What Jairo "Inherited" from Us...

Having known Jairo for almost two months now, it has become very clear what traits he inherited from us. Here are just a few:

From Rebecca...

He is very generous. We figured this out on day 2, when he came home from school with a piece of hard candy that his friend gave him. He put it in his mouth, bit it in two (ouch!), and he gave half of it to Rebecca and half of it to me...rather than eating it himself.

He looks for ways to help out those in need. Living with many special-needs children at the orphanage, Jairo has become very sensitive to the needs of other people. When we have had his friends over for dinner at our house, he always asks if he can feed his friend Wilma, who is in a wheelchair and doesn't have the use of her arms to feed herself. Also, when he saw a man on the street with no legs, he asked if we could give him money, which clearly melted the heart of his mother who would give everything she had to such people.

He is very concerned about airplane safety (see our previous post re: his first flight). While he is checking for flotation devices, Rebecca is counting rows to the nearest exit...and I'm just shaking my head & trying to find the hidden cameras filming this dynamic duo. But as Rebecca would say, "it's good to be prepared, just in case!"

He has beautiful brown eyes. The kind you notice and the kind you remember.


From Eric...

He has a good sense of humor and laughs all the time. He is very playful, and likes to joke around with his friends, tias, and parents. He keeps us laughing as well, even though we can't always understand everything he's saying.

He loves electronics. Any gadget that is new to him, he needs to get his hands on it and push as many buttons as he can...especially cameras, video cameras, and i-pods. This is also right around the time that his "partial deafness" kicks in, since he can't seem to hear us asking him to stop touching it. The good news is that this love of pushing buttons also transfers to dishwashers and and washing machines...so he can start doing our chores and think it's "fun."

He lives for salty snacks...the more salt, the better. In fact, this is a trait of many Ecuadorians--they put so much salt on everything...when cooking, they often resort to pouring salt on food straight from the bag, since apparently it doesn't come out quickly enough from your everyday salt shaker (that being said, I have seen Jairo dump salt right from the salt shaker...into his mouth). Part of me feels bad that I've had to hide my chips/etc from him and only eat them when he's not around (same with soda, for that matter)...never thought I'd have to resort to a secret stash.

He likes to play with his hair and bite his nails. Yes, a lot of kids do this and eventually outgrow it...some of us kids don't.

He likes to count things. Every night before going to bed, he'll count how many items are on his bed, which never changes--2 pillows, 3 "amigos" (his stuffed animals), and 6 sheets/blankets (it gets cold here at night, especially with no heat). We also created a calendar for him so that every day he can count how many more days it is until we fly to the U.S. Also, many times we'll look over at him, and he'll just be counting random objects in the room...we're not sure what, nor why. Of course, Rebecca has also caught me doing the same thing. I'm still not sure what language I'm going to teach him first--English or Excel.


There are so many more...but I guess you'll have to see for yourself when we come home in a few days!