It has only been two weeks and 2 days since we have come back home, this I cannot believe. When I look at all that Chaltu has experienced and done in 2 weeks, I am amazed at this little girl.
The one thing we have not seen an out pour of is obvious grief. Her first few days here she wanted to listen to her Ethiopian music that they listened to daily at Horizon House. She has not asked for it since. She does randomly grab my cell phone and try to call one nanny in particular, but mentions not one name of the children she was with. She is VERY passionate about her Ethiopian food and she repeatedly talks about the colors of the ET flag. We have noticed that when we are talking to each other (Duane and I) or to others and she can pick up on key words (ET, orphanage, horizon house) she withdrawals a little bit and then often will start looking at pictures on my phone of all the kids. But she does not talk about any of it.
I cannot imagine what is going on in her mind. She is a very smart 7 year old (not so sure about that age, but that will be another post) so sometimes I think she knows we are her forever family and then other times I think well we are her 5th caregiver in 3 years, what makes us any different.
Once her english improves and we can start talking better, I hope she will feel comfortable for it to come out (her grief). Chaltu had been through so much prior to being relinquished and then was in the orphanage for 2 years and 2 months before meeting us, I am sure she grieved there over her family. But I know she misses ET I am just not sure what all she misses.
On a lighter note, we went into Ulta yesterday to buy some hair products and she broke her first bottle of nail polish all over the floor! and the proceeded to wipe her hands all over mine so we were both covered in bright red nail polish!!
It's so hard to know what these precious ones are thinking! Time is a good thing ... We wish we would have asked what music they were playing specifically at HH. If you know and wouldn't mind sharing I'd love that info. I know my boys would love to listen to it again. I do have Ethiopian music, but I know it is not the same as they listened to there. And, we have injera and wat almost everyday. It seems to be comfort:) Have fun doing hair ... and I hope nails go better next time.
ReplyDeleteMine did bring up the great dvds I had the other day, but the only computer that would play them (I bought several from someone Yonas knows) died and went to computer heaven. They also loved the cds, but those went when the car was totalled...
ReplyDeleteI can't wait for more photos. :-).. and your post on age.... What did you decide about school?
It sounds like things are going well. You are giving her the safe space to express her emotions as they come up. I hope you had a super holiday!
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