Tender roots

I’m so excited to see signs that my daughter is starting to put down roots in our family.

When we arrived home from Taiwan, we wavered a bit as to whether to encourage or force DoubleShot to empty out her suitcase so that she’s fully moved in. When we saw how she is protective of her privacy, we decided not to address it at all. She’s been living out of her suitcase for 3.5 weeks, mostly wearing clothes she brought with her. She’s worn a couple t-shirts, a pair of jeans, pajamas, and a pair of sneakers that we bought her. But all of her other clothing has been familiar items from Taiwan, pulled out of her suitcase.

As I wash laundry and fold her clothes each week, I’ve been quietly putting everything away in the dresser. She’s been fine with that but it hasn’t changed everything else being stored in her suitcase.

Yesterday I waited until she was in our bedroom and then very deliberately went through our suitcase, pulling out the last couple things that I hadn’t put away. I carefully checked all of the pockets, making sure the suitcase is empty, and then put the suitcase away in the closet. It had previously been standing near our bedroom door and being used as a shelf for towels… I said nothing about what I was doing. I just went about my chore.

Less than an hour later, DoubleShot was in her room rummaging around. I took a quick peak and saw that it looked like she was cleaning so I left her alone and waited. 45 minutes later, she bounced into our bedroom and threw herself on the bed. She handed me two art projects she had made in Taiwan and indicated that I was to pick one, that the other was for Baba. Then she handed me a stack of achievement certificates she’s earned in the past few years so that I could look through them. She asked if I could read one of them, so I started reading aloud in Chinese. She said “very good.” Whew! I passed the hanzi reading test!

She went back to her room and there were more rummaging sounds. A few minutes later, she came back to me and gestured for me to follow her. We walked into her room and she gestured toward the dresser, showing me that she had set up a display of her prized possessions. The room was spotless. Everything put away. The suitcase stored in the closet.

I nearly cried. My daughter has decided she’s staying and finally made the room her own.

4 Thoughts on “Tender roots

  1. This is such a happy milestone. 🙂

  2. Wonderful news, I’m so happy for all of you.

  3. So happy for you all. Can’t wait to read about the other projects she will do and awards she will win!

  4. Little steps headed in a positive direction. Yea !!!

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