Sallay's home!

My little Sallay has made it home and she is doing amazingly well. I have to say she is almost chubby. She was able to stay in the program a little longer than usual because she is struggling with Asthma as well. By the time she came home she was much larger than I expected she would be. Hard to believe she was as small as she was only a month ago. (check a few posts back)It was so much fun to see Sattu and Sallay reunite. I brought Sallay over to Sattu and Sattu reached for her wanting to hold her and hug her- the smile on her face was huge, but Sallay is much bigger now and hard for Sattu to hold. Sallay was also smiling and leaned in to kiss Sattu. What a sweet moment.

The two girls are very much alike- that means they are also both very stubborn. Many of you know I am quite fond of those kids though. For example Sattu has been struggling a bit with hitting the other children- especially when they are near me- she's not fond of sharing. This problem was only exacerbated when Sallay arrived. I think it was not easy to share me with Sallay (and surprisingly Sallay was also quite attached to me- I thought each time I visited her at the hospital she was a bit scared of me- that is no longer the case at all) but also hard for her to share Sallay with the other kids. Anyway I did want to help her in this- but she was hitting the kids right and left. I explained (in what little Mende I could- which was only No Hitting but....) and removed her from the group into a time out. She was silent looking at me and then started crying quietly. I got her after a minute and she came right back out looked at Almamy and raised her hand. I said Sattu stop- she looked at me- raised her hand a bit higher and kept watching me- I watched her (during all of this the kids around wanted to step in and take over- telling Sattu to stop and what not- I asked them to just be quiet and let us have our stare down.) and finally she swung and hit Almamy- back into the room we go. This time it is full out screaming and crying. I explain when she is finished crying she can come out (well with my Mende it was Finish- come) She finishes comes out and within less than 5 minutes has hit the next child- AAHHHGGG this continued for 2hr and 15 minutes. It was quite a battle and only one of many that she and I and I am sure Sallay and I will have. However at the same time that they are so stubborn they are also the first to have a full belly laugh and come running with a hug- well Sallay is a little slow, but does love to cuddle. It is fun to watch them adjust to life her and see them really blossom. At the moment they only speak Mende but i know they will pick up the Creole quickly as well as some English- especially if they keep following me around.

Thanks for all your prayers- they meant a lot and truly made a difference.