And the winner is...

both my dad and friend Erika Y.

Do you remember the game? I asked for suggestions on coming up with a new address for our next blog. Actually, I went with neither dad's or Erika's suggestions... although they were creative and fun. But I decided to go with the title of this current blog for our new address. So check out more of our family adventures at http://ourzamadazmad.blogspot.com/

Michael and I have loved all of the comments, both publicly written and given to us in person, that the blog has generated. We thank you for all of the kindness that has been shared with us. Hope to have you as part of the next chapter as well!

Dad and Erika, whomever responds first with the meaning of Our Zamad Azmad will be the official winner!

First Words & A Quiet Moment

One of the most frequently asked question, besides if Mehandis is walking, is if he is talking yet. And my answer for the past several months, is yes! Okay as a speech-language pathologist, I believe I am hyper aware of word attempts and approximations. Also, I count gestures and signs as "true words". But this is the consistent way I credit "talking" with my students as well!

So for those that are curious here is his current vocabulary:

WORDS-
kk - kitty
Ch- Chewy
da- down
in
out
du- done
mom
dad
no
hi/hello
bye
up
wawa- water
roar- lion sound
honk- goose sound
moo- cow sound
uh- uh oh

SIGNS/GESTURES:
more
milk
diamond
piggy crinkly nose
eat
yes
no
ta da
hair
done
down

And here is a precious picture of a quiet moment (which unfortunately caused him to wake up and be "not so quiet")...


Mehandis and I also adventured to Apple Hollar today, to meet my parents. They were very excited to see their grandson walking. After a buffet which filled our bellies nicely, we hit outside to check out the petting zoo. Mehandis cautiously walked on the grass, gravel and cement. He did well managing his new terrain but definitely needed to keep his focus!
Grandma and Grandpa helped keep him motivated!

Mehandis wasn't quite sure what to make of all of the animals who were poking their heads out at him.

But he kept motoring on...with minimal grass stains for mom to take care of :)

Cranky Al's, "Costumes" and Cards

This past week I was successful in being caffeine free, as part of my self-created "hydration diet", so it was appropriate to start the weekend at a coffee house. Michael's company was hosting an "End-User Show" at Cranky Al's, which is a fantastic bakery/pizza/pub/coffee place. I was able to take the day off and help out. It was a lot of fun to see it all come together and have more names put to faces for me. Michael just changed his company's name from Identity Promotions to Magellan Promotions. His new website looks awesome - http://magellanpromotions.com/ He is pictured above with one of the suppliers, Lori, whom I also enjoyed chatting with. Turns out she lives in Bolingbrook, where I grew up.

Yesterday, Michael, Mehandis and I went to Belgium (which I kept calling Berlin) to spend the day with the Kenyons. They are a family we met a year ago, at an Ethiopia "Mixer" and quickly became friends with. We were thrilled to ultimately end up in the same travel group together - last September. While in Ethiopia, we were able to share some of the most unique experiences.


Here is Aiden in one of his "action" outfits... I was told that boys don't call them costumes.
Mehandis is acting as Captain Hook, with one of the Kitchen Aid attachments he helped himself to, out of Jarusha's cabinet.

Tsehay, who is 2 months older than Mehandis, makes the sweetest tiger!
Check out who is in the driver's seat, but I think Mehandis knows she can't go far without the keys.

We all had a great time together. And I think that Jarusha and Greg are a little thankful for all of the things that Tsehay does not get into, which Mehandis could not stay out of (entertainment centers, magazines, and candle sconces).

Last Thursday was also our 9th wedding anniversary. I am very thankful that we did not have the same weather on April 10th 1999 as we did 2008. Yikes it was blustery!

Thank you Michael for the nice warm meal, cozy fire and the past nine years :)

Look who's walking!

Mehandis is learning new "tricks" all of the time. It can be both troublesome (when he learned how to open the china cabinet doors) and quite entertaining at the same time (the fact that once he got the door open he picked up a wine glass and gently placed it on the shelf below). Well, last week Michael put old school Walkman headphones on Mehandis. He loved it... even though they weren't even plugged into anything. I attribute Michael's actions to the following 2 photos. I was getting ready for my day when I looked over and saw Mehandis with this headband on. I have only worn this once myself... so was shocked to see that he had it on and even positioned correctly. I laughed so hard until Mehandis got it stuck in his curls and he began whimpering until I helped him untangle the headband from his hair.
This actually was the day of Louisville playing who-knows-who, when Mehandis and I both got dressed in Louisville colors. All in hopes of bragging rights for the Fantasy Basketball tournament I was in. I unfortunately (or Louisville I guess) lost. Ah well... next year.

Okay now onto something I can brag about... Mehandis is an official walker as of yesterday. It just clicked! He now is confident in his ambulatory state and seems to love it. Even though he has acquired a few more battle scars to get there (our daycare said it sounded like a firecracker went off when he fell face first into a table - only a bruise and small cut resulted though).

Here he is earlier today, toddling toward me.
And he keeps on going!!! Great job Mehandis :)

Spring Break Fun

Mehandis, my good friend Dara and I took a train trip to visit my parents in Chicago - to kick off my spring break. We had a weekend that was packed with activities and it was a blast.

Mehandis had the chance to go to his first park with us. He got a kick out of the slides. We then went to an authentic Mexican restaurant and all needed a siesta afterward. Grocery shopping was even fun when we were able to do it at Whole Foods (these are not found "up north"). The five of us walked to the Chicago History Museum, where we learned lots about this great city and worked up a great appetite once again. The pictures below show how Mehandis enjoyed his (and my) first experience with Thai noodles. I fared better getting more of the noodles in my mouth, versus hair and floor.
We also made a spectacular Ethiopian meal together. This consisted of injera, mashed vegetables and doro wat - with some of the spices I brought back from Addis Ababa. Once again I enjoyed the leftover injera for breakfast the next morning with some peanut butter spread on top... you have to try it! We also were able to do a Michigan Avenue shopping before we got the last seats left on the home bound train.

The next morning, on Easter Sunday, we rose before the sunrise and made it to the 7 AM Easter service. Michael's sister Erin joined us and then helped to throw together a tasty brunch. While Mehandis caught a nap, the 3 adults had an Easter Egg Hunt. Michael and I have done this for each other for the past 9 years. Then we headed to the lake to celebrate not only Easter but Michael's dad's birthday. Michael's sister Joanna is showing off the festive table below.

Everyone had a blast playing with Michael's dad's birtday gift - Rock Band! Mehandis even tried to drum along on the pots and pans. I got some play time with Bon Jovi's "Wanted Dead or Alive".
One of the things on my spring break "to do" list was to start Mehandis's scrapbooks. This is a little overwhelming given all of the paperwork, not to mention pictures, we have accumulated over the past year and a half. I was successful in sorting out the mountain of "stuff" below. And I even have the first page ready to go. Starting is always the hardest for me!
Oh yeah, Michael took some time off on Wednesday so we could all take a trip to the zoo together. This was a first for us as a family. Mehandis made his piggy nose, when we talked about the pigs. And said "Ele, Ele" for the elephants.

I don't think he even saw the peacock.
I think he may have enjoyed pushing and steering his stroller around the Family Farm the best!
Here's to a great Spring Break!!! Thanks to all of the friends and family that added to the fun. And to add to the fun of March Madness - Go Louisville!

2 Games in 1 Entry...

A language activity I play with my 3 to 5 year old students follows. Can you look at the pictures and tell me what is happening? Let's see if you can fare better than my students.

Okay, I admit that I didn't have the right answer when I played this game "real time". My first thought was that I must store my potting soil under the kitchen sink. But I will give you a clue: check out what is hanging out of the garbage can. The rest of the story is pretty self-explanatory.



So here is the real "dirt"... this past weekend I was attempting to tidy the house. I knew Mehandis was playing in the kitchen with the cupboard contents - tupperware, root vegetables, pots and pans. When I made my way back to the kitchen I found Mehanids as pictured in photo #1. Truly, I thought he got into potting soil (which is actually kept in the garage)... but then realized that it was the grounds from my morning coffee. Yikes! I was a bit ashamed that my son, who is born where coffee was first introduced, had to have Folger's as his introduction to caffeine. Then I also thought about what a straight jolt of caffeine could do to a 15 month old. Turns out he crashed soon afterward into a 3 hour nap.

Oh yeah, the following pictures show that our household is no longer Canada. I decided to put our first child-proof lock onto the cabinet containing our garbage can following the "break-in". Michael Moore would be disappointed.

Okay, now onto the second game. I would like to start a new blog... since our current blog's address, michaealandmicheleadopt, doesn't best represent our family as a whole. I did think of a new address; however, Michael wasn't too thrilled that it was primarily "me-focused". So... any suggestions? There will be a prize for the winner!!!

6 months post-placement & 15 months old

One of the agreements we have with our international adoption agency, is to send regular reports and pictures of how Mehandis is doing. This starts 3 months after Mehandis is home with us, then 6 months, then 1 year and ever year thereafter... until Mehandis's 18th birthday. Well we have reached 6 months "post-placement" and continue to have so much positive news to share for the reports. Our son makes us laugh before we go to work, makes it hard for us to take our eyes off of him (due to his cuteness factor) during church, helps us to relax when we (or at least half of the "we") are quite task oriented, and brings tears to our eyes with gratitude for the joy he adds to our family. He gets an A+ on his 6 month post-placement report. The following photos are the pictures that will be sent along with the report. Every report needs to have: A close-up
A family shot
A picture showing interaction
And a photo in front of his school, or if not age appropriate... a picture of our choice.

Oh yeah, this also coincides with Mehandis's 15 month birthday. He is now fighting Chewy for some common domain. This includes cabinets, cat brushes (which I found Mehandis gnawing like our cat does), milk top rings and cat food. Michael & I both found cat food in our son's mouth last week.

Chewy... I hope you let Mehandis know that taking your food is unacceptable. But I guess you tried to teach him "an eye for an eye" when you got Mehandis's leftovers off of his tray yesterday. Sibling rivalry?

Destructo... also known as Mehandis

I have been teaching Mehandis some simple sign language, to communicate a few basic wants/needs. Examples of these include "all done", "more", "eat", "milk", "mom" and "dad". However, it took a long time to figure out why Mehandis always did the same gesture every time we ask him to "Say Mehandis". As you can see in the following picture, Mehandis would bring his hand up to his ear and hold it there... following this prompt. He does this pretty consistently, deliberately and very seriously. I went so far as to ask his teachers if they have been using a sign for his name or if there was a finger play song with this motion. Nobody could figure it out. After a bit Michael and I realized that this is probably from us talking on the phone and then saying "Say hi Mehandis"... which we then would put the phone up to his ear. So I think the mystery is now cracked! When I am on the phone now, I see Mehandis bringing his hand to his ear as a way of asking to "talk" too.In the past few weeks Mehandis has been graced with yet another nickname, which is "Destructo". When volunteering in our church nursery, we noticed how one little boy earnestly attempted to put all the toys Mehanids had played with back onto the shelves. Mehandis would make the same circle promptly knocking the toys back to the ground. One of his teachers has recently told us that she does not attempt cleaning up the room until Mehandis is picked up. I do give him credit that he does make attempts at putting things back... but he is lacking in the task completion. Check out the latest path of Destructo. Guess he didn't like the plant in the location we had placed it.

Standing Tall & Proud in Wisconsin

Kind of hard to come up with a theme to tie in all of the following events/pictures that follow. So let me start with saying how proud I am that our state had a good turn out of voters for the primary elections... on a VERY frigid day. It was fun watching and hearing all of the results come in last night.

The next subject celebrates those who are simply standing...

Check out Michael skating on our driveway this past weekend. Our weather was a mess, with rain, snow, sleet and freezing everything. Michael made the best of it by first skating around, then breaking up the ice/sluch mixture followed by shoveling the snow layer later in the evening!


Yep, Mehandis is now standing tall! He started this on Monday... and now can stand for about a minute. While standing he can dance, "jump", whine and turn pages to a book. Keep it up Mehandis! We know we will be running after you soon.

Today the whole family went to Children's Court in order to make Mehandis's adoption official in Wisconsin. This is actually termed "re-adoption" since the adoption decree already happened in Ethiopia. We had a very enthusiastic judge who had fun with all of us. At the end she gave Mehandis gifts of a frog beanie baby and a Harley T-shirt. Seems like an appropriate welcome to Wisconsin!

Happy (Re) Adoption Day Mehandis... we love you!!!

Art Gallery

Every morning Michael gets Mehandis ready for school, while I ready myself. It now takes me 2 (sometimes 3 trips) to load up the car with mine and Mehandis's school stuff (including Mehandis)... then we are ready to head to daycare. Mehandis typically give his dad a kiss and wave goodbye, paired with lots of smiles. He is such a morning boy... as you can see below. When he arrives at his school he quickly crawls to his table in order to be served his personalized breakfast of bananas and dry cereal. I am not sure what is on his school schedule following this gourmet breakfast, but an art class happens at least once a week. I think he quite possibly may be gifted in this area. If you don't believe me there is photographic evidence to follow.
A snake... which coincides with their curriculum on the letter "S".
Snow day clothes... perhaps the subject was "Winter in Wisconsin" ?
And a self-portrait. Not sure where his socks, shoes and hair ended up... but I guess that isn't how Mehandis defines himself. I love his big round googly eyes.

Snow Day!!!

Summer break is not the only perk of working in the public schools... we also get snow days! Anxiously awaiting for your school district's name to be announced on the t.v. or radio feels the same whether you are in 3rd grade or are 33.

This past Wednesday my school district was closed due to the 12 to 20 inches of snow that was in the forecast. So Mehandis and I got to enjoy a middle of the week day off together. During our time off, he became much more proficient at spinning the toilet paper roll to get more squares per pull. I got to cuddle with Mehandis on the couch and read the classic children's story, "A Snowy Day". And, Chewy learned to increase his tolerance of an eager one year old (as can be seen below).


A little after 4, we both started to feel the itch to get out into the white stuff.
This is Mehandis in our driveway... hard to tell that Michael shoveled it already 2 times that day.
Michael took this picture of us as we started off for a quick sled ride around the block. It didn't stop snowing until around 8 or 9 that night. Thanks again to Michael for all of the shoveling and snow blowing that day!

Also, congratulations go out to Fernando, Dominique and Diego... who officially came home as a family of 3 on that blizzardy day!!!