Kombulcha & Bete Hisenete there, Addis

Saturday, August 8, 2009

New School, New House....

Lots going on and lots to share! Ebrahim finished his first week of school and so far so good! I wish I could be a fly on the wall and see how and what he is doing and how he is interacting with the other children or how they are responding to him. I am hoping the teacher will email at least weekly to update us on these things as it is difficult for him to communicate this to us. He loves to ride the bus and he loves school. He also very much likes the after school babysitter that all of our kids go to. He seems to be doing OK with lunch too and seems to love corn dogs now, even though he wouldn't eat them for us before. They also have a snadwhich/yogurt/fruit/veggie bar as an alternate. Overall he is doing well at home. We are still working with him on safety aspects such as not wondering away, social norms/manners and minding us. We know as his communication improves so will these areas of difficulty. We have also chosen an American name for Ebrahim, which will become his legal name: Christian Ebrahim Mohammed Orth. We will continue to call him Ebrahim unless or until he wishes to be be called Christian. He had indicated the desire for an American name through an interpreter, but we are still not sure he fully understands. We are also buying a bigger house and are very excited for that! The boys' room will be much bigger and we will have a lot more interior and exterior space with 1.25 acres and will hopefully get some pygmy goats (because they are so darn cute!), chickens (just for eggs and the fun of it) and a pony for the kids. They are also looking forward to getting a dog and I am looking forward to a big garden again and doing lots of canning if I am as successful here as I was in MN.