Frankie is doing much better with the dogs today (Sunday, day three). So much better that he’s even playing outside with them wandering freely around! And having Kayo, our lunchtime cleanup crew, sitting patiently by the table during lunch didn’t slow him down at all. Kayo takes his job very seriously let me tell you. Food doesn’t hit the ground and remain for any longer than one or two seconds with him around! And, unlike Bridger, he knows enough to not start cleaning the child up, too. Oh wait, Bridger knows but he just doesn’t care... ;)
On alert
In action – a dropped crumb.
I can hardly believe it but it looks like I might have another water baby on my hands. Last night when we were bathing Frankie he started to play in the tub, then today he went all out when Ella was playing with her tea set and water on the front porch. So much in fact that in no time they’d gone through the bucket of water and I was blowing up their pool! It is SO GOOD to see the little chap playing with his sister! And while not smiling a lot yet, the smiles are coming more and more ( may be a while before I capture them on camera though!).
I guess it shouldn’t surprise me that he’s loosening up so fast. Little miss social, happy Ella is just like party central. You just can’t help but join in the fun! He is truly one lucky little boy to have such a good big sister.
Although I didn't have internet (which I have at my house now, halleluia!), I started keeping a little journal when I first brought Frankie home. That happened the first four or five days but has petered out some but I thought I'd post them anyways. Just a little inside peak at what it's like to adopt a youngster and bring them home.
I already think that bringing home a two year old is ten times easier than a three year old, which most people just don’t understand. They always assume that the older the child the easier. Not so!! I have SO MUCH respect for folks that adopt four and older year olds. Wow! You guys are brave and much stronger than I!! I don’t think that I would adopt again over the age of three, if I could help it. But if you commit to a younger child and can’t get them until they’re older you really have no choice.
October 23rd - Brought the little feller home at around 11am. This was after leaving EBB at 7:30am, weaving our way through Kampala traffic (but avoiding the jam!), picking up Justine at the babies home, and then waiting at the probation officers for ten or so minutes until he came. Papers were signed, shuffled and sorted and we headed out from there at 9:45am when there was no traffic! Ella was fairly good but borderline. Justine made the apt observation, “Ella is quiet but stubborn!” Oh Justine, if only you knew! Ella can be quietly naughty/disrespectful and most people don’t notice – they just notice the “over reacting” mother!
Made it back to the babies home where we found little Frankie in big, dirty clothes, munching jack fruit. After a bath, lots of Vaseline and his new clothes (well, his shirt was a hand me down from his sister but it was BLUE!), we were on our way home! It hit me as I was buckling him into his car seat, “This is it Grace, you now have TWO little people that you are responsible for!” Wow. Sometimes I barely feel like an adult!
When we got home I tied Kayo and Sanyu up – when Bridger saw what I was up to he split. Frankie did awesome, only letting out a squawk when he was sitting on the couch by himself and Bridger wandered in and tried to lick him. Oops! Just being friendly! Bridge settled down and Frankie did to. Bridger wandered back outside and Frankie sat and sweated on my lap for about an hour.
I took off all his clothes but his diapers and gosh is he chunky! He’s built just like our neighbor, Hannah, and I’d say he is maybe as old as 24 months. But not much more. They say that he was just starting to talk (in Luganda).It’s estimated that he was around 15 months old when he came to the babies home and he’d been there nine months.
We plan on total English immersion for the little fellow. My linguist friends will probably frown but I want my family speaking all the same language. And lets face it, if I haven’t learned more Luganda in 4.5 years it’s highly doubtful that I’ll start now! Plus, my friends kids are monolingual in English (although I’m sure they understand at least some Luganda) and their parents are Ugandan (although not all Baganda), so we’ll be in good company.
After an hour of sitting and sweating on my lap, I plopped him on the floor with Ella, who was playing with her tea set, to make them lunch. I could hardly believe it when he started happily playing with her! Thank you God! This is such a huge thing to me because the first two weeks that Ella was home she would not play at all. Meaning that I couldn’t do anything without her – I could barely cook dinner! They played for over half an hour before we wrapped it up for them to eat lunch. I was also encouraged because Frankie is responding to Ella now, which she loves! She helped him wash his little hands and he is letting her. Not being snarky with her at all for which I am very grateful.Thank you God for such a good start!
The two ate their peanut and butter sandwiches and fruit together, then off to the bathroom to, um, take care of business before their naps. I got a little plastic potty for Frankie last week since I knew that hauling his 30 lb body on and off the toilet would kill my back in no time. I was hoping that he wouldn’t actually poop in it, but would save that for the big toilet but that didn’t really pan out. I was just glad that it wasn’t in his diapers! Ella LOVES the fact that she has company now when she’s in the bathroom taking care of business! A real “first” – pooping together ;)
After that it was into their beds. Ella’s on the top bunk (which she loves!) and little Frankster in the bottom, both under homemade quilts made by extended family. True to a babies home up bringing, little Frankie plopped his noggin down on that pillow (that his Granny embroidered the pillowcase for) and didn’t move. All you could see for a while when I kept checking him was his little eyes peaking over the blanket :). It didn’t take too long before they closed and he slept an hour and a half. Hopefully this keeps up. Ella screamed bloody murder at nap times for the first two weeks she was home.
After his nap he mainly snuggled on my lap while we sat outside on the porch watching Ella play. He’s still nervous of the dogs but doesn’t scream or cry anymore. He played on and off throughout the rest of the afternoon and after a bath (we washed his hair so he was smelling really nice!) he fell asleep on my lap while I was reading him and Ella some books. He was pretty whipped.
October 23rd Ella and I brought home a bouncing, 30 lb, baby boy to join our family! Franklin Francis is around 24 months old and a healthy, chunky little guy. Kinda cute too ;).
We adopted him from Nsambya Babies Home, where he’d lived for the last nine months. He seems to be settling in quite well despite all our crazy dogs. They (with the exception of Bridger) were tied up for the whole of ONE AND A HALF DAYS which thoroughly traumatized and almost killed them,so now they are all loose and little Frankie is being forced to cope. I even got chastised by a neighbor for tying his precious Kayo up!
Not a bad lookin’ couple of kids, if I say so myself ;) It’s all in the bloodlines I tell yah!
All in all, we are very happy to have little Frankie home. The process went smoothly and I will be blogging later about my great experience with Nsambya Babies Home. I brought him home exactly 53 days after we returned from the States – we’ve been busy!! I’m really glad that our days of driving to Kampala several times a week after work and on Saturdays to visit Frankie are over! And so is Ella.
We’ve been talking about adopting again for the last eight months, trying to get Ella prepared and pumped to share the spotlight. She kept repeating over and over on our furlough that she was going to get a little brother or sister and, “Help him wash his little hands, give him a bath, brush his teeth and put his Skin Dr Jelly on him!” It was to our great delight that she got to do all these things Friday night :)
This is the way we wash our little brothers hands,
give him a bath,
and play with him!
Like his sister, he is already a fan of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches too! I think the little guys gonna be an easy keeper :).
The following picture depicts how our life has been since getting home six weeks ago - on the go!
With the annual translation planning meetings the end of September and preparations for bringing a new family member home soon, we've really been on the run! The planning meetings went well and we're off to a good start for the year. Great headway is being made in bringing another little kiddo home, which requires many trips to and from Kampala.
Ella playing with our neighbor baby, James
The following pictures are of our neighbor,James, and his birthday party several weeks ago. He sort of got mobbed by all his little neighbor girls and he hardly even got to play with his new toys! The girls (especially mine!) just love a party!! Little Hannah is just too cute. She is fourteen months - only two months older than James.
