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Children adjusting

It's been so interesting for us, as parents, to watch various stages of adjustment in our children.

The baby doesn't care where he is. If he can nurse and play, he adjusts without any problems. He sleeps eventually and just shows his insecurity during change by being clingy and not sleeping through the night yet again. ('sigh!')

Grace, 7 and 1/2, is fairly mature socially and understands the changes and transitions. Since she is nonverbal, we don't know what is going on inside her often, BUT she needs more hugs, snuggles, and kisses, more daddy rough housing play time, and is more picky with the textures that she can or cannot chew and swallow efficiently. She has been quiet, tired, and not as social with strangers as she usually is. She has started throwing major tantrums again when she sees me wear Noah on my back as she wants to be on my back too. She had grown out of that lately but now that back-riding-jealousy is back in full force. She seems to be taking it all in stride besides those few little struggles.

Ana, 3 and 1/2, has been a very interesting case. We have been on the road and unsettled for months so her questions about "home" have been interesting for some time. For a while the children were most "settled" in their carseats - as if carseats represented home to them in the midst of all the commotion and time on the road. In fact, they got into their carseats for the first time today since we finally retrieved them all from the airline, and all three kids settled right into their seats with a satisfied little smile!

Ana has been looking forward to moving to Uganda for so long and all of her short life has been a preparation to move here. (We did candidate school with our mission board when she was 9 months old) So she has all kinds of fantastical beliefs about life in Uganda, such as, "I'll have a kitty cat in Uganda! I'll have a little sister who likes pink in Uganda! etc etc" (fascinating!!!! ;-P)

Now that we're here, she alternates between, "I love Uganda!" and "we're not in Uganda." It doesn't help that we're still in Kampala and have yet to reach our home in the north. Continent/country/city... not a 3 year old concept quite yet! She has been outgoing, more fearless than she was in the USA, but also more tearful, more hyper, more rambunctious, more disobedient... You can see her processing all these new experiences in her own little ways as she reconciles the reality of this life with her dreams of Uganda. She's at a great age for doing this, as her dreams fade oh so quickly and this is her reality. She misses "all my friends" but doesn't pine for friends and family, but rather lives for right now and is satisfied with emails, skype, and stories of her loved ones... if only we could all be that trusting and simple!

Our children are adjusting so well during this rather chaotic week that we have experienced. They are all individuals, all different ages and different comprehension levels. Every child will adapt at their own pace and we anticipate different and new struggles at different times for each child. But what a joy to experience and realize that our children ARE LIVING IN AFRICA!!! :)

Comments

Anonymous said…
I love this! It IS fascinating how differently children adapt, and how easily too - it must be so exciting to watch! Miss you all very much, even though we're on the same continent now - don't stop posting updates - I love to read them!
11:05 AM
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