A year ago today…

Was Embassy Day!!

After a full night’s sleep, Benjamin woke up happy. He gave us smiles and hugs and jumped right back into coloring (after checking that all of his treasures were still in his back pack).

I had him choose some clothes to wear (and had to remove some choices after realizing he was MUCH smaller than a lot of the stuff I had brought), and I decided we would try a bath. I didn’t know if he was used to taking a bath, or how bashful he would be, but I figured I would wing it.

While he colored and played I got everything ready and filled the tub with warm water. I called him in and he came in smiling, and it quickly became apparent to me that he had never taken a bath this way before. At first he rolled up his sleeves, kneeled down next to the tub and started to splash water on himself (and everything else). Then I told him/motioned for him to take his shirt off. He smiled and took of his shirt and then kneeled back down and went to wash the same way.

Then I told him/motioned for him to take everything off and motioned for him to get IN the tub, and his eyes got huge. We went through it again, and smiling and laughing he took off his clothes and started at that big old tub. He must have decided to trust me, because he slowly got in, grinning all the time.

He was very careful and at first he just squatted and didn't really want to sit, but eventually his poor little knees got tired and he sat down. He realized it was a lot of fun, and by the end he was a little fish and didn't want to come out.

When he did come out he let me rub him down with lotion and help him get dressed. He played with Josh while I got ready and we met Dan for breakfast. It was really cool to be at breakfast with OUR child this time. Ben wasn’t as impressed with the breakfast choices as he had been with the dinner choices, but found a few things he liked and ate with awfully good manners for a little boy. As soon as he finished he whipped out his back pack and went back to coloring while we finished eating. Dan was super impressed with Ben and couldn’t believe how happy and funny he was.

Continued...