Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Aaron, The Palembang Boy

Aaron is definitely a Palembang boy. I think I can say that he sees this as home base and he misses it every time we leave it. We've been here since he was 7 months old so it looks like I have a little Indonesian son.

Prior to our return trip, he kept repeating "We're going back to Palembang on Friday." He told everyone! And each morning, he'd ask me if it was Friday yet.

As we approached Palembang, I told him I saw our house. I really did. He was bouncing up and down his seat, as far as his seatbelt would allow. And, he was yelling out LOUDLY "YAY! We're home. We're in Palembang." When the doors of the plane opened, he ran all the way to the immigration line.

For the first couple of days that we were back, Aaron wouldn't leave the house. He must have felt like he was in heaven and couldn't be torn away from all his toys. Actually, he still hasn't left the house, except to go to church on Sunday, and he's still as happy about it.

Yesterday, three of his little friends noticed he was back and came over to play already. They live across the street from us. A few minutes ago, I heard Aaron and the 3 year old girl, Vika, chatting from across the street to each other. It was all in Indonesian and so cute! I think this may be the start of Aaron's socializing, without me!

Vika : "Aaron!"

Aaron : "What?"

Vika : "Aaron"

Aaron : "What?"

Vika : "What are you doing?"

Aaron : "Nothing"

Vika : "What are you doing?"

Aaron : "Nothing"

Vika : "Come over"

Aaron : "I don't have the key. You come over"

Vika : "Come over"

Aaron : "I don't have the key. You come over"

Those aren't typos up there, they really repeated everything. I'm sure the both of them have perfect hearing but maybe they don't have perfect understanding of each other yet.

I didn't hear what went on after that but Aaron eventually came to ask me to open the gate so that Vika could come in. He must have misunderstood her because I saw that she was still safely locked behind her own gate and it looked like her mother was out because the car wasn't there.

Its amazing to watch how Aaron is growing. In a few short months, I can just imagine him arranging his own play dates and walking himself over there. He's growing up! I need to get used to that.

2 comments:

Mike said...

Locked gates. Another little tidbit of Palembang life I didn't know. Or if I did I forgot.

Jean-Luc Picard said...

I guess there is one place where we can all say we feel at home.