More stories for the addicts

We have a few fun things to tell you about. These involve the orphanage and the ladies who work there. For the most part, everyone is very nice to us and they all obviously love Ethan (but they call him Maxim). There are a few exceptions though. Unfortunately, we have been reprimanded on several occasions. First, they thought we were tracking in mud from outside and making their floors dirty. So, now we take our slippers with us and change as soon as we arrive. By the way, we don't have any mud on our shoes and never have. But, if this is what they want, then we will comply. Another time we were told not to break their plants. Because we are so destructive of course. The story behind this little episode is that a ball rolled behind one of the potted plants in the play room and Ethan went to get it. I followed him and moved one branch of the plant so it wouldn't scratch him in the face. So, now we stay far away from the plants.

When we arrive to spend time with Ethan, they 'dress him up' for us. Hey is wearing a hat, a sweatshirt, tights under his pants, and a long sleeved undershirt. Needless to say, he's probably hot as soon as we get started. Well, yesterday, they asked us if we could keep him from running so much because when we bring him back they can 'wring the sweat out of his clothes'. How can you keep a 2 year old from running and playing? We have been sneaking his hat and sweatshirt off during our visits and then putting them back on him before we take him back down to his room. This has seemed to help somewhat.

Ethan has a little friend who is being adopted by another American couple. His name is Arthur (Ar-tour), his new name will be Nathan. We've had the boys playing together several times, but each time, things get louder and we always seem to get into some kind of trouble when we're all together. Today, the noise confirmed for Joe that one child is plenty for us right now! Ha ha

Ethan is quite the actor. He puts on a nice show of pouting and crying when we leave him now. This usually lasts until we shut the door, and he can't see us anymore, then he's fine. He also has this little attitude when we are playing with him in one of the big play rooms at the orphanage. When someone walks through the room and says hello to him, he frowns and sticks out his bottom lip while tilting his head to the side. Then as soon as the intruder is gone, he is fine again. We have discovered that his favorite thing to say is 'ni nada' which means don't do that. He tells us that all the time, even when he's playing. Most of the time, he says it just to see what kind of reaction he can get from us.

Oh, something nice happened yesterday. The orphanage gave us pictures of Ethan! They had their photographer there at some point and took pictures. So, we have a whole sheet of pictures for his passport (and extras to keep). Plus, they gave us two 5x7 photos of him that are absolutely adorable! We put them up in our room at the apartment and look at them all the time! They have asked that we give them a family photo of the three of us before we leave. We will take care of that next week.

Yesterday, when our afternoon visit was over, we were packing up all of our toys and started walking down the hall. Joe usually walks with Ethan and holds his hand while I follow behind with all of our belongings. Well, yesterday, we were about half way down the hall when Ethan stopped, turned around, and motioned that he wanted me to carry him. That was so nice! So, I handed Joe our stuff and happily carried Ethan downstairs.

Well, that's all for now. Hope that took care of the fix you all needed!

Love you all, more soon!