Having Joshua Gebeyehu home and learning all about eachother is good. We have been doing lots of fun things.
Daddy showing Joshua how the swingset works.
Remember the Tonka truck Grammy bought Gebeyehu for Christmas? It is FUN!
One of the downsides of Joshua's new home is "Riley!" Joshua Gebeyehu has a love hate relationship with our woosha. He wants to know where he is and peak at him all the time. However he WILL NOT get very close. Riley has been temporarily exiled to the basement. We see hope for reconciliation if the future though. Joshua's favorite game today was to pretend his blow-up lion was Riley. He would call the toy to him and make it give kisses all the while calling it Riley! Maybe someday soon the real Riley will get a kiss?
Gebeyehu likes to eat! He likes oatmeal, cereal bars, warm milk, popcorn, buns, taco meat, sloppy joe meat, goldfish crackers... He does NOT like any fruit or uncooked veggies, eggs, cheese, or yogurt.
We play lots and lots!
Today was one of the harder days we have had. It is hard for us to remember how new everything is for Gebeyehu. It feels like he is just one of us. This morning I ran a few errands with my son in tow. We went through 2 bank drive-throughs. We went to Target and the party store to look for costumes for Brenna and Sierra for VBS tonight. We dropped Brenna off at school and picked her up from school.
He appeared to take this all in stride. He is much more withdrawn with others around, but on my hip he seems OK. However his overstimulation became very evident when it was time to take a nap. He just could not settle down. He cried. He moaned. He wiggled to stay awake. He pushed my hands away as he clung to me. He struggled for about 2 hours. It broke my heart, because I felt responsible. Bedtimes and nap had been going so well, but after experiencing so much new he just could not quiet his mind and body.
How much is too much too soon? How much just needs to be experiences? How to balance his needs with the needs of my other 4 kids? These are very hard questions to answer. Sometimes he will have to be stretched other times protected. We are all learning.
My girls were very cute dressed up for VBS. They felt loved and special that I would get them props. Brenna was a kitty.
Sierra was the most beautiful mouse I have ever seen!
I should also answer some questions quickly.
- Are you calling him Joshua or Gebeyehu? Both! He calls himself Gebeyehu when he sees himself in the mirror or pictures. We call his Joshua Gebeyehu in a sing-song voice and he sings it back with a giggle. When we call him just Joshua he is beginning to respond as well. He will always be Gebeyehu. I am anxious for him also to be Joshua. His life as Gebeyehu was hard. I pray being Joshua will be much easier.
- Are you working? Yep. I am officing from home. Still not caught up from being gone which is a bit stressful, but getting closer. Once I am caught up I can manage fairly easily from home for the summer just working during nap time. I have been very spoiled this week with people bringing meals. That has been a huge time and stress saver.
- How much English does he know? More every minute! He seems to understand most everything I say. He says "Momma, more often Hey! Mamma!, Thank you, I love you, bye, say, Hi, Brenna, Riley, Hey buddy, Daddy, Papa, No No!, tickle" There are also phrases he uses frequently that we all have learned to understand. All in all communication is getting easier. He is becoming a little parrot and repeats all the things we say, especially sound effects. Many words he does not use on his own but has a lot of fun trying out words after we say them.
- How do he and his siblings do together? Better every day! They have been so thrilled to have him home. Each of them has expressed their thankfulness that he was chosen for our family. There has not been any jealousy. As each day goes by they treat him in a more and more natural way. Instead of treating him like glass or gold, he is becoming their sibling. That has taken a lot of stress off him. It is hard work to be the center of attention all the time. He does best when people give him a lot of space and allow him to ask for attention. He is outgoing and a total ham when feeling comfortable. Given a chance to become confident he will seek you out.
