Dramatic Entry into Adolescence

Oh, yes, dear readers, we are deep in the throws of adolescence. The boy child has been rapidly turning into the man/child.  Man in body, boy in spirit.  I believe Habtamu is now taller than me.  I'm trying not to think about it. Yordanos is now in young lady phase... sometimes "You come here right now, Young Lady!"  and sometimes, "You are becoming such a kind young lady."

I was reminded the other day how far we have actually come with overcoming childish behaviors... I should say we ALL have been working on this.  Turns out I had my own share of childish behaviors to overcome after seeing how obnoxious they were in children.  If I don't want my child to x,y, or z, then I can't x,y,or z.  Nuts.

Back to the man/child...  "Wha?"

He's desperately trying to grow up, and we're trying to give him more freedom.  He recently learned a big lesson about lying and a big lesson about messing up, fessing up, and moving on.  We're getting there.  He seems to grow up a little every day and I realize how quickly time is flying by.  He is very interested in "When I'm 16 can I ___?" and "When I'm 18 can I ____?"  "How old do you have to be to do _____?"   Part of us is trying to hold on tightly and say "NOoooooooooooooooooooooooo!  You can't be thinking about that YET."  and the other part is saying "Well, we've got to let go of some things."  Habtamu will often say things like, "So, you want to control me?"  and I'll say, "No.  I want YOU to control yourself."  And he'll say, "HOW I SUPPOSED TO DO THAT?"  "Well, pay attention to what I'm telling you now so you can make good choices later."


A good choice for this picture would have been to smile naturally, so you don't look like a rabid badger.

Holy Smokes!

Is it July already?

I think this is the longest we've gone without blogging here... ever.

I'll start you out with pics from Yordanos' Track and Field Camp in early June.  I don't think she had any fun.  Nope, not one little bit...

Pants on Fire

Me:  Did you eat breakfast?

Habtamu: Yes.

Me: (Go into kitchen, see Yordanos using the last of the milk.  Think: "Huh.  I didn't think there was enough milk for TWO bowls of cereal.")

Me: Hey, Habtamu?

H: Yeah?

Me: Did you say you ate breakfast?

H: Yes.

Me: What did you have?

H: A banana.

Me: Oh, ok.  You need to eat a little more.  You've got a soccer game this morning.

H: OH...  ERG...  BUT...  MOOOOOOOOOOOOM......................... (said in whiny, whiny voice)

Me: Just do it.  (Now thinking to myself  "I wonder if there's a banana peel in the garbage.  Should I check?  Should I become THAT mom, who checks up on every little thing?")

Me: Hey, Habtamu?

H: Yeah?

Me: You had a banana?

H: Yeah.

Me: Where's the banana peel?

H: What?

Me: Where's the banana peel?  You said you had a banana for breakfast.

H: Yeah, I did.

Me: Ok.  Where's the peel?

H: Oh, I thought you were talking about what I ate last night.

Me: Oh, uh-huh.  I think you lied to me.

H: FINE!  I lie about EVERYTHING!

Me: Sigh.  Why even BOTHER to lie about something so small?

Easter 2010... the Family Photo Fiasco

Just TRY to get a good picture of the whole family... when one of the adolescents refuses to even try for a good smile.  Just you try it.  We will gladly show these pictures to any of Habtamu's future girlfriends...

Take Someone Else's Kids to Work Day = SUCCESS

Excuse me, but I believe you're wearing my sash

I meant to blog about this earlier, but last week the kids went to 'Take your child to work day' at the Sears corporate office. No. I don't work for Sears now, but I know a guy... Anyway, it's brilliant. Sears gets to do marketing and product recognition research on a youth audience for a full day. The kids get food, meet some celebrities, and come home with a bag of stuff (Erin O'Connor, Miss Illinois 2009 was not IN the goodie bag...) And mom gets a day off. Everybody's happy.

The problem with having 2000 songs on your iPod

Scene opens with Habtamu and Lee in the car listening to Lee's MP3 player on random. An unfamiliar song begins.

H: (with trigger-happy finger on the NEXT button) Do you like this song?

L: (Song's Intro continues) I like how it starts but honestly I can't remember what song it is. What is the name of it?

H: I don't know. It's your music.

L: Well you can read now, what does the screen say.

H: (Squints at the music player) Cawd Heart SomethingSomethingSomething

L: Cahd? Like... C-O-D? Cold???

H: Yes. Cold Heart.

L: (brain searches by decade for a cold heart song while the song plays... still no lyrics) I don't know any cold heart songs. Is there more to the title?

H: Yes.

L: What's the rest of the title. Read it to me.

H: I can't.

L: Sound it out.

H: (getting frustrated) I can't. The letters are moving. I can't read it.

L: (realizing that long song titles start scrolling after a couple seconds) Ok, well spell it out for me.

H: C-O-L-D-H-A-R-D-B-I-T-C...

L: Yeah, you know what, lets just skip this song.

H: Why? You don't like it?

L: Not in the mood anymore. NEXT!

Aaaaand Scene

Yordanos in April

April 2008 - Ethiopia

April 2009 - USA

2010 - USA

Habtamu in April

April 2008 - Ethiopia

April 2009 - USA

April 2010

Fooling Around

How do you explain our strange customs to children from another country?  Here's the wiki version of April Fool's Day.

Every day I have the children write a journal entry.   On April 1st, Habtamu's and my conversation went like this:

H: Hey Mom?  Is it April 1st?

Me: (thinking quickly for so early in the morning)  Nope.  (Said with totally straight face.)

H: So.... what is it, then?  March 32nd?!

Me: Yep.

H: (sighs)  Man, this is the longest month!

I let him in on the joke soon, and he tried it on his sister, who TOTALLY didn't understand what was going on.  Once she got it, she was on board. 

This is the kind of day MADE for the girl whose standard daily joke is this:

Guess what?
What?
Chicken butt!

Guess who?
Who?
Chicken poo!

Guess why?
Why?
Chicken pie!

Or this:

(Feel a tap on the back.)
(Turn around, only Y is there.)
It wasn't me!

Channeling the Sweathogs

Anybody remember Vinnie Barbarino?  Wha?  Wher? Who?  Why?

We've got our very own Ethiopian version now.  I just want to tell the boy that he doesn't have to FAKE stupid, because there will be plenty of times in his life when stupid WILL happen.  (Just as in all our adolescent lives!)

For now, I concentrate on getting him to AT LEAST add the T on the end of "WHA?" to not SOUND ignorant.


Also, this morning, Lee and I were talking about something unrelated to the children.  Yordanos says from the other room, "Mom, I can HEAR you."  I said, "OK?"  She answers back, "I know you were talking about us."  I say, "Why do you think that?"  She says, "You said 'whine and complain'."  Lee then says, "You know, you're not the only people in the world who whine and complain."