2009.12.10

I am in San Diego, missing the kid. He thinks "mommy is in the phone."

2009.09.16

I am in Portland, OR. This is the update from Henry's John-Pop:
"Good Mornin!

I went up to get the boy and he wanted to pee in the Elmo Chamber Pot but he was scared of the dark. I gave him a hug and turned on a light and I proceeded to try to get clothes for him to wear today. Well, last night he put on his "puppy shirt" and his blue sweat pants w/the gray cuffs. he was thrilled to wear these items. (they are clean) I asked him if he would wear something else and this was his reply.

" No John-Pop I wan`t to show my friends how beautiful I am!"

I could not argue with that.

When we got downstairs he handed me his puppy,sunglasses, stripy and his alligator and said.

"John-Pop put these with your coffee so they will be safe"

I could not argue with that either. I had no Idea my coffee was safe. This is a good thing to know.

Oh, and last night his "puppy shirt" was inside out and he was distressed and asked me to fix it for him which I did. However, the sleeve was still turned inward and he was very distressed this is what he said.

"John my sleeve is going the wrong direction"

Well, it was it was going up in stead of down.

Oh man the kid has a spectacular vocabulary. He will be ready for college soon..."

2009.06.09

I am in New York, meeting at the Bronx Zoo for a week. I miss Henry a lot! Apparently this morning at day care, Henry was showing a photo he brought from home to the other kids, saying “This is me, and this is my mom, and this is my grandpa, and this is John. This is my family.” What a little sweetheart! Last night I talked to him on the phone and told him I saw keepers feeding sea lions. "I love sea lions," he said. "And cows!"

2009.05.23

Two years ago today, I legally became Henry's mom by passing court in Ethiopia. On that day, Yesuneh Tekola became Yesuneh Elisabeth Hunt. Today, Henry Jothan Yesuneh Hunt met his Grandma Marlene, my mom.

2009.05.17

Today was Henry's first "live theater" experience. (OK, not counting the school plays.) We went to State Theater and saw "Dora Live!" He had his "this is serious don't talk to me I am absorbing everything" look on, which I have learned means he is REALLY into it (I have to keep reminding myself that's what it means, since it involves no smiling whatsoever.) He loved it; at intermission he freaked out because he thought it was over (and it was a LONG intermission - tons of little kids needed to pee) and then the second it really was over he said "I wanna watch it again." He also announced about every four seconds "I wanna see Swiper." Ten zillion characters in the thing; my kid wants to see the villain. Figures.

Oh and before I forget, Mother's Day. We went to a fancy country club for brunch. In the potty, he announces to the world "Poop's coming! Poop's coming out of my butt! Splash, poop!" I am so proud. He also has become quite the gentleman, telling random people "I'm Henry Hunt, and this is my friend Mommy." I think it's time for the "stranger danger" talk, since at taekwon-do the other day he wanted to go to the wading pool. I told him he could, but only with a grown up. He pointed to a random person in the parking lot and asked "Can she take me?"

2009.04.30

Dare I say it - WE ARE POTTY TRAINED! Since last week, he's not pooped in his pants even once, and he's only had 2-3 accidents! He's even sleeping in underpants now. This is probably because I just bought an industrial-sized box of pull-ups.

John-Pop is back home and doing very well, which makes all of us very happy. Henry's ability to suddenly become potty trained in the midst of all this crisis gives me some insight into the flexibility of kids as well as Henry's great resiliency.

2009.04.23

Well. We are in "sustained crisis mode" at home, because Henry's John-Pop (Grandpa's partner) is still on a respirator in the ICU - and has been for over a week. What started as an apparent asthma attack has deteriorated into a low-grade nightmare. Last night in the car, Henry told me "John-Pop doesn't live at our house. He lives at the hopihpul." This might explain his clinging as of late - twice this week, his pre-school teacher has had to literally peel him off me. Overall he seems pretty happy, but I'm sure he senses the stress at home. Happily, his new best friend Jiji's family has been really cool and had him over so that I can go with Grandpa to visit John-Pop.

On a happier note, Henry had his first dentist appointment today. He did well and the dentist is happy with his teeth. Henry does NOT like lying down on his back, so that was a bit of a struggle. And the highlight for him? Maybe the new toothbrush, or the cool sticker? Nope. The rubber glove they let him keep. THAT was the hit of his day.

On a SUPER happy note, HE POOPED IN THE POTTY of his own volition! In the waiting room, he announced "I have to poop." I dropped the paperwork I was filling out, grabbed his hand, and headed straight for the potty. "Don't get your hopes up," I told myself. "He won't go once we get there." BUT HE DID! He was so proud, and I was giddy! He will frequently announce that he has to pee, so while he's not reliable on that front yet, we are making progress. But this is the first time ever that he knew he had to poop, asked to use the potty, and then did it! Happy happy day!!! (Hmmm - odd what just makes your week once you're a parent...)

2009.03.24

We had his 3-year-old check up today (a mere four months late...) The doctor said "He is thriving," and "He's a brainiac!" Hooray Henry! He weighs 24 pounds and is 36" tall. That puts him in the 5th percentile for height, but still off the charts low for weight. However, he is growing steadily and his intellectual development is not impaired in the least, so the doctor has no worries. We're moving from liquid baby vitamins to chewables (since he's still not a great eater), and I'm making his first ever dentist appointment today!

2009.03.21

Today we went to a "meetup" with the Ethiopian Kids Community group. This is a group of families who've adopted Ethiopian kids. Henry was really excited - he kept talking about seeing the "E-ohf-abah kids." We met at an Ethiopian coffee shop, then went to a big indoor playground. We had a blast! Mom, of course, forgot the camera...

2009.03.13

Two years ago today, I got a phone call from the adoption agency with the referral of a little boy named Yesuneh. Here are the pictures they emailed to me that day - he was 16 months old:

Picture 1

Picture 2

My precious boy!

2009.03.09

I had the chance to watch a friend's 20-month-old playing with Henry yesterday. It is amazing what this little boy, Alexx, can do already that took Henry months to learn. I have to remind myself that at 20 months, Henry had only been hearing English and having access to toys for about a month. Alexx picked up the shape sorter and immediately tried to reach the blocks inside, then, when he couldn't, he dumped it upside down to get them out. When Henry, at that age, saw the shape sorter, he - yes - threw it. He is doing much better now! Here they are, banging pots!

2009.03.05

Henry quote: "Sometimes, people can make mistakes when they pour their milk on their dogs."

He is growing in independence, and of course limit-testing. Not long after the milk incident, he came down from bed and announced "I have cat food in my nose." Ah, three - what a FUN age!

He is a compassionate little guy. When his grandpa was in tears over the death of a long-time friend, Henry went right to him and gave him a hug. "There, now he feels better," he announced.

2009.02.28

He's sleeping (yay!) on the couch. We struggle with naps on weekends, so this is cool.

Grandpa says when he (Grandpa) came downstairs this morning, Henry spontaneously ran to him and gave him a hug - something he's not done before.

Henry also pooped in the potty last night, which was cause for great celebration (and chocolate, the best bribe).

I weighed and measured him last night; he's 34 inches tall and weighs 24 pounds. He's about the size of a two-year-old rather than a three-year-old, BUT his BMI is at the 11th percentile for kids his age, so that's great (anything between the 5th and 85th percentile is considered healthy.)

The somewhat scary thing is, he's dead average for an Ethiopian child, based on Ethiopian growth charts. However, the World Health Organization publishes a chart of child growth standards, based on how children world-wide grow if given clean water and proper nutrition, and he's very under height and weight on that chart.

Basically, he's a little guy and probably always will be. His birth parents may have been small; he certainly was affected by lack of clean water and food for his first year and a half of life (The woman who originally found him fed him sugar water). But he is growing steadily and proportionally now, and for that I'm grateful.

2009.02.27

Wow. Nice up to date blog, eh? Anyhow, I've decided to use the blog to keep notes of Henry as he grows up. He's 39 months old now (turned 3 in November)



and has changed SO MUCH in the 20 months since he first came home.




We've already left so many cute things behind us:

• He used to be able to walk under the TV trays without ducking.
  
• He used to call himself "Hella" as in "No Mommy! Hella do it!"
  
• "Baba" used to be his word for both Grandpa and John-Pop.
  
• When we was really upset, he would sob and wail "Ah-gaaah!!!"
  
• He never really played with toys, except as projectiles.
  
• He no longer sleeps in a crib.
  
• He would never sit through a whole book, even a short baby book, until my Uncle Hugh sent us a book with dogs: 1 on the first page, 2 on the next, as so forth. That was the first book he ever allowed me to actually read to him.
  
• He was always "off the charts" on the low side for his age for height and weight (he has since made it onto the height chart, but fell off again...)
  
• He wore age 6-9 month clothes (at 18 months!)
  
• "Sesame Street" was "Ga-ah Geet", then progressed to "Sesa Geet."
  
• "Music" was "mifu"
  
• He easily spent upwards of 30 minutes playing with a little toy piano given to him by one of my taekwon-do students - it was one of very few toys he did NOT throw.
  
• If I was available, no one else would suffice. If I was not available, Grandpa or John-Pop were ok.
  
• His word for "frog" started with an F but is not family-appropriate.
  

Fun things about him now:

• Recent quote: "Don't worry, guys! We can be green like frogs!" (Said just like that, with no context at all.
  
• He has seen the movie "Nemo" and this has led to his pretending EVERYTHING is a child and its dad. Like crayons, rocks, Tupperware containers, and his hands. We make llamas with our hands, and his always calls mine "Dad." He was tossing a container around one day, and it rolled under a chair. "Where's my dad?" he asked. I asked him if he is sad that he doesn't have a dad:
  H: I don't have a dad.
  M: Who do you have?
  H: Mommy! And Bampa (grandpa) and John-Pop. And Uncle Jo!
  
• He thinks he can do taekwon-do, and asks people to hold things for him so he can break them. He knows how to stand when I say "Choombi", "fighting stance," and "baroh." He knows that "se-shut" means "start fighting" and that "kyoon-ye" means bow.
  
• If he cannot pronounce a word, he'll say "I can't say that" and try over and over while you pronounce it for him.
  
• He recently started drawing things "on purpose" - before, he would draw random marks and if asked what his picture was, he'd see what it looked like and then tell you. (He was quite pleased when one of his random scribbles looked like a dolphin!) Now he draws a circle, puts two lines out to the side for arms, and two dots as eyes. If you notice there are no legs, he will add them. Sometimes as many as five of them. Check out my favorite art incident.
  
• He loves the sound of the letter K, and this has led to many fun words like "kajammies" (pajamas), "kajaffe" (giraffe), and others.
  
• He likes to make plurals. "Mommy, I'm wearing my bootseses!"
  
• He has started to make up stories.
  
• He likes to give clues and have you guess things, e.g. "Who's the black guy that says "Meow"?
  
• He frequently sings to himself. Sadly, without a recognizable melody - but he's got rythm!
  
• He likes to conduct music (e.g. at concerts).
  
• He LOVES to watch himself dance in the mirror.
  
• His best friends at school are Reegan, Alison, and Mario.
  
• He loves to use "day care teacher talk": "Mommy, that's not ok! You walk away now!!"
  
• Said to Grandpa in the car "You shoo away from us!"
  
• Said of a child who has bitten him twice: "Can we put Oscar in the basement?" (where we put our dogs when they are naughty...)