Eden’s Ethiopia

I keep hearing about families who have adopted older children whose children are now beginning to tell them about their home life and experiences in Ethiopia. I figured Eden, being 4, might have some recollection of her life even just 6 months ago. Now that she’s grasping more of the language, I thought it appropriate to start asking her about Ethiopia.

Well, I didn’t factor in that her 4 year old imagination is rampant and that any sort of leading question on my part could likely turn into an event in her mind. It seems that my peppering has only opened up a whole new fictitious playground for Eden.

Whoops.

Since I started asking her about Ethiopia — even just simple questions like “where did you sleep in Ethiopia?” and “what did you eat in Ethiopia?” — I’ve seen that whatever Ethiopia was to her before has now become the place where all little girls’ dreams come true.

I have since learned from Eden that, in her 3 1/2 short years in Africa, she carried a baby in her belly (that she then breast fed), owned her own home, drove a car (her own), and had a cell phone just like mommy’s.

Tonight at dinner she said: “Mommy, Eden had quesadillas in Ethiopia.”

I might think she was referring to injera (a bread frequently served as the base of Ethiopian meals) if I didn’t already realize the damage my line of questioning had done to this impressionable little mind.

Unfortunately I may have squelched all opportunities to learn the real truth about Eden’s Ethiopia.

While other parents may field their child’s incessant requests to go to Disney World or the closest amusement park, I will watch as my child pines away for her experience in a nation she barely survived. All because she owned her own pink cell phone there … and probably because she isn’t allowed to touch mommy’s here.