Copernican Revolution and a Nickname

So, how does a boy who has spent most of his life in an orphanage adjust to family life?  After spending the past two weeks with my new son, I am quite sure he did whatever he felt like doing at the orphanage, much of the time.   This is not to say that he was neglected.  Evan knows his numbers and can write his name in Chinese characters.  Someone obviously spent time with him.

 If I had to imagine the typical scenario, I would think that Evan would attempt to do something --- someone tells him, “No,” --and then he just waits till they are busy with the 169 other children and Evan would do what he wanted.   This system worked perfectly well right up until July 2, 2012.  As you can imagine, this leaves Evan disgruntled at times.  LOL.  This has also earned him a nick-name, first bestowed by my sister, Anita, but now it is used family-wide:  Lemon Drop.  Or, as I like to call my boys, “Sweet and Sour.” 

Fortunately for Evan, his new Momma has special, on-the-job training.  I have run into a few (ahem) challenging personalities in the past 6 years in the class room and his little sour-puss does not phase me.  Happily, I can report I am seeing less and less of it.  Still, the most common phrase in our house right now is, “No, Evan!” 

Evan is doing better every day.  He is rather thoughtful where Ben is concerned.  If he comes into the kitchen to get something, he asks for one for Ben, too.  Ben might wish Evan thought of him a little less this morning, though.  Evan couldn’t wait for Ben to get up.  When Nanei and I were busy taking trash out, Evan ran upstairs and tried to wake Ben as only a brother could … Nanei found him bopping poor Ben in the head with a pillow in an attempt to wake him! 

Not much to report right now…I took Ben and Evan to the Laundromat and they were well behaved.  We walked over to the market while the clothes were drying and I put both boys in one of those buggies with a car attached to the front. (Whoever invented those should be given a medal!!)  They were ultra cute sitting behind the steering wheels enjoying the ride.  We ran into an old friend and neighbor (Hi, Wayne Flodin!) who instantly recognized the boys from Facebook and our blog here.   

Today, we are looking forward to an informal high school class reunion at Kim Mowbray’s where Ben and Evan will get to play in the pool if the weather holds out.  I will post pictures from that tomorrow.  For now, here are a few pics of the boys in their first days together.   Evan is quite the ham and likes to pose for the camera.  Ben insisted I cut his hair short so he could, "look like my brother!"