Four years ago he became our son.
Looking back fills me with so many memories.
I remember riding in the car with him that first day and wanting nothing more than just to hold him in my arms, but he would have none of it.
We went out to dinner with another Reece's Rainbow dad and had pizza.... an American child's dream dinner... He hated it. He still doesn't like pizza very much.
We were stuck in the city due to USCIS losing our paperwork. Rob and I were outright miserable because after 3 months of trauma - we just wanted to go home.
He totally didn't mind the delay though because walking around the city was his favorite part....
It was here that we realized that our son who had been caged up for six years had a remarkable sense of direction.
No matter where we walked in that city - he always knew exactly how to get back to the apartment. Since language was an issue - there were sometimes when we weren't heading back and he would get rather upset with us because we were NOT going the right way.
Our facilitator came to visit us while we sat and waited for USCIS to get their act together... Aaron refused to speak in front of her or anyone else that could translate for us, so we never knew what he was saying to us.
We knew he had a very limited vocabulary - it wasn't until last December that we learned that most of what he had to say was not worth translating! Potty mouth.
He spent most of the time in the airport with tears streaming down his face. No sounds. Just tears. Not because he didn't want to go but because he didn't understand that in order to get on an airplane you had to go through hours and hours of waiting in line.
When we finally arrived and met our family and friends at the airport...
The first thing he did was stick out his tongue at everyone!
We never knew how to interpret that gesture... especially since he has never done it again!
Four years ago.
Hard times then.
Fond memories now.
What a difference four years makes!
