6.18.2008

Driving Miss Crazy

During lunch, which the kids did not eat, they kept asking about Mommy Car, which they could see from the front porch where we were eating. The gist was "Can we go in Mommy Car after lunch?" I said "Sure." So we all got in the car and drove around. I don't know what they get out of it, but it was therapeutic for us. They were happy and quiet in the back, and eventually fell asleep. So we drove around some more.



















I'm totally ok paying $8 in gas for them to fall asleep in the car. We've got to keep them up until at least 8 again tonight. Last night, they were dropping where they stood at 7. We kept poking Yordi to wake her up. Gave up at 7:30, put them in bed. Both started the "No sleep" mantra which is "nooooooooo sleeeeeeeeeeeep, nooooooooo sleeeeeeeeeeeeep, mommy, noooooooooooo sleeeeeeeeeeeep, daddy, nooooooooooooo sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeep" The only cure for this mantra is actually.... sleep. And at that point I would have KILLED SOMEONE to be able to go to bed, and here we were offering it to them freely. After listening to the mantra outside of Yordi's door for 5 minutes and debating the whole "let them cry it out" or "comfort while you can" dilemma, I decided to surprise her. I swooped in the room all excited and happy and said "OK! No sleep! Let's go downstairs! What would you like to do? Cards? OK!" So we played a little UNO for 15 minutes, with Mommy falling asleep between turns. Finally I said "Mommy is going to bed... time for everyone to sleep now." And she went quietly to her bed. I guess my thinking was it wasn't good for her to go to sleep in that grumpy state of mind. She woke up happy.

























Habtamu didn't wake up happy. He sleeps angry, if that makes sense, then wakes up angry. We're looking into getting him some help with his feelings. Please pray for us as we seek services for him. There's definitely something not right. It could be grief and change and etc... we'll make sure it's not anything physiological. We started out the day with 2 episodes. We're trying to avoid more today, but he's on the edge. I suspect there's one more episode in him tonight.

In unrelated news, Yordi took all of the clothes out of her dresser, refolded them all, and put them in order in her drawers. Then Habtamu did the same. Huh. I'll bet YOUR kids don't do that of their own volition! Y&H brush their teeth and wash their faces in the morning. Right after making their beds. I'm not kidding. :)

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

GGAAAAHHHHHH!!!!! Looking in Yordi in the picture makes my neck hurt...

Nitro Krycerin said...

Yeeeesss, her neck hurt too.

Ann said...

Yordi's bed looks so happy....love all the pink! Keeping you all in our thoughts---love all the blogging you are doing...can't wait to meet them both in person...but for now will look forward to the daily updates! Goodnight!

Anonymous said...

Can we see pics from Habtamu's room or is it not done yet???

Carpenters said...

We did the car ride to get them to go to sleep a couple of times. I was tired of the fight before nap time and the car ride was just the thing. It saved our sanity.

Another adoptive mom with whom I correspond also adopted older children who made their bed first thing in the morning and everything. She said it lasted about two months during what she called the honeymoon period, then they didn't make their beds just like their other siblings.

Y looks so happy in her bed. They sound so precious.

With Love,
Penelope

ctadhankins said...

I wonder if H is just more tweaked by the whole move than Y is... he surely has more memory of Ethiopia being "home" since he's older... that's a tough one. I'll be thinking of you guys as you sort that one out. Besides, I'm sure their internal clocks are still all messed up, as noted by your sleeping comments...
Heck, we have to poke Addie sometimes to keep her awake so she'll sleep better. That makes sense...
Keep up with the updates! Great stuff!