The fire is here

I'll have to let Mark pick up where he left off with yesterday's cliffhanger another time, as tonight he needs to get some other work done.

First, the biggest news – we just found out that the judge granted us legal guardianship today! (We did not have to go to court for the ruling, so we just got an email from our adoption agency tonight.)  We still need to have the written ruling in hand and then I think we'll feel free to post some more info and a picture or two.  Next up, getting a birth certificate, passport and visa to be able to come home.

The little man was definitely off his game for most of the afternoon, not eating lunch or snacks and crying a lot, which while not fun for us, definitely does not go over well with our African hosts here at the guesthouse. Some other time I think I'll write a post about the culture clash we have brewing about expectations for children's behavior and the ways to deal with non-compliance. We've got many cooks in the kitchen speaking into our day-to-day life with the little guy and it can be quite confusing.

We've been breaking out a new toy or activity every few days, so as not to overwhelm the little guy all at once and also to stretch out our supply and keep things interesting in case we're here for a long time. Balls and bubbles and toy "motocars" are almost always a hit, but today I broke out some clay (more like playdough) and it kept us occupied and having fun for quite a while. He formed snakes and balls and chapati, which is kind of like a thick, chewy tortilla that they eat a lot of here.

We forgot to mention a couple of things about yesterday's outing at the mall. One is that the little guy had what was probably his first trip up an escalator. He didn't know what to make of it at first, but then he became very intrigued. After he successfully made it to the top, he stood and watched the moving steps for about 5 minutes, occasionally touching the rubber railing as it rolled.

One of our reasons for going to the mall was to get some new shoes for the little guy. He picked out two pairs – some sandals and tennis shoes. He is getting to be quite opinionated about what he wears now and will vehemently object to an offer of clothes that he does not want. He's very proud and excited about the shoes he got and has been wearing the sandals most of the day. Late this afternoon, right around the time that the tutor, Joshua, arrived, he put on the tennis shoes and noticed that they are the kind that light up on the soles when he walks. The little guy was looking at his shoes, stomping his feet to make them light up and saying something to Joshua about them in Luganda. Joshua laughed and told us, in his thick Ugandan accent, "Okay, he is saying that 'the fire is here.'"

What an adventure we're all on!

This evening our friends, Ernest and Claire, who are from Rwanda but are currently living in southern Uganda, were coming to Kampala, so they paid us a visit and joined us for dinner. It was good to see more familiar faces and to hear their kind and gentle voices. 

As always, we'll try to keep you posted as best we can in the days ahead.