Alexandra
Alex is 10. She has a noticeably short forehead (there’s only like an inch and a half between her eyebrows and hairline. Her medium length, snarly brown hair is always in her face, like it’s growing in that direction from the damn forehead. She has a boyish body, obviously because she’s a child, but with some fat around the middle. She has a considerable overbite (consider it, because under duress she DOES bite), and has a goofy, unexpected smile. She doesn’t say ANY words except “go go go go go,” which has some relationship with going to the bathroom (and none with Dora the Explorer), but it’s not a close enough correspondence to time it right and “potty train” her. She wears pull-ups. It seems like at least sometimes when she needs to poop (or is already pooping), she yells like a wild animal and rocks forward and backwards, saying go go go. She knows words like “food, time to go, not yet,” etc., but doesn’t use them. She bites down on that overbite and grimaces her face into a smile, getting too close to the adult (me). She scooted right up to me sitting at the dinner table, because she was having nuggets and fries, but I had a frozen pizza. I had to push her back to sitting 1-2 feet from me, and push her face out of my face. Of course we gave her a piece and she ate the bread part of it. She was randomly (autistically) laughing and giggling at the table, at first I was thinking, maybe she doesn’t JUST want my pizza, but likes or trusts me? That would be great, either way, but I also smelled poop because she shit (loose, muddy stool!) her diaper while we were eating dinner. So who knows why she was acting affectionate and silly? She moves like a boy. It’s annoying they bought her all these short pink shorts and butterfly rainbow t-shirts. One time in the evening with her after changing her pull-up three times (of DIARRHEA), she went nuts in her empty, pink room (it’s a residential housing for orphan situations), slamming her head, hands, legs off the wall while crying. I felt so bad for her. All I could do is use her pillow to block the hits and try not to get bit. Her little pathetic face haunts me. I hope I get to see that kid grow up. I don’t think she has any family, been fostered or institutions her whole life. The first time I washed her I was nervous about her trauma, but she spread em and bent over for me to wipe her areas, so she was fine with it and used to it. She is SO HAPPY in the bathtub though, I love seeing her fascination with water and enjoyment of the sensory like a little fish. At least she has one happy place! She also now has a group of adults who really care about her. They noticed she had an ear infection and due to wearing wet headphones (sound cancelling), because she wouldn’t take them off in the shower. But they got an extra pair (pink, of course). I hope I’m there when she talks, if she ever does. I like working in that house.