Jairo's "First Day" of School

Of the growing list of exciting firsts for our new family, Jairo's "First Day" of school highlighted our week. Yeah, he's been going to school for a while now, but Monday morning marked the first time that we were responsible for the morning routine of getting Jairo ready, packing his snack, and bringing him up the hill to where the orphanage van, driven by Tio Oscar, picked up the 12 or so kids who are currently in school.

It's been a really long time since we knew what 5:30am felt like, but Monday morning gave us a taste of what was to come for the rest of our time in Ecuador. Getting up when it's still dark out isn't fun for anyone--and Jairo clearly has our "not morning people" gene--but he seems to be good about going through the getting-ready routine, even if his eyes are half-closed most of the time. The biggest challenge is trying to figure out which of his three uniforms he's supposed to wear that day; but so far we're batting 1.000. Here he is on Monday morning:



We picked him up from the "van stop" around 1:45 later that day (after going back to bed for a couple hours, learning some more Spanish, and running some errands)...and started our daily routine of lunch, play time, homework, play time, shower, dinner, reading, and sleep. Oh, and add laundry to that daily list--we realized that because of the uniform rotation, and the fact that he's a very active (code for "likes to get dirty") 6-year-old boy, the days of weekly/bi-weekly laundry are a thing of the past. Anyway, here are his other two uniforms:





We've been trying to stick to the afternoon routine that Jairo has been used to from his days in the orphanage, and we do a variety of fun activities throughout the day...ranging from running around the back yard with Suki the dog, playing the piano, going back to the orphanage to swing/jump/run with his friends, or playing the classic game of "how long can it possibly take to eat a bowl of soup" (Jairo is the current record-holder at 72 minutes).



We squeeze an hour of homework into the afternoon, which generally includes both math and language. Our days also include plenty of breaks for "dar cosquillas" (tickling)...when I see Jairo whispering something to Rebecca, I know that I need to make a run for it, since they will soon be chasing me down for a good ol tickle. I also enjoy the daily routine of trying to change Jairo out of his uniform into his regular clothes...this usually entails about 15 minutes of wrestling and the wonderful sound of our little boy's laugh.

Getting Jairo to eat has certainly been a challenge so far, but we think we finally made a breakthrough tonight at dinner, which included having him help us cook the meal. He finished his entire dinner and even asked for additional food...and was so proud of himself (as were we) that he wanted to call his Tias after dinner to tell them. They were so excited to hear from him!



Our nights end with a shower, reading a book (by flashlight, per our previous post), and saying our good nights. After he tells Mami which lights he wants on and how open/closed he wants his bedroom door, the last sounds we hear are "Te Amo" and "I Love You," in the sweetest little voice we've ever heard.