Today the boys had their first taste of preschool. We visited their classroom early this morning, and the boys were drawn like semi-conductor magnets to the train-track table covered with, of course, MAKINAS. There are more toys in the ECP (Early Childhood Program) room than these guys have ever seen in their lives, but they only had eyes for the cars, trucks and trains. They good-naturedly endured introductions to the teachers and other kids, but did not let their eyes leave all those sets of wheels. All seemed to be fine, as they were very cooperative about putting back all the makinas before we left and saying goodbye to Daddy as he left to try and work (ha!). We came home, spoke on the phone for the first time to our friend Tomas from the orphanage, and had a pleasant bath time with the rubber duckies.

And then.

Amare whacked Zenebe on the head in the tub. Amare was thus banished from the bathroom. So the crying began, and endured the rest of the morning. Okay, there was a fifteen minute break in there when Zenebe's enthusiasm for our home-made, raspberry-scented play-dough won Amare over and he smooshed away at his big red blob. Until Zenebe's blob looked somehow better/bigger/blobbier and the whimpering resumed. Nothing like two hours of sobbing to make you want to (A) throw every adoption parenting book you've ever read out the window, (B) throw yourself out the window, or (C) throw the sobber out the window.

Fortunately, we all made it through the morning and Dave came home just in time for lunch and then "naptime." Emily made a quick escape to the grocery store once the boys were in bed, only for Dave to experience the first episode of Naptime Mania. Our theory is that with all this extra protein and vitamins in their diet, these boys just don't need to sleep as much, right? It has nothing to do with them trying to figure out what they can/cannot get away with. Or with being completely overwhelmed by change and new stuff. Yeah. Right.

By evening, Dave and Emily were at a complete loss as to what to do with these two emotionally fragile bundles of energy. Emily suggested some music, so Dave pulled up the Hokey Pokey on iTunes and we dragged the kids into the living room for some forced Family Dancing. Also known as the Dave & Emily song-and-dance routine: we hokey-pokeyed around the living room desperately trying to look like we are having the best time EVER while the boys just stared at the computer screen. Sorry to all our readers that we were too busy putting our right hands in and shaking them all about to take a photo of that scene! Eventually, Dave managed to skip forward to the recordings of Amharic children's songs lent to us by the lovely nannies at the orphanage. Pretty soon we were ALL jumping around like maniacs and laughing hysterically at mommy and daddy dancing like white people and trying to sing in Amharic. As a result, neither Dave or Emily can now twist or arch their backs ever again, but it was worth it for those fifteen minutes of smiles (and an uncontested bedtime an hour later).