Elijah never ceases to amaze me. The culture of his birth country says he can't learn. Children with Down syndrome can't do anything...they are hopeless. Well, I'm here to tell you that is SO not true! (But if you are reading here, you already knew that. :-))
Elijah had a little friend in the orphanage named Toma. Thankfully he was adopted about the same time as Jonathan was - about 6 months after Elijah came home. About 11 months after Elijah had been home, I was showing him a picture of Toma on his mama's blog, just to see what he would say. I just about fell over when Elijah started pointing at the screen and yelling, "Toe! Toe!" Yes, he recognized him and could now partially articulate his name. (He had almost zero speech in the orphanage.) It still gives me goosebumps when I think about it.
Well, then there was today. Another little sweetie, Pasha, from his grouppa has also been adopted. He's been home less than year I believe. Sarah is friends with Pasha's mom on Facebook. She posted a picture of Pasha, and just for fun I showed it to Elijah, not expecting any response. I immediately teared up when Elijah pointed and said, "Pas! Pas!" (He can't say the /sh/ sound yet.)
I asked, "Pasha?".
"Yes, Pas," Elijah says.
Yes, he remembered Pasha. I'm floored. He has been home 3 years and 2 1/2 months! I'm still amazed. This kid is so stinkin' smart and has a memory like a steel trap. This is also a strong reminder to me that he remembers the not-so-good part of his orphanage life too - whatever that may have looked like.
Lord, help me to remember that all of my precious Ukrainian treasures have a "before". Give me wisdom in parenting them and to help them with their deep hurts. Lord, please reach down into their hearts and heal their emotional wounds. Thank you, Jesus.
(I'll try to get to some medical updates very soon!)
3 comments:
Wow! Of course, I'm not surprised that he's learning and growing and all in a family, but I guess I am surprised that he still remembers so well from before he had the words to process with. AMAZING!
I continue to pray for your lovely family.
Wow, that is amazing! It's crazy that he remembers in that much detail from so long ago... Proof once again that that common line, "at least he's too young to remember" is just not true.
I can relate to what you're saying about your children's "befores". Although Samuel's only been home, he also has a really good memory and will out of the blue talk about something we did during his first few weeks home (ex. in October we went to watch our little neighbour friend play hockey. Samuel lasted less than 5 minutes before we left. At the time he had never seen ice before and had no idea what hockey was. Now Samuel loves to skate and the other day he told me he wanted to go watch Zack play hockey (Zack doesn't even play hockey anymore!)...). He doesn't talk about his orphanage life but when I see how quick he is to remember simple events of several months ago, it makes me wonder how often he thinks about the traumatic events of his past... I echo your prayer that God would keep this at the forefront of my mind as I parent him.
That is awesome!
Post a Comment