Day Three

Kate:
On Saturday we spent the morning in Team Meetings. A team meeting consisted of our social worker, our child's doctor, and one of the nannies. First, the doctor went over his health history. The doctor told us that he has had an ear infection, tonsillitis, and pneumonia twice. His last bout of pneumonia was only two weeks prior to us arriving. It was a good thing the doctor had such a strong accent that I couldn't understand anything she said, otherwise I may have freaked out at that point. :) The pneumonia explained the rattling in his chest and the lingering cough.

After the doctor had finished talking with us they played Tek's birth history video. It was very emotional to hear his story and to see where he was born. It will be a great resource to show him when he is older and those questions inevitably come. Our adoption agency was amazing in so many ways, but the video lifebook is where they stand out. I do not know of any other adoption agencies that provide this gift. I realize by sharing this causes many questions to arise. "Is his birth family alive?" "Why was he placed in adoption?", "What is his birth family like?" etc. I am sorry, but that is not our story to share. One day after Tek knows his complete story he will make the choice to share his history, but until then we will not speak of it, so please respect his history by refraining from asking questions. However, we are sharing that his birthmother is still alive and we did meet her. That is on Day Four... so stay tuned. We are sharing this because we believe in adoptive children knowing their history and forever being connected to their birth family and birth country. Even though it is impossible for us to stay in contact with her (it is against Ethiopian law,) we will remind Tek of her often and speak openly about her to him. We will frame the picture we have of her in his room so that he can look at her when he feels lonely and out of place. She gave us the greatest gift, this beautiful little boy and we hope that we can hold a place in his heart for her.

After the video the Nanny spoke and asked if I have any questions. Yeah right, after sobbing through the video I have questions about his bowel movements. So, the meeting ended pretty quickly after that.

Following the team meeting we were able to go see our children again. We only had a couple of hours, but we will take it! This particular day was a special day. It was dad's turn to feed him. Now, first I need to say that the nannies are amazing. They move with such confidence and speed. They feed and change the children before they children even know what is going on. So picture our room. We had three babies being adopted in this room the size of my spare bedroom. That means six Americans, our three babies, about 6 more babies, and one nanny all crammed in there. The nanny started handing out their cereal. It was a huge bowl, much more than you would think a child would eat. But believe me, they eat it! I have seen it! Andy holds Tek in his arms and then tries to feed him. Well, Tek would have none of that, he started fussing. Andy couldn't get him to eat. Than the nanny took him and just started shoveling it in and Tek was fine. But then she handed him back and he fussed some more. Andy was starting to get embarrassed. I was trying to reassure him that he is a first time dad and it takes practice, not to mention another first time mom was across the room having a similar experience accept the nanny actually shook her head at her as if to say "stupid american." Despite my assurances, Andy was defeated and he handed Tek to me. It turned out Tek was just very tired. He fell asleep in my arms in a few minutes without eating his lunch. So, it wasn't Dad, just lack of sleep! Andy wouldn't feed him again until we were back in the states. Poor Dad!

Well, one last thing about Andy at the Care Center, Tek shared his crib with another boy that was starting to fuss. Andy, being the kind person he is, picked him up to show him a little attention. Well, he was wearing a cloth diaper that wasn't on very tight and he had a blow out as soon as Andy picked him up. Baby poo all over the front of Andy's shirt. The nanny just laughed at him! :) Quite the day for Andy!

The rest of the day was lunch, shopping, and a traditional Ethiopian dinner at the Crown Hotel. I guess I could write about that but the post is too long as is, so I may write about some of that later.