2 months home...

I can hardly believe it. Muluken has been here for 2 months. Yes, that's 8 weeks in the USA. He's been here for snow, rain, lots of mud, and now, some warmth. We were able to send him to school in only a sweatshirt this week and that's pretty exciting. No boots, snowpants, winter coat, hat, and mittens to put on.

I've been told by many people that he looks like he has really grown. Since I'm with him all the time, I haven't really seen it. He's still a peanut to me, but then again, I compare him to Noah, so that doesn't say much.

Muluken's english has really improved too. He holds a conversation with us in english, and only seems to struggle when he's really excited to tell us something and can't figure out the words quickly. He asks us questions, such as "what's this?" or "what's his name?". He really likes to know the name of everything (people and things). He listens to us give him directives or ask him questions and can understand us almost 90% of the time. He also likes to talk on the phone. He's been known to have conversations with Aunt Kris, Grandma Lenz, Great-Grandma Beck, Dorinda, and of course his Mom and Dad. He always says "hi", "bye", "I love you", "good", and answers yes and no questions. He's got such a cute little boy voice that I just melt everytime I hear him talk.

We've had to really limit the Nintendo DS and Wii. Muluken doesn't understand that we do not need to play these games 24/7, and will actually become very angry at us when he doesn't get to play them. So, it's been almost 2 weeks since he's played with the DS. He played the Wii this past Saturday with Noah and another little boy for about an hour, but as soon as the little boy left, the Wii was turned off. Until we can set some clear limits with Muluken, these games will be brought out very sparingly.

Muluken has really done great with our food. He pretty much eats everything the rest of us eat, except for ice cream and pasta with alfredo sauce. He really likes waffles, pancake & sausage, spaghetti & meat sauce, cookies, cake, eggs, popcorn, candy, juice, milk, orange soda, cheese, ketchup, chicken, mac -n- cheese, cereal, and fish. He has finally figured out that he DOESN'T need to finish everything on his plate. When he was at the care center, the rule must have been to finish everything, no matter what. When we had him at the hotel, he was always trying to eat everything, even when we knew the portion was way to big for him. Tonight, he even rubbed his tummy and giggled when we asked him if he was "all done".

Muluken has gotten into a night time routine. After dinner, he waits for Brad or I to call him for a bath. He takes a bath, dries off, lotions up, gets dressed, brushes teeth, and then finds me for his snuggle time. If I'm busy doing something, he'll look for Brad, but it's not the same. We always try to read a book with him and then we just snuggle until bed time which is 8pm. Muluken likes to crawl into my bed with me and watch TV or even just lay next to me and talk. I think I look forward to this time as much as he does.

Muluken also likes to crawl into our bed on weekend mornings. It's usually a family affair where everybody piles onto the bed and then there is usually a lot of tickling going on. Socks have been found on the ceiling fan. And there is usually somebody always getting hurt. There is a LOT of laughter and fun for all.

Muluken really likes to ride his new bike, jump on the trampoline, listen to music on the ipod, play his leapster, fly his helicopter, play with his big trucks and diggers, play with his Hot Wheels cars, throw the ball for the dogs, pet and kiss the puppies, color, draw pictures, dance and sing songs.

Muluken is quite known in our school district and neighborhood. Whenever we go out, people are saying hi to him and I have no idea who they are. When I go into the school, kids in different classrooms will tell me something Muluken did or said. It just amazes me how much attention our little man gets from others. We have had complete strangers come up and ask us questions. I have no problem with the people who are genuinely interested in him but the ones who only want to know how much international adoption costs annoy me. I need to get a thicker skin.

I'm so glad that we were matched with Muluken and that he's our little boy. His personality fits in with all of us and really makes our family complete. He is such a lovable little guy and has so much to share with everyone. I can't wait for him to be able to share more about his past and Ethiopia. He must have so many memories inside him. Hopefully one day we'll be able to hear all about them.