Day 5 - 5/27

So Wednesday was our best day so far!!

E.R. woke up all smiles. She was silly and so funny all morning. Possibly the best part was that she started babbling and talking in Amharic! We hadn't heard her speak until today. On the way home from taking the older kids to school, I turned the radio off when I realized she was singing in the backseat. I drove past our house and kept driving for awhile just to listen to her. It was a long song in Amharic and she sang with great conviction. I couldn't believe she knew all the verses, which she obviously did. It was one of the cutest, sweetest things I've ever heard.

The rest of the day was the same. She kept talking and interacting with all of us, even me. I put her in her carseat and there was no crying at all! After I buckled her in, I looked up and saw she had placed her sock on her head and was waiting with a mischievous smile for me to notice. She was giggly and fun all day, and we all soaked it in, falling in love with this little girl even more. She walked a little more today too, which she hadn't done in the days before. She was feeling like a new kid, for sure! I could have kissed the pharmacist that mixed her antibiotic!

At lunch, she pointed to a picture of our family on the computer. Then she pointed to J.T. and me at the table, and then she pointed to a picture of J.T. my sister Penny had taken as she said "J____". I looked at her in shock as she said her little brother's name clearly. I smiled at her and asked, "what else can you say?" The next few day she began to show us how much she had been soaking in those first few days without letting on...

Today was a gift. It was a window into who she is, and how completely she is fitting into our family. She seemed truly happy.

That night, though, was tough. She was up a lot, and cried more with the wailing scream we had heard so much of on Tuesday. I slept in her room all night, trying to comfort her. At one point in the middle of the night, she was screaming and I was rubbing her back, feeling pretty hopeless and having flashbacks of this same stage with several foster kids we have had. I whispered, "I love you so much" in Amharic. Her crying got a bit quieter, but her back was still to me. I said it again, a bit louder this time. She immediately stopped crying, turned over and stared at me with big eyes full of surprise. She clearly understood what I said, and it meant something to her. After that, she let me comfort her while looking at me, which was a big step that night. She continued to sleep fitfully, but my message had been received, and I hoped that her dreams were at least a tiny bit more peaceful...