress. We had so much fun reading Goodnight Moon tonight. And making up games, and repeating each other. She is understanding and repeating so much English, and teaching us a little Amharic, too. There will be PLENTY of frustrating moments when we won't be able to understand each other, but she's learning so much so fast.

She cracks us up. She was sad after Mihretu left today, and we played quite a bit of charades to figure our what she was hollering about, It turned out she wanted another bath. So we gave her one, and after, when she got her pajamas on, she insisted that we put her chamas back on- her shoes. I am certain that she figured if she put her shoes on then we wouldn't make her go to sleep. Smarty pants.

All day she was asking to “see” Aidan, Ca-lay, and Llllucy on our phones. The time difference makes it so hard, but because Clay and Lucy had early dismissal today, we kept her up a little late so she could say goodnight. She hams it up for the kids- and loves to facetime.

Oh, I forgot to mention that it was windy today... so Sitota did not want to play outside. Wonder what she'll think of her 1^st blizzard...

Two more days here, and then a full day of travel to get home.