The age dilemma

A few background details: A few days before we left we received some new information about Kirabo we hadn't received before.  We had decided based on the evidence we were given that he was about 2 1/2.  We hired a private investigator and he felt the age was about that as well as based on interviews from several people involved in the case, among them Kirabo's uncle.  The lawyers said they just now are hearing from the uncle that he knows without a doubt that his birthday puts him at 3 1/2.  We have now spent 2 days with him and talked to all the workers at the babies home and there is no way he is 3 1/2.  We discussed with our lawyers who stand by the uncle and won't budge.  At this point, to change his birthdate it would delay us at least a week if not more as well as cause potential disastrous consequences for us at the embassy if the birthdates do not match up with the affadavits including that of the uncle.  So at this point, we are kind of stuck.  We ran into a fellow adopting dad today who was on his 4th adoption and his advice was...don't cause a problem.  Take the birthdate they give you, this is not a battle you want to pick.  There will be many other delays down the road and things to fight.  You do not want inconsistencies with your birthdate when you get to the embassy.  It can be very difficult to change his birthdate when we get to the United States but when we file for adoption there 6 months after we return home, we may try then to push it through.  As for now, we will take the advice we were given and go with 3 1/2, knowing "age is just a number" here.  His birthdate will be April 1, 2009, 6 weeks younger than Lucy.  However, for our purposes and expectations with development and milestones and school grades, we will keep in mind he is 2 1/2.

So...after that frustration, on to the good stuff!  We were excited to get back to the babies' home today and got there just in time for bath time!  He recognized us before we even saw him and came running up to us with a big smile.  It was a little more chaotic today and there were a lot of tears from everyone!  The children all recognized us this time around and came running to us for comfort.  Kirabo was not having that.  He came running and pulled one kid off James' legs and then buried his own head in James' legs.  It was really cute. We watched him eat a lunch of potatoes and beans and clear his plate.  He went to wash his hands and the rain had started.  Some of the kids started to play and splashed quite a bit of water on him soaking his shorts.  They had told us the day before he had a little bit of a temper so we looked at each other as if to say "I wonder what is going to happen" and he scrunched up his face and cried.  Yup, that was his temper.  I pulled him into my arms while he put his head on my chest and I rocked him.  He cuddled his monkey and relaxed into me.  I thought to myself "This may be the first time he has ever had someone to rock him and comfort him and help him feel safe."  Not too long after, his leg flinched a few times and he drifted off into sleep.  I carried him to his bed and laid him down.  He woke up long enough to wave goodbye to us and was asleep.

Here is a picture of his 'almost asleep' stare.

Tomorrow we are picking him up in the morning and taking him to get some blood work done so we know how to start helping him with his nutrition.  That is all for tomorrow.  Thursday we leave at 5:30 am for court in Masaka, 3-4 hours away.  We are hoping after court to talk to Kirabo's great aunt and uncle about his life and try to remedy some of the discrepancy in the timeline of his life. This is so we can give him a good idea as to what his history is.  We hope to visit his village and capture some of his history for him.  Think of us on Thursday!  We hope to get a verbal ruling that day that tells us the judge will rule favorably for us.  If this happens, we can take him home with us.  If it doesn't, we will need to take him back to the orphanage and wait over the weekend.

So fun to get your comments, thanks so much for your sweet words!