Day four in Ethiopia (Monday May 18, 2009)

*This journal entry was written by Benji:

We get him today!! We all had breakfast and went over to the center at 9:00. The kids came down to the office and Digafu rushed into Mommy's arms with a big smile. We played in the courtyard and the kids mauled Christa looking for Smarties. We played with the kids a while. Christa had to meet with the director about Embassy paperwork while I played call with the children. At 11:45 the kids went up for lunch and the parents went back to the hotel to do the same. We were told to pick up our kids after nap time (3:00).

We walked up to the corner.....wait a minute, I just had to pause to watch "naked" man walk up the street. It was my first time seeing him, but Christa has seen him before. ....At the corner Christa bought bananas and I some sandals for 35 birr (about $3.50).

3:00 p.m. we went to the center to get Digafu. He was happy to see us. The smile disappeared when the 3 of us walked from the center to the Hotel (next door) - nervous boy. We went up to our room and he was very quiet. Mommy had 4-5 toys set out for him. He went for the one with the wheels first, a little farm wagon. Christa showed him the magna-doodle. This he really liked, but no smiles yet. We played with that for about 20 minutes. Christa then blew up a balloon and we soon realized we might have an athlete on our hand. Wow!! Soon after, we started seeing some smirks and some grins. We gave him some apple juice, he gulped it down, more smiles. Little sounds and whispers soon followed and he even said "shint" which means pee-pee. Off to the bathroom! He did great. We have him water and some goldfish crackers for a snack. The juice and water kicked in and we did a lot of trips to the potty. No accidents though. The DeAndreas stopped by with Fisika (16 month old daughter). They were having a tough time and thought a familiar face would help. She fell asleep on her mommy's chest while in our room. They left and we played some more 'till dinner.

Around 5-5:30 we went downstairs to eat. Christa had oriental rice and I spaghetti with meat that we shared with Digafu. This kid is a bottomless pit. He loves spaghetti. He finally finished and then got down on the floor to play with a ball and truck the Lumpas brought down.

Back to the room for bath time. Christa made a bubble bath and he loved it. He loves washing himself and scrubbing his hair. He got a big kick out of the shower wand. He got out soon and mommy got him into his PJs. We played 'till about 8:00. I put in a movie "Barnyard" that he enjoyed intermittently. We all shared lots of smiles. 8:30-bedtime- He had a twin bed in our hotel room. Mommy helped him brush his teeth. I put him in bed with a blanket, but that didn't last long. He got up and out of bed. I told him no,no it's time for night-night. I put him back and he stayed down! He whined + whimpered for about 10 minutes, if that. He tossed and turned until he found his thumb and soon he was out for the count. We were amazed. He never awoke 'till 6:30 a.m.. I think we'll keep him. :)

What a great day!!!

PS- Digafu is 34 inches tall and is wearing clothes as small as 18 month. Don't yet know his weight.

PSS- We got up at 11:00 p.m. and called home (4 p.m. there) and talked to Avery, Kara, and Mom. Yeah!!!