First Christmas

Everyone wants to know how Fort is doing with his first holiday in America. Most of it is surprisingly normal!  He learned about most of the customs in the manner that older siblings would teach a two or three year old. It is always amusing to recount stories to him to explain traditions we believe in. Yes, a big hairy man comes down our chimney in the middle of the night. Nope, we are not scared of him- we love him!  Yes, that's a real tree!  In our HOUSE!  These gingerbread houses are not for eating, just to look pretty. Yes, Santa puts treats in those big socks by the fireplace. No, Santa is not a dog. (Where did that one come from?).

He feeds off the emotions and excitement of the other 3 kids - running around in the cold snowy night to put "reindeer food" (glitter and oats) in our darkened yard. Waking up on Christmas morning, he was jumping around shouting "Yay! Yay! Christmas!" as if he had been doing it for years. Later in the afternoon, he kept asking " Where is Christmas?"  And we would say - this is it! This is Christmas!- until we figured out he thought Christmas was a person, and had to explain Christmas is a day like Halloween.

Whatever I worry about is rarely an issue - I thought at Halloween maybe he would be scared or freaked out by some of the scary costumes, or even just the sight of costumed children ringing our bell all night. But no- none of that phased him at all- he ran ahead of us...just as if to say " what a great idea!!  Ring the bells and get candy!!"  But he could not get over the pumpkins on the doorsteps. "Pumpkins!" he said the first time he saw one. "Yes", I said. "For eating!" Fort shouted. No, I had to explain. We scoop out those pumpkins and instead of eating them we put them outside for decorations til they rot. Yes, seeing food as decorations is weird to him.

And now there is snow. I was worried about how this little guy who lived on the equator and put on sweaters when it got below 70 degrees would react to winter here. Thankfully he came to the US in September, and it was still quite warm, so he was able to gradually go through fall and winter. And he does amazing in the cold!  He has more tolerance than some of my other kids!  He is so unaccustomed to being inside all day that I think he just loves his little windows of outside time, even if that means in snow pants, boots and gloves.

He is a LOUD kid, a boisterous kid, a hilarious kid. He loves to tease and tickle and snuggle. He loves chasing and wrestling and my iPad. He loves our house, our cars, his bed. He loves 'pezza', orange juice and BACON. He does not want to go back to his orphanage, but likes talking about it and his friends there and remembering when we were there. He wants to be a pilot- so he can fly Madeleine there and show it to her. He is a dark kid, an African kid, an almost-American kid, an almost-our kid.