Getting along famously

J and O are at their Enrichment Program today. M and F were following me around like lost puppy dogs. So, I put them to work lending me a helping hand.

As far as adjustment goes, we have been incredibly pleasantly surprised at how easy things have been thus far.

Our house was already busy and loud and hectic a lot of the time. So, I was not sure if I would be able to take much more! However, I can honestly say I think that was to our advantage because the increase of 2 more children here has not thrown me for a loop at all. There's pretty much nothing they have done that hasn't been tried here before. It helps that they are such great kids. Because they really are.

Flint is about as easy as they come. He is a happy, happy, happy guy. Not much gets that kid down. He goes with the flow like nobody's business. He is fascinated with the toy trucks and cars in the house and will play for hours on end, pushing cars along the wood floor making vroom vroom noises.

True to her assessments, Meadow does "get upset easily." We are working through it and her episodes have gone from many times per day to once or twice each day - if that. She will push - hard - but she responds well to firm, loving discipline and seems to yearn for those boundaries. It's almost like she wants us to say, "we are in charge here - not you." We do say it, and show it, and it seems to be helping her relax. She comes around quickly. I have had to be more firm than I would have thought at this stage, but it was really required with her and she was bonding and attaching so well from the beginning, we did not feel like it was a risk to her forming a healthy parent/child relationship with us, rather essential for it.

She is a very orderly, disciplined, girl who is actually quite compliant by nature. Sometimes she just wants to make her own rules to comply by. She reminds me SO much of another girl I know. ☺

Everyone is still eating well and sleeping well and there is no wailing from anyone, including me!

There may be times when one of them doesn't prefer the meal served them, but we just basically ignore it and keep the mood light and they usually end up eating it after a few minutes of giving no attention to the matter.

I expect that there will be some grief when they grow homesick, but we have not yet seen it.

We look at photos from Ethiopia often together.

Bath time the first few days was crazy because they would just go wild with delight screaming and splashing. I don't think baths were part of their lives before. They have begun to calm down and enjoy a bath like regular human beings, which is nice.

They are both attaching to Bob and I both, and playing with all their siblings really well.

After learning that all Deutschs dance and watching us as if observing a true Freak Show for the first few days, they now join in enthusiastically. We've made them freaks like us!

Life is good.

We could not have asked for an easier transition.

We'll see how things progress.

At this point, my, my, my how thankful we are.