So our family recently adopted a four-month old baby boy from Ethiopia. He's mostly a sweet little guy and happy. However, I've discovered a minor character flaw, which gives me cause for some concern: he lies a lot. And not just little white lies, like, "Hey, Dad, you look like you've lost weight." He tells the biggest whoppers you'll ever want to hear. And I don't know what he hopes to gain--the stories he tells are so unbelievable, and yet he tells them with such seriousness and conviction. It's really weird.
For example, one morning we were sitting in our hotel room in Addis Ababa, and he told me that he was a member of the Ethiopian luge team, and would be competing in the Olympics, and did I think I could drive him to Vancouver when we got back. I said I didn't think Ethiopia even has a luge team, but in any case, you're a baby and couldn't possibly have the gross motor skills necessary to control a luge. Plus, you can't even walk, let alone get a running start to get the luge going. He changed the subject and spit up all over his clothes.
Then, on the plane trip home, he started acting weird any time one particularly cute flight attendant came around. He'd pretend to be asleep or turn his head the other way. I asked him what the problem was, and he said that he used to date her, and it didn't end well. He had this whole tale about how she couldn't get over him, and he had to get a restraining order, I don't remember all of the details, but I'm pretty sure it was all lies again. I mean, she didn't seem to recognize him at all, and besides, he's only been around for for four months. I really don't think that's enough time to go develop a relationship, go through a bad breakup, and finalize court orders, is it? Maybe if she was really bat-crap crazy, but she always got my drink order right, so I think she was OK.
Last Wednesday, he asked if he could borrow my cell phone, because he was expecting a call. He didn't say from whom, but just the idea that someone was going to call him seemed a bit far-fetched. I mean he's only been in this country for five days, and the only people he knows are me, his mother, his sister, and his brother. And he's always with us, so we have no need to call him. It was just really strange that he would make something like that up.
But the most egregious example came last night. It was about 1:30 in the morning, and I was up giving him a bottle. In between sucks, he paused, looked me right in the eye, and said, "Hey, man...did I ever tell you about when I invented the Snuggie?" At first, I was taken aback that he addressed me as, "Hey, man." Then, I was just shocked that a baby from Ethiopia even knew about the Snuggie. But then it dawned on me that the Snuggie has been around for more than the four months since he was born.
I don't know what to make of this. Is it normal for a baby to be such a blatant liar? Hopefully it's just a phase that he'll outgrow.
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