August Numbers

#49 girls (last month 53) 
#36 boys (last month 39) 
#15 sibs (last month 15)

Another waiting story for this month. 

Every night at bedtime after we read books, Bear gets all snuggly and asks for one final story. "Tell me bout Baby Bereket mama." His eyes just glow as he asks. Then I tell him all about mama and dada's long search for Baby Bereket. I try to add new details as he is able to comprehend them. He likes that his story is evolving over time. The basic story involves mama and dada talking to God, all the places we looked for Baby Bereket (which usually involves various locations in the house and yard), the people who helped us, finding day (referral day), Ethiopia, and the day God's promise came true (gotcha day). I usually leave a few seconds of silence between each of those chapters. This drives him crazy with anticipation. Then I ask him why it's so quiet. He knows the answer. "Bee-cause you wait!"

Just this weekend I realized that hearing his story is helping Bear understand what is going on now as we wait for baby brother or sister. He was 18 months when we started the adoption process again and it was hard to tell what he understood and what he didn't. Now at three, he is starting to tune in. Yesterday he decided he wanted to wear pull-ups again. I told him I put them away because we are saving them for baby brother or sister. We talk about baby brother and sister but the conversation doesn't go any further than mentioning their name. It surprised me when he asked more.

"Ohhhh, they in E-tee-O-pia mom?" Without thinking about it I said yes they were. I was just relieved he wasn't going to throw a toddler fit about the pull-up. But he got super excited. 

"We go there NOW mama? Bring them home?" Shoot. I didn't realize he would take my answer literally. He thought I was saying we got the call.

"I go with WITH you mama? I get my backpack!" Shoot, shoot, shoot. How do I explain? 

I said I wished we could go to Ethiopia right now, but we haven't found them yet. This clicked in his brain. He loves the looking and finding part of his own story. 

"You are looking and looking!" Yes bub, we are looking really hard. And you know what we have to do right now?

"Wait!" You got it kiddo.