Adjustments

I think our little Z is going through another adjustment period. He has been fussy and getting upset easily. He's been here with us for almost 4 months now. When he first came, things went so smoothly, I knew it was too easy. Z has moved around so much in his short life that when he came here, I think he just saw it as another place to stay for a few days. We ran into the boys' old babysitter several months ago, and she told us that his mom would drop Z off at her house and leave him for several days until it was time to take him to his dad's. I was amazed by that. So I can only imagine what Z thought that day the caseworker brought him here, "well, this must be my new babysitter!".

Now, I think he's realizing he has been here for a while and isn't sure what to do with that. Life has taught him so far that he lives with some people for a time, those people may pay little attention to him, or only pay attention to him when he gets in trouble, and then he gets dropped off, someplace to stay with the next set of people. I hope he can see that it is different here. We have tried to help him understand that we want him to be here and this is what it is like to be in a family.

He has definitely formed bonds with all of us. He calls the girls by name and asks for them when they are at school. He gets so excited when Nathan gets home in the evening, he runs to the window and yells "DADDYS HOME!". It's so sweet. He comes to me and wants hugs and attention. And he comes to one of us, usually, when he is upset. He asks us for snacks or to play with toys with him. So I know we have made great strides in the right direction.

But, he's taken a couple steps back lately. He has been doing things like hitting the other kids, yelling when he gets upset or just running away from us and trying to hide for a few minutes. None of these behaviors have been severe enough to be alarming, it just makes me think he's not sure what to think about things and this is his way of telling us that. I expected this to happen at some point, and honestly, it has been much less than I expected. Especially considering all Z has been through. I guess it's just another testimony to how resilient kids are.

So we are going to keep loving on this little guy and keep watching him adjust to being part of a loving family. Even if we have to put up with a few tantrums along the way.