Where did this week go?

Benjamin-Rashid continues to astound us with the way he is settling in. Its so hard to believe that it was only 2 wks yesterday that we touched down on American soil ...it really does feel like he's been here so much longer.

Of course (yet again) I've left it days since updating his diary, so now I get to play catch-up! I really do need to make it point to put some time aside each day to do this, espescially as so much has been happening with him.

This week saw a mixture of meltdowns and smiles. The worst meltdown to this point came earlier in the week after a trip to Costco. He wasn't in the best mood before going ... he's had this thing about taking trips (even short ones) in the car. I dont know if its the fear of not coming back home again, or just that he dislikes the car. Once we're in and rolling he's completely fine ... its been getting him IN the car thats the challenge. Anyway, we branched out to Costco and by the time we got there he was happy. He loved sampling the different foods along the way and attracted a LOT of attention by randomly yelling out "I LOVE YOU" at the top of his lungs. As one lady walked past and said "how do you ask him to be quiet when he' telling you that?". Of course everytime he said it he flashed me a million dollar smile!

The first sign of the day going downhill was when we came across an Indian lady who was demonstrating food at the store. She talked with him first in English and he totally ignored her. Then she commented on my jewellery (I have a ring and a pair of earrings which are very Indian) ... I told her that we'd just come back from India, and then she asked if Ben spoke Hindi, to which I replied yes. At this stage I was thinking he was going to LOVE this. At last, after ten days of being surrounded by English, here was someone who spoke his language. WRONG. He completely ignored her. Would not answer her questions and would hardly look at her. She was very sweet and very understanding. Realising that there was no way he was going to be drawn into talking with her, we moved on (and she suggested that next time we were in the store we keep an eye out for her in case he wanted to chat). After we got past her, he proudly started spouting off the days of the week in English. I had no idea he knew them and had believed to that point that I knew all the english words that he knew. I praised him and told him how smart he was, and his reply was to start running thru all the months of the year in English. I guess at this point in his transition, Hindi is just not what he wants to be hearing.

The major meltdown came once we were home. Georgia was babysitting for friends that night, and they came to pick her up. He got SO upset, and nothing would make it any better. I dont know if he thought she was going away for good, or if he was just feeling sad ... (this is definitely where the language barrier makes life hard). For four hours he sobbed .. really heart-wrenching body-wracking sobs. Eventually he fell asleep on me, only to wake up and cry some more. I felt totally useless as nothing I could say or do would help him feel better. Once he was feeling better, he decided that he wanted ice cream, and has been happy ever since. He's definitely better for having gotten it all off his chest ... I'm not sure what triggered it, the Indian lady at the store, or Georgia leaving in a car .. but either way, it happened and it probably needed to happen. The only thing I have to say about it is that he is so entitled to these meltdowns. In his place I wouldnt be doing half as well.

Friday we ventured out to the zoo. To avoid another meltdown about going in the car, I pulled up the Oregon zoo website and showed it to him before we left. He was very excited!! I call him my "monkey boy", and he saw a picture of a baby monkey with its mother and happily announced that it was "Mummy, and Benjamin-Rashid"!! At the zoo he had so much fun. He loved the polar bears and the giraffes, but was all about the tigers and of course the ellie-phants. All things considered it was a VERY good day!

Today of course was Easter. I dont think he had any real concept of the Easter bunny, but boy did he enjoy his treats!! This little guy has the ultimate sweet tooth! We headed off to Grandma and Grandpas house for Easter dinner where we discovered he does not like turkey. I can only assume he expected it to taste like chicken, but he screwed his little nose up and that was the end of that! He was completely on show-off mode, and run on a sugar high for most of the day. He loved the Easter egg hunt and didn't even need to be shown what to do. He even grazed his knee running thru bushes to beat all the girls to the eggs. As soon as we were back inside he was trying to give away all his goodies to the adults. He is so incredibly giving, and hates the thought of anyone going without .. whether its cereal at breakfast (I dont eat breakky, which concerns him), thru to choccy and candy from his Easter basket. There were so many people there today, and he did so well! He really was all about his Grandpa today, which was just awesome. Grandpa has only ever had grandaughters until now and it really was a mutal love-fest.

Well, this post is turning into a novel, so I'm going to quickly highlight some of this weeks milestones and high points before signing off ...

*Pefected G'day Mate with a true-blue Aussie accent ... (thanks Nani ..aka Trish)
*Has decided that territorial is a good thing, and proudly announces "Melee Mummy" when he giving me snuggles.
*Has worked out the whole "brother/sister" thing, and knows that he is the "brother".
*Got anxious waiting to go to Grandpas house, and called every guy he saw with grey hair "Grandpa" ..including the neighbours father in law where he helped himself to their Easter lilly and was waiting to be invited inside"
*Found new English phrases including "knock it off" (said to Georgia when she was making him crazy this morning), as well as "Monkey boy", "My Mummy", and of course, the all famous "NO".
*Received the coolest book from Aussie Auntie Natasha. (thank you Natasha, you are TOO sweet and we BOTH adore the book!)

And most importantly ...... he really seemed to turn a corner as far as feeling loved and secure here with us at home. He's starting to realise that this is FOREVER. Hes letting me see his owies, and hes spontaneously giving lots of kisses and loves.

The best part of all is to see his face light up when I hold him tight, kiss his gorgeous face and tell him so very proudly.....Melee Benjamin Rashid!!!

Mine .... forever.

And I feel so lucky. He is a dream come true and more. This precious little boy is mine all mine, forever and ever, and I cannot wait to see what every tomorrow brings with him. He deserves all the love in the world, and yet he gives more love than anyone could ever imagine could come out of his little body.

I knew I loved him before I even laid eyes on him .... and even though I would never have thought it possible, everyday he finds a way to show me how to love him even more.

How lucky am I?