Recent events

Solomon turned two! He requested "ice cream truck" for his party. We settled on making him an ice cream cake.

School started and Tihun joined in on the fun. She is in kindergarten and is doing great. She can't wait to start each day and has been described by her teachers as the role model for the class. The twins are in second grade. They have had a little bit of a rocky start (absent teacher, substitutes, misbehaving...), but seem to be doing better. Adaline has declared herself the best math student in the class and Arthur, the best reader. Those two have never struggled with a lack of self-confidence!

Daddy walks them to school most mornings...

While Solomon and I stay home and have treats.

This is my first experience with one kid at home, and I must say it is wonderful. I feel like a new mom walking around with my little stroller and my little one kid. I am so much more laid-back and spontaneous. And Solomon seems to be enjoying it too. I wondered if he'd be sad being home alone, but he likes the extra attention from me. He is growing up so fast---riding a scooter, hitting a baseball, begging to potty...and he never stops talking. But I thankfully get a little peace and quiet during nap time. It is nice to get a little calm from the storm that was/is 0 to 2 to 4 kids.
And finally, Tihun pulled out her own tooth! It has been loose for a while. It was bothering her, so she just yanked it out. After hearing the pop of the tooth, she calmly replied, "I got it." Adaline immediately rushed it down to put under Tihun's pillow and then started sobbing. Adaline hasn't lost any teeth yet and she was devastated that her little sister lost one before her. I think this is only the beginning of little sister passing her older siblings. You should have seen her on a skateboard the other day. She's a natural at all things physical (and so is Solomon). Something that I can not say about the older two :) Lots of fun!

Oh, and I suppose I should mention that I followed in Adaline's footsteps and cut my hair to donate to Locks of Love (the longest layer was 16 inches!). She sort of regretted cutting her hair after the fact. She would cry on the couch saying, "I miss my hair." When I told her that I might donate mine too she replied, "Serves you right for making me cut mine!" Ouch. She came with me and enjoyed watching the shearing (and really enjoyed her first salon experience). It feels great!

7 years old!

There was much celebration for Adaline and Arthur's birthday last week. We had a family party on the night of their birthday, Uncle Marshall took them on a breakfast date, and we invited friends over for a birthday party in the back yard on Saturday. I am posting tons of pictures...I guess I'm missing family and friends and wanting them to connect to the big events in our lives. So here goes!

Each child got their own mini-cake.

I love this series of Arthur. Shocked by his cake--7 candles really are bright.

Contemplating the wish.

Satisfaction.

Sweet kids! Arthur thanking his sister for her homemade card.

The party. Several friends from school and neighborhood.

Cupcakes this time.

We always sing separately to them in case you haven't noticed :)

Lots of relay games in the back yard (this is egg and spoon).

Dress-up relay was the finale. Very cute!

And of course, presents! All of the kids had a great time. Happy 7th to Adaline and Arthur!

Another milestone in the family: first stitches. It comes as no surprise that Solomon was the first to send us to the ER for stitches. He jumped off the couch and hit the coffee table with his mouth. His teeth (front and back) went through his lip, basically removing the entire bottom of his lip. The plastic surgeon did 20-25 stitches to put it all back together. They were both inside the mouth and under the lip. It was very gross, but Solomon was so brave. He giggled through a large portion of the procedure and made jokes with the doctor the whole time. He also tried to re-enact the fall so that the doctors could get a clear picture of what happened (because I didn't see it and they were asking me lots of questions). They had to tell him over and over not to jump off of the hospital bed. Hilarious!

This sort of shows the stitches underneath his lip. He is completely back to normal now. You hardly notice the scar because it is just under his lip line. But our coffee table still bears the marks of the incident. Three teeth marks are imprinted on it where he fell! It's a miracle that his teeth are still in his mouth! Oh, Solomon. I'm afraid this is only the beginning of your life in the ER. I told the plastic surgeon that we will probably see him again soon!

Class Mascots

Tihun and Solomon are like little rock stars when they show up at Adaline and Arthur's school. All of the kids in their class rush to greet them with hugs and kisses. The kids carry them around like little baby dolls and tend to their every need. Adaline used to get a little possessive when this happened-- "She is my sister, and I need time with her"-- but she is fine with it now. Solomon loves big kids and Tihun loves attention, so they are both happy with the situation.

Tomorrow is the last day of school, so all of this attention will come to an end. But I have no doubt that we will run into a lot of their friends all summer as we go sprinkler, pool and playground hopping. Next year Tihun will enter Kindergarten so Solomon will have to be the mascot for two classes. Should be fun!

Homecoming Anniversary

 It's been one year since Tihun and Solomon joined our family. How blessed and joyful our family is with these two little people in it. We are so thankful!

Amusement

Our family recently went to Knoebel's Amusement Park in the middle of nowhere Pennsylvania. Jamison's dad and stepmom took us two times, and it was quite a treat! There was probably more laughter and fun than I can remember having with our kids. It was also interesting to see how seeing them in a new environment highlighted a part of each of their personalities that we had never seen before. Adaline was fearless, which was a huge surprise. Nothing ever scared her and she rode everything that her height allowed (including 2 large wooden roller coasters). She giggled and raised her arms throughout every ride and found solidarity with her fearless dad. Arthur was as excitable as I have ever seen him. Even at home he is still studying the map and talking about all of the rides. Today he designed and drew "Knoebel's 2" with 10 new rides. He was extremely trepidatious, but fought through the fear and rode every ride that Adaline did (and forced his terrified mom to ride every ride with him). Tihun was content to pass on the scary rides--a first for her because she usually keeps up with the big kids on everything. She enjoyed riding the kiddie rides with Solomon. Solomon had an enormous smile on his face no matter which ride he was on. The higher and faster, the better for him. This actually comes as no surprise, and is consistent with his character so far. All of the family had an amazing time!

Enjoying Spring

Spring cleaning! Time to dust the cobwebs off this blog again. Before I took these recent pictures, the last photos on our camera were of the snow in February. It's been that sort of season--huddled up inside, trying to survive without a thought of capturing memories. It was a long winter. But now we are out and feeling good! The daffodils and tulips are saying hello, the ramps are making their highly anticipated appearance. The cool spring air is so energizing. The big kids are on spring break from school, so we have had extra time this week to enjoy the outdoors.

This trip to Coney Island was so refreshing for us all. It felt great to just let the kids run around without so many boundaries and restrictions. And I love how these pictures highlight their interactions with each other. This is pretty typical of them--Arthur and Tihun have a special bond and Adaline has a unique patience with Solomon. It is fun to watch them pair off in different ways.

I'm not sure what else to say to catch up on the past five months. Tihun turned 4 years old, Arthur lost his first tooth (and swallowed the second), Adaline donated 10 inches of her hair to Locks of Love, and Solomon says a new word almost daily. Solomon demolished his crib (while in it) and has to have a crib tent (a.k.a. cage) to contain his adventurous naughty self. Adaline and Arthur are obsessively reading the Boxcar Children series and are devouring books every night (largely due to an extremely early bedtime for their age). Tihun is now fluent in English and has also picked up every other American child-like behavior (tantrums, whining, rolling eyes...) Lots of fun in the Galt household. There is never a dull moment!

Oh, and last weekend the 3 big kids were in their first wedding. Arthur and friend blew Ethiopian horns to announce the bride's arrival. The girls slowly "decorated" the path for the bride and dumped out the pail of flowers at the end of the aisle. Super cute!

Our African Princess

Our little Tihun just had her second visit to the hospital. This time for just an outpatient procedure (colonoscopy), but the hospital nonetheless. This 3 year old has been through a lot of medical ordeals since arriving in the U.S., none of which she would have endured in Ethiopia. On one hand, this is a blessing. Coming to the States has possibly saved her life because she wouldn't have had access to such great medical care in Ethiopia. So we are thankful. But it is also overwhelming to watch your little girl be poked and prodded on such a regular basis. We are sad for her.

Another convoluted situation is her response to all of this invasive care. She has no fear. The first time she was immunized, she calmly handed her arm to the nurses and blankly watched as they repeatedly pricked her. She endured multiple (seemingly painful) attempts at drawing her blood without a flinch. Meanwhile, Solomon needed a whole team of medical professionals to hold him down. The doctor was worried about me when he freaked out so bad on his first visit, but I was fine. That is the normal response of a child being held down and hurt. But when Tihun complied without any acknowledgment of the pain, I starting weeping. That is not normal--it should upset her at least a little.

There are also positives to this, of course. We are constantly in awe of how strong this child is. I never get any resistance to the things we have to do for her health...nebulizer treatments, stool samples, ANOTHER trip to a doctor... She had to fast for her colonoscopy and drink a LOT of laxative in a short period of time. No complaints. No whining at the incessant bowel movements. Can anyone name a 3 year old that would respond in a like manner?? Unbelievable. To top it off, when it came time for the enema (I know, too much information), she listened to the explanation of what was about to happen and immediately complied. And what followed was one of my favorite moments with Tihun (seriously, after an enema?)! We laughed. We giggled and laughed so hard that we were crying--all while she was sitting on the toilet losing every bit of substance in her body. But we laughed.

Sorry for the graphic image, but I can't help sharing how amazing this little human being is. And this description of her medical self is true of her personality in general. She takes everything in stride. Nothing phases this girl. She has been exposed to innumerable new things, and she experiences them as though she has seen them before. She is so confident and eager. I have to be honest that when I pictured adopting a 3 year old, I imagined one response: panic. We have a child who was removed from everything she knows (except her younger brother, which is a significant continuity), and plopped into a new family and environment and culture. Surely this child is going to panic, and panic often! But, no. Tihun has shocked us with her laid-back, confident, trusting personality. Who is this little person? I think I will spend my whole life trying to answer that question.

Watching Tihun navigate through all of these issues makes us reflective about her past. What has this little girl been through? What kind of pain has she endured? How much love and joy must she have experienced to possess such confidence now? She had over 3 years of life that we know nothing about. It is mind-boggling to not know every detail about your child's life.

Yet again, the other side of the coin--we are thankful for her life before we knew her. It shaped her into an amazing child. It formed beautiful qualities in her that we would have never been able to create. God has shaped and is shaping Tihun into an inspiring person, and we will never foolishly take credit for that. We will just give thanks.


* In the event that you think our Tihun is perfect, let me reassure that she is not. (She threw a tantrum just after I wrote this post.) I am just highlighting some wonderful things about her and choosing to leave out some of the not-so-wonderful ones. :)

Halloween

I'm not sure if anyone even reads this blog anymore...after a 2 month plus hiatus. This blog is so stagnant that there are these random spam businesses leaving creepy comments on old posts. Yuk. (Let me know if you know how to get rid of these bugs.) It's not that we aren't doing fun things worth writing--we are--it's just that I can't bring myself to look at the computer at the end of a tiring day. I'm happy to report that we are surviving with 4 kids and even enjoying a "normal" sort of family life much quicker than I had imagined. I think we look and act like a family that has been together for a long time--not just 4 short months. Yet I am most certainly off-duty by bedtime and in great need of relaxation. And, sorry folks, blogging is not on my list of relaxing things to do. :) Maybe I should just cave and join Facebook. It would probably fit with my schedule a little better... So, once again, I'm not going to attempt to play catch-up from the last couple months. I'll just try to get back on board with the latest events...
Halloween is fun in our neighborhood. People really get into it. There was even a vampire opera on a stage in the middle of the street--they lost their teeth from eating too much candy :) I love the day-of, but never seem to get around to the costume-planning frenzy. We just lay out all of the dress-up clothes we have before each event and try to be creative. We did our cutesy costumes on Saturday (pictured above) for the festival in our park. My personal favorite is Adaline's flower--completely made up and pieced together. Dad said she looked more like Lady Gaga.
We decided to go with scary costumes for the main event. It all started with Adaline wanting to be a princess vampire. She looked really nasty, I must say. (I should add a close-up of her.) Tihun wanted to be a flower girl, but I convinced her to be a flower girl-turned-witch by slipping some black on top of her frilly dress. Solomon had to ride on Dad, and we used lollipops to keep him happy. He had several before the night was over. Our friend Ben carried Solomon later and used him to get more candy. One of the benefits of having 4 kids--4 times the candy!
Speaking of candy, we have trained our kids for years to always pick chocolate when given a choice. Before we leave, we drill them. "Laffy Taffy vs. Mr. Goodbar, which do you choose? Quick!" It was easier this year because the older kids can read. So we told them our personal favorites to look out for--mine: Snickers, Jamison: Reese's. And our training worked! They were happy to report when they found the last Reese's in the big bowl of Jaw Breakers and Jolly Ranchers. Arthur actually told one woman "no, thank you, I would prefer not to have Laffy Taffy..." and she gave him something else (ouch! maybe we took it a little too far?)

The only problem with this plan is that the kids didn't realize that WE were going to eat all of that sought-after chocolate. Arthur tried to find a Reese's THE NEXT DAY and couldn't find one because Jamison had eaten all of them (and I ate all of the other good stuff). He was so upset that he went to all of that trouble to get yummy candy and his parents ate everything but the gross stuff that we drilled them to leave behind. Oops. That's the problem with them getting older and smarter. We can't fool them like we used to. So now I've promised Arthur that I will buy him a Reese's because he's never tasted one and he'd like to know what the fuss is all about. Doesn't that defeat the purpose of going trick-or-treating? Now I have to buy my own candy because I am such a selfish sugar-craving mom? Oh well...I do receive some payback for my wrongdoing. Every evening (including this one) I feel lousy because I've overdosed on sugar and high fructose corn syrup. My kids are limited to one candy per day, but their mother has a different system for consuming the loot. Eat until sick.

And while we're on the topic of sicknesses...the most difficult part of having 4 kids so far has been the vast number of illnesses. At any given time, there is at least one child with a fever or a cough or vomiting or wheezing (Tihun and Solomon have pretty severe asthma). It's hard to take care of one sick child when you have 3 healthy ones bouncing off the walls. I feel like a nurse--giving nebulizer treatments to 2 kids, staying 48 hours in the hospital with Tihun...and a sanitation employee--cleaning up diarrhea, vomit, accidents...it almost feels weird when they are all healthy, but it never lasts for more than a day or two. But I am thankful that the worst of this transition is just a physical one. I can imagine much more difficult problems with going from 2 to 4. We are alive and well...but coming off of a sugar high at the moment :)

The Farm and Woodstock

We recently took a day trip to Stone Barns Farm in NY an hour outside of the city. Friends of ours are cooks there, so we were able to get an insider tour while the place was closed on Monday. It was a lovely day seeing the animal and vegetable/fruit farm. Then our friends prepared us an amazing lunch and we ate on the terrace of the fancy restaurant (that was closed). The view was spectacular. (Pictured are the kids' letter t-shirts made by my friend. You can't see them all, but each shirt starts with the first letter of the name of the kid wearing it. In case we get confused. They are super cute walking around in matching outfits!)

All of the kids loved the tomato house. They all ate dozens of tomatoes off the vine. Yummy!

Tihun worked really hard to catch a chicken. I finally grabbed one so that they could pet it. She was so upset when we left the chicken coops. We finally figured out that she thought we were catching it to cook and eat it. Oops. Communication breakdown.

The Berkshire pigs were enormous and stinky. The restaurant slaughters and eats 3 pigs/week.

Again, we are so thankful for friends! Some friends of ours have a house in Woodstock, NY, and they let us stay there for 3 nights this week. It was rainy and chilly, but still great to get out of the city for a longer amount of time. Lots of mud playing!

We ate outside when we could--even when it drizzled on us. The place was so beautiful!