Clipping along

Last weekend, amongst a lot of other fun events, the three of us took a trip to the zoo. Michael and I were looking for something somewhat relaxing to do together as a family. This was the first time that Mehandis was out of his stroller for 95% of our zoo visit. He is now staying more "on path" versus running to puddles and trying to enter Employees Only doors. Below you can see Mehandis at his usual pace - a walk/run.

I praised Mehandis for offering this statue a little gift, until Michael noticed it was a cigarette butt.

Oh another fun story, every time Mehandis walked by a bench he pretended to sit down. Sometimes he just plopped himself down to squat on the ground. Here we are enjoying actually sitting on one of the benches.

Notice anything different in the pictures that follow?

Yep, Mehandis got his first barbershop haircut. Michael took him in yesterday and Mehandis did great sitting on his lap and taking it in. Yesterday, whenever he saw a reflection of himself he would smile and touch his head. He is so handsome!

Run & Roll

One of Mehandis's recent favorite "toys" is a Diego rolling backpack, which my friend Jen gave him. I decided to fill it with some accessories, such as a hat, sunglasses and scarf. Mehandis rolls around his bag while I throw a hat or random item on him. He typically pushes the bag in front of him like a shopping cart... as seen below. This was taken yesterday morning, before we left for Al's Run (an 8K we try to do every year). Mehandis got his own t-shirt this year and his own number! Since he was classified as a "walker" he did not get an official time, but he did the 5 miles in less than 50 minutes as Michael ran pushing him in the Burley. One of the best in Mehandis's age group I am sure!
Here is the "ch" of "cheese". Guess the "ee" is a better posing sound.
Michael & Mehandis cheered me on as a I ran across the finish line!

Yodeling?

Take a guess at what Mehandis is doing in the photo below...Singing the "O" to EEIEEIO of course. Good lip rounding I have to add, as a speech-language pathologist.

I gave Mehandis the Little People Farm today (well technically re-gifted since this was given to him by Jenn M. for his 1st birthday, but it didn't have it's introduction until now). He named all of the animals that came out of the package (i.e. bah, neigh, oink). Then enjoyed putting them in the silo. I haven't gotten gutsy enough to put in the batteries yet. What he doesn't know for a while won't hurt him, right?


You are a great play date Mehandis!!! Thanks for hanging at the farm with me this evening.

One Year "Meet You" Anniversary!!!

How incredible that a year has passed since we first picked up Mehandis out of his pastel green crib in Addis Ababa. I remember how he looked at us tentatively... as we did at him. It was bizarre seeing a 3D Mehandis when we were used to our paper version. He was brave and let us cuddle and care for him. Later that day we fed him from the little tin cups they had and learned what made him "gee"/laugh. Time has flown and there have been so many "firsts". I guess we are now on to seconds in more ways than one!

The above pictured decoration was put outside Mehandis's daycare class on Monday. Friday afternoon I spoke with Ms. Shelly (Mehandis's new teacher since he graduated to a bigger kid room in the fall) about the news of our upcoming second adoption. She then asked several questions about the process that we had with Mehandis. So I shared that his one year "Meet You" anniversary was coming on Monday the 15th. She must have put together the little clown announcement before she left for the weekend. Very sweet!!! I was most touched.
Here is Mehandis in his classroom ready for his mama's arms.
Mehandis is being held by Ms. Shelly and next to Ms. Dominique (one of his favorite teachers). He was wearing a cuter/sportier outfit that day but needed to be changed because he got a little wet-n-wild at the water table. We needed to hurry home because we had party plans soon to follow!

Aiden, Tsehay and their parents, Greg & Jarusha, met us at Alem. Alem is a 6 month old Ethiopian restaurant on Wisconsin Avenue in downtown Milwaukee. Mehandis and I were warmly welcomed by the owner. He spoke to Mehandis in Amharric (to see if he remembered any) and encouraged the kids to have fun and run around the place. So they did!

Greg & Jarusha are the couple that traveled at that same time as us to meet Tsehay. We are so lucky to have them close by. A very fun family.

Tsehay and Mehandis played a very active game of chase. Quite a few giggles and squeals from Mehandis, Tsehay and Aiden.
May all the years continue to be this happy!!!

Jazz in the Park

Summer staples for my friends and I includes grapes, hummus and wine. This is so we will be ready at a moment's notice to pack up a cooler and head to Cathedral Square... for Jazz in the Park. By now we know the best parking secrets but have slowly migrated from center stage to side/back stage (which we seem to prefer now, too noisy up front you know?). I do have to say that our food and beverage selection has definitely improved since the summer Thursday's of our college years. Although some do still fondly recall EZ cheese & oreos (patent pending), the upgrade from muppet glasses to brie, savory meats and pretty good sweets are appreciated. Though our numbers have dwindled in attendance, we definitely have a core of faithful partakers, who only need to put "Jazz?" in the subject line of an email and we know to start looking for a babysitter!

Last Thursday was the end of the '08 Jazz season. Colleen did a super job getting us motivated to go, despite the threat of cooler weather and rain. Kerbie and Colleen drove up from Illinois and met Dominique, Maira and I (Stefan and Peter were part-time attenders). We had so much fun catching up, celebrating Kerbie's birthday and making plans for more fall/winter outings.

Sometimes we get creative with the location of "Jazz". We have done Jazz on the Porch several times and this year Maira and Peter hosted Jazz at the M's. Don't really know if any jazz was playing, but their backyard was very accommodating to both adults and kids.

Here are the players-

Peter, Erin, Michael and Toph

Handsome Diego
Cynthia and little Griffin
Everyone enjoying good company, a cool beverage... or item's from Dominique's purse.

Here Stefan is concerned that Mehandis has lost a shoe. Mehandis doesn't even notice that it is off, as he continued to run (lopsided) through the yard.
The boys checking out an awesome dump truck.
I have a "great" idea to give them rides in it.
Hmm, guess Mehandis would rather be the driver once again.

Thanks Maira for all of the great photos!!!

Us & "The Kid"

I have to start off this entry with photo ops from events which happened earlier this summer. I still have not ordered pictures from these fun times... so at least I will have some on-line scrapbook samples now.

Ahh Michigan... a great place to be born and to vacation. Here is a photo on top of Michael & mine's fave hiking trail. Maira and Peter first did this hike with us 5(?) years ago. Beautiful view as you can see. Funny thing that happened prior to this photo - I heard someone say "Oh do you want me to take a picture of all of you?". I was touched and said "Sure!" with hearing Michael say "no, no, no" soon after. When did he get camera shy? I then turn to give the camera to the generous photo-offerer and see that no one is looking my way at all. Matter of fact another family is completely engrossed in their own photo session. Hmm... turns out the offer was to the other family and I just assumed someone was talking to me. Fortunately we both realized the error and somebody soon came to the camera rescue to take a wonderful picture of Mehandis, Michael, Josh, Erin and myself.

This is a self-portrait of Michael and I during our everyother-annual walk around Geneva Lake. I think this around the 20th mile of the 26 mile trek. The next 6 miles would not have me smiling even half this large. Michael & I ended up with bruised toenails, nasty smelling shoes and blistered fingers (actually the blistered fingers was only me from holding the water bottle too long). We did enjoy ourselves overall though... and are anxious to do it again next year, or the next!

So Mehandis has moved from the piano to the ukulele. Thanks to Rebecca and Patrick for showing us the way to stringed instruments.

Thank you Mehandis for showing your enthusiasm for ultimately being another lawn mowerer at our house!

Umm... Mehandis wants you to know that this shirt will soon have to be modified. You see, this was an old shirt of mine that my uncle gave me in the 70's. Perhaps he knew I would be an only child, hence the t-shirt reading "The Kid". Well, we passed this shirt onto Mehandis and he likes it, but knows he can't wear it much longer. Mehandis is not going to be the "only" kid in this family for much longer. We just got word that our paperwork has been accepted by CHSFS's Ethiopia Program for our second adoption!