Aug 18

8/18/13

We wonder how God could make such a perfect little creature as Saryn.  She reminds us of a little lap dog- she loves to just sit in our laps or be held, for hours at a time.  It is so precious!  And her little face is so innocent and sweet and… perfect. 

She doesn’t even crawl yet, at 11 months!  I think she’s been so coddled by all the caretakers and kids at the foster care center that she hasn’t had any need to crawl to get anything.  So Reece is giving her crawling lessons J sooo cute. She tries to get in position for crawling, then will move her hand forward for one “step”, then give up. She can’t figure out why her legs are tied up under her!  So Christian says we are putting her in Baby Boot Camp.  I have mixed feelings about it, because she’s pretty easy to take care of, being basically immobile- we don’t have to worry about her getting into things she shouldn’t- but we know she needs to learn to crawl for her body and brain development. But for now, we are enjoying having a baby who seems younger than she really is.

I had put her down for a nap, and fell asleep with her up in our room at the guest house.  Reece and Christian were downstairs, giving us some quiet time.  After I fell asleep, Reece came in and said “This is for you” and handed me three pieces of popcorn from his fist, then left. He is such a little angel. 

Today we visited Entoto mountain and enjoyed the view. Reece chased a goat, we toured the Ethiopian Orthodox church museum, and other buildings in the cloister.  At the end of the day, we all got to share our favorite thing of the day.

Ally: The little path that led to the monks’ quarters, with its fence made of sticks and living trees; it reminded me of The Secret Garden!

Christian: The view of the city on top of the mountain

Reece: the popcorn

Reece is sooooo sweet with Saryn. He will often anticipate her needs and say things like “shouldn’t we change her diaper?” He calls her “baby saster”, the same thing he’s been calling her since she was just an idea, back when he was 3 years old. He used to complain, “It’s taking for too long to get my baby saster!!!”  Now he keeps loving on her, and helping her sit up, and asking her what’s wrong each time she whimpers. He says his favorite thing about her is when she wakes up in the morning and tries to stand up in her crib, holding onto the bars.

Napping here is glorious.  It will often rain in the afternoon, and with the window open to our room we get a nice cool breeze. With baby girl angelically asleep by my side, it’s just so easy to sleep.

Christian’s favorite thing about Saryn is her “dive-bombing”. She will be sitting on your lap and then just suddenly collapse onto his chest. A few seconds later, she will gather her wits and sit back up, and take in more of the world. When that gets overwhelming (after about 10 seconds) she might dive bomb again. 

She is making little sounds including “mama” J but she doesn’t know that’s me yet.  It’s so cute when she cries, because she will say things like “yeah yeah yeah” between her little cries.