The Dunk Hunter and the Entertainer

It has been awhile since my last post. Mostly due to the settling in our routine so things have been running quite smoothly around here. We shall see how things this week go because as of tomorrow I am back to working full time. To be honest, I am excited to get back to work, also a little nervous. I also know that tomorrow around 2:30 I will be missing my little Ahmi climbing down the stairs after his nap wanting to cuddle with his mommy. I will also be missing picking Ajura up from school, which is my favorite part of the day. I love listening to Ajura catch Ahmi up with what he did in school and the interaction Ajura has with me at this time of day. I will be very strange waking up and not even seeing them until I get home in the afternoon. I need to leave for work at 6 in the morning and Karl needs to be at work at 8 so Anne is picking the kids up and helping Karl get them ready for their day. Anne will then drop Ajura off at school and Ahmi off at my friend Danielle's. After school, depending on if I am still working, Autumn will pick Ahmi up from Danielle's and then get Ajura from school. We are so thankful for this help that I could almost cry. Trying to get all that arranged was a huge headache and it is amazing what people will do for you when you need it the most.

School is still going very well for Ajura. He is learning so rapidly and I am proud of him. He was tested to see if he needed ELL services (ummm, DUH!) and shockingly he needs them. The funny or maybe not so funny (I think my sense of humor is slightly warped) is that just prior to taking the test he had a little scuffle with his teacher and refused to participate in taking the test so the whole test just says "no response" on it. I think it is funny because we adoptive parents deal with this everyday. I just think that it is interesting that he gets that score although he refused to participate. We already knew he need ELL services so who really cares I guess. He is finally participating in PE. His ELL teacher told me, "Ajura was the last to start running, but the first to finish." "All the other kids yell, Go Ajura!" Perhaps we have a runner on our hands. He is now finally showing interest in soccer and basketball again. We got home from school one day and he said, "Mommy, basketball, soccer?" I said sure thing buddy! He will start both in November so that should put a wrench in all our scheduling but I am so excited to see him participate and learn to be part of a a team. Another funny Ajura experience is the loss of his first tooth here in America. He had a very loose bottom tooth that his teacher was encouraging him to get rid of. So one day at school he simple pulled it out, showed her, and then opened the classroom door and threw it into the gravel saying simply, "Garbage." Well there goes that. We attempted to explain the tooth fairy to him and he is looking at us like, you crazy white people what are you trying to trick me with now. He wasn't convinced in the least and since we had no tooth for showing him we just simply skipped the tooth fairy. Yes, I know, you are all appalled. Don't worry, the tooth fairy is still open for negotiation. 

Here in North Dakota the season is not fall it is hunting. Or as Ahmi explains it is "dunk" (the first hunting Karl did was duck hunting so all hunting is now just dunk). Ajura has been able to go hunting with Karl and is a good little participant.  He loves it so much! Yesterday he dunked all day and then jumped on the trampoline at my parents' for at least an hour so when he fell asleep on the ride home last night we weren't surprised. What we were surprised about was how hard he sleeps. We got him out of the car, up the stairs, through a bath, and hoisted onto his top bunk without him waking up! We could even stand him up as long as we held on to him and he was still asleep. When asked this morning, he states he, "sleep in Makina."

Ajura eats everything! Except apple pie, which we tried to explain that I may have to send back his certificate of citizenship (which we received this week, yeah!) for this act. 

Now to little Ahmi. Finally when he says his 20 minute questioning in the morning on where everyone he possibly knows is (Daddy work?, Grandma work? Pops work? Ajura school? etc...) Karl will be able to say, yes mommy is at work. Otherwise he would get to me and look at me funny like I have no idea where to put you in this line up. He went for a 3 mile walk with me yesterday while Daddy and Ajura were dunking. I was pretty proud of the little trooper. He is also starting to help around the house. He clears the table after we eat and he kennels up our dog Kinde. This was slightly problematic when he kenneled Kinde up with his train, lincoln log set, and a drum which left no room for poor Kinde to lay down. He simply said, "Mommy, Kinde play." Good intentions. 

Our most hilarious Ahmi moment this week was a dinner the other night in which we were eating chili. The boys wanted to know if we were eating chicken or cow and Karl explain we were eating cow and if you know Karl this next part won't surprise you at all. Karl then decides to explain that I hunt cows. Ahmi, taking after his dad, then decides that I hunt cows by running them over with my makina (car). He said this through interpretive dance so it was quite a show. Ahmi is definitely the entertainer of this bunch. Our advice is usually just sit back, relax and enjoy the show. 

This week may be rough with us all transitioning into new roles and letting others pick up for the duties Karl and I have been doing independently but I am hopeful and know that we will get through this just like we got through other MAJOR transitions. To my co-workers, I may be a little rusty tomorrow so as Ahmi would say, Be Nice (sounding more like 'penis').