Matthew

Claire, thank you for leaving a comment, asking about how Matthew is faring.  I should have included that on my list, at the end of my previous post, as something to talk about.  I don't have much more time now to write about it, but he's doing great over all.  He freely says that he loves Ethiopia, and has been very diligent about washing and sanitizing his hands (probably after months of conversation scaring him enough!).  He seems to have a bit of a stomach issue going on (no diarrhea, but has vomited a few times, independently of our plane ride here); he's not eating much now because he's sick of pizza and pasta and white bread (yay on the white bread thing - he was sooo excited when we arrived that he got to eat white bread!! how sad to want white bread that badly!!).  He's had too much pop to drink (because we won't let him drink the milk and he's tired of room temperature water) and I notice that his initial excitement at being allowed to drink pop this week has fizzled into a "Mom, I guess I'll have more of that room temperature water instead" kind of comment.

He was thrilled beyond measure to meet his brother and sister yesterday...and I mean THRILLED!!!!!  I don't think I could add enough exclamation marks to that word to make it reflect accurately his state of joy about it.  He was great with them, too, in the two hours we had with the kids.  He played with them, showed them how to do things, tried to teach them a few words, and was just, simply, joyful.  He desperately wanted to bring them back with us yesterday already, but we stuck to our guns.  We had things to do in the afternoon (more about that later), and the kids had been told (after we'd insisted!!) that we were there to visit yesterday and would take them today.  Frankly, I couldn't help but think that it was good for the kids to spend a bit of time with us first; I know that this differs from family to family, and from child to child, but I far preferred leaving them there yesterday, knowing that they will recognize us now when we come back for them today.

Matthew has adapted beautifully, and with true resilience adjusted to a world where people look at and want to touch him, where he sees things that I wish no child ever had to see, where he has to grapple with life issues that are really still beyond him.  Since meeting his sibs yesterday, he has regressed a little (as anticipated) and has been clingy, grouchy, talking like a baby and wanting me to cradle and rock him.

But just three seconds ago, he finally woke up and picked up his head and looked at me; his first (and only, so far) words were:  "well, Mom, today's the big day!"  His world is about to be rocked, but I think he's going to be ok.

Thanks for asking, and if you have any specific questions about him, just let me know.  And thanks for the comment about my writing!

Blessings,

Ruth