We have been working on taxes this week, which is a challenge.  Who lived with us for half the year?  How much did we spend on our adoption expenses and childcare?  I think how can our adoption have a price tag, or the wonderful care all three of my kids receive that allows me to work.  These things are priceless. As Brian, worked on our taxes last night he called to me and asked, “What Day did we get our referral?”  I shouted back, “The 21st of February.”  It is like remembering a birthday, our anniversary, or 9/11 it is embedded in your head.   I thought of ten things I have learned in the last year.  I know I have learned many more, but these are just a few things my kids have taught me.

10.  Blowing bubbles in one’s milk or water and spitting it at your siblings never gets boring.  Four year old boys like  to discuss farting and other bathroom humor especially at the dinner table.  It never gets old.

9.  One can watch the same television program 20 times in a day and not get bored.

8.  My children are always surprised that children at their different schools can have the same name.  “I have a Lisa at my school too.”

7.  I learned if one stuffs too much toilet paper in the toilet flushes twice that the toilet will over flow.  My eldest learned to get off the toilet if it is overflowing unless you want to get wet. 

 6.  I have learned  how old a baby is.  My kids have certain guidelines for the time when one moves from a baby to a “big girl or boy.”  My son just learned the word toddler, so he refers to his younger sister as that now.  He announced to his grandmother last week, “Nana Yordie is not a baby anymore she is a toddler.”  This is funny because just last summer we had a ceremony to make him “a big boy” because we was struggling with not being the youngest when his sister came home.

5.  I leaned that staying clean and not losing clothes during the school day is hard to do. 

4.  My daughter had a revelation the other day.  She was looking in at a magazine and said, “That person is from Ethiopia.”  I asked why she thought this.  She stated, “Because they are brown.”  I asked about where one of her friends was from who also looks like her.  She thought for a minute and stated, “From San Diego.”  We then discussed how people who look alike are not always from the same place, and that she is from Ethiopia and San Diego, which is cool.

3.  I have learned that our dogs and cats are extremely good tempered, but don’t like Yordie hitting them, pulling their tails, or getting into their food while they are trying to eat.

2.  I learned that pouring a whole bottle of bubbles in the fish pond may look cool, but the fish don’t like it too much.  I think we only had one death due to that sneak bubble attack.  My son also fell in the pond once, so we learned that although we had it blocked we needed higher plants around it.

1.  I learned how to be a Mom, which is my most important role now. I am more confident in that role then I was a year ago.   Three hundred and 378 days ago I was a wife,  daughter, sister, aunt, friend, and a social worker.  Now I am a mother to three amazing kids.