Day 2- Mekonen's Day

Friday
August 21, 2009
The day we met Mekonen!!!!! For the full account of the first time we held our baby boy, click here. In addition, here are a few more pics of that special day and a little bit about our sweet Mekonen Jack!

Here I am sitting in the back of Gail's car leaving the orphanage with Mekonen for the first time. We were on our way back to the Ritmo Guest House to spend time with him. He was fast asleep after I had just fed him a bottle while sitting in the toddler room.
Jon and Mekonen hanging out in our room at the guest house.

Mekonen's first nap with his mommy and daddy at the Ritmo Guest House.
Here we are, ready to walk back to the Wanna House for Mekonen to sleep for the night. Our original thought was to have him sleep where he was familiar to cut back on transitions for him. Yeah right. That lasted exactly one night. :)
A Few Words About Mekonen
SNUGGLY: From the moment we picked him up until now, we realized that Mekonen is super snuggly! He is very affectionate and usually when I pick him up he burrows his head in my neck and makes this adorable little muffled giggle sound, like he just can't get close enough. It is the sweetest thing ever. He loves being held and loves to be in the carrier, right up against us. It is the best feeling ever to rock him to sleep. When I go get him out of his crib in the morning he gives me the biggest hug and snuggles right into my neck. Such sweetness. I've waited so long for this!CURIOUS: Mekonen is super curious! He doesn't let anything get by him! He is constantly looking around, wanting to see everything. He gets this specific look on his face every time he is observing something. It's so cute. His eyes get real big and his mouth stays open. hehe. If he's not snuggling into you, he wants to be looking all around. Even in the carrier when he's sitting facing me, he will hang his head back to see what is going on. He is curious about the slightest things such as a piece of fuzz on the floor and the polka dots on his crib sheet. I think we have a scientist on our hands!HAPPY: Mekonen loves to giggle and smile. He is such a happy baby! When he's fed and rested he goes on and on with his smiles and laughs. He laughs at patty-cake, when you lift him over your head, when you kiss his neck, blow raspberries on his belly, and when you wave stuffed animals at him (and so many more things). It is so easy to get Mekonen to giggle and show his adorable little dimples.SAILFISH: This is the name Jon gave to Mekonen's thumb sucking. It was so funny the first time we saw him suck his thumb. He doesn't close his fingers in a fist, but keeps them pointing straight up. Jon said it looked like a sailfish and we started calling it that. I did try to switch out the thumb for a pacifier so that down the road we can take the pacifier away since you can't take away the thumb when they're two. But he wanted nothing to do with it. Luckily, Mekonen only sucks his thumb when he falls asleep or is tired. I haven't seen him sucking it during the night or during the day while playing or anything. So that's better than an all the time thumb sucker. :) Plus, it's sooo stinkin' cute. He usually makes little babbling sounds when he's sucking his thumb and falling asleep. It's adorable.