A Family Back Together

[Ishigreensa]

April frowned and teared up.

"I was just trying to be a nice big sister, and I already messed it up," she looked down at her lap.  "She's going to hate me!"

She sniffled a bit.

 

Rick nodded and held the cup for her to drink threw the straw.

"Here, honey.  The milk should help your tummy a bit.  It's just natural acid found in fruits like tomatoes that is causing you to feel sick, baby.  It'll go away, and the milk will help it sooner, baby."

 

April decided that she should probably ask her parents from now on  before she have her sister anything to eat or drink, just in case.  It was bothersome to think that she might not be able to eat the same things that made April smile, but she didn't want her sister to get sick again either.

[Shy-Diapers]

“I know honey. No one is mad at you. I’m sure Malee will forgive you. Your dad made it seem like you two were getting along well upstairs. And she was holding your hand when you came down.” Mary said gently. She hugged April and kissed her head. “It takes getting used to I know sweetie.”

Malee held onto Rick’s hands on the cup and started to drink the milk. Soon enough the little half cup was empty and her stomach felt better. Malee smiled and hugged Rick. “Malee tummy bettel.” She said with a nod. 

April smiled and started to cleanup, since it seemed Malee was full. “April when you’re done why don’t you show your sister your room. It’s been a year since she’s seen it. That’s a long time.” She suggested, trying to encourage the girls to play with each other. 

[Ishigreensa]

(I'm not sure if you did a typo or not.... Did April clean up?)

April nodded and reached for her hand.

"I'm sorry, Malee.  I'll ask next time if a food is good for you, okay?"

She really wanted Malee to like her.  She had wanted to play with her sister for nearly a year, and could not.

[Shy-Diapers]

(My bad. I meant Mary.)

Malee nodded and held April’s hand as they headed for the stairs. She looked up at them, feeling like it was a mountain. Malee was used to being in bed all day at the hospital, and to a one story small orphanage and foster home back in Thailand. 

She wanted to be like her big sister, so she started to climb, but every other step she’d have to stop and catch her breath. Her legs were shaky underneath her, almost falling backwards at one point. She wasn’t ready to be going up the stairs, but wanted to be like April and run up them. 

[Ishigreensa]

Mike noticed when she almost fell backwards, but like parents often do, only seeing when a problem comes up, and not so much when all is going smoothly and a child could be praised.  He ran up behind them and picked Malee up.

"Honey, I don't want you using the stairs by yourself until you are a little stronger.  We just got you out of the hospital, and we certainly don't want you going back if we can prevent it, okay?"

He set her down at the top of the stairs and let April take her to her room.

"It's this way, sis.  We have a lot of toys to play with in there."

[Shy-Diapers]

Malee pouted a little. She wanted to be like April and run and climb the stairs. “Aplil stales!” She said, trying to tell Rick that she just wanted to do what her big sister did. 

At the top of the stairs, Malee followed her sister’s lead and headed to her room. She was excited to play with her big sister. She looked around April’s room and smiled. She curiously stared at some pretty figurines or statues, she didn’t really understand what they were of, or that they were fragile, but Malee wanted to touch them. 

[Ishigreensa]

April didn't think twice about it when she saw her sister looking at her figurines and looking like she wanted to touch them.  Sure, they were fragile, but even April had broken two by accident and had only been able to replace one of them.  

She pointed at the bed.

"If you go sit on the bed, I'll bring over some of them and we can play," she said.  "You have to be careful.  If you let them fall to the floor hard enough, they break, so I want to only play with them on the bed where it's soft if they fall, okay?"

She then gathered up six of them and took them to the bed to show her.

"This one is a glass girl.  See?  She's wearing a dress that is fanned out because she's dancing, and twirling."

April tended to talk a little fast, so it was likely that Malee missed most of what she said, but she had pointed to the bed and only brought them over once her sister was on the bed, so hopefully she got the idea that she didn't want to play with them anywhere else.

[Shy-Diapers]

Malee saw her sister point to the bed and tried to run over, though she was a little out of breath by the time she had climbed up. She hated these she was so tired. 

She soon got distracted from her exhaustion when April brought over the figurines. When April brought them close, Malee’s mouth formed a little ‘o’. She was so amazed by the beautiful figures. She held the dancer girl and stared in amazement. 

After looking at them for a while, Malee got back off the bed, looking around at April’s other things. She giggled and laughed, seeing herself a mirror. She looked around at everything else, trying to find if her sister had any other toys. 

Malee didn’t have too many toys herself. She had coloring books and stuffed animals, because that was what most people bought her while she was in the hospital. She couldn’t really do much else, so she didn’t have any other toys for the most part. 

[Ishigreensa]

April had a chess set at the bottom of one of her shelves.  Sometimes daddy played it with her, but mostly, it just sat there not being used.  She had lots of books and coloring books as well.  And then she had a game boy and some dolls and even the kind you can change the clothes off of.  She had puzzles, and she had origami paper and booklets that showed how to make things with the paper.  One thing that she really loved, was her nail polish collection that was on top of the bookcase.  It had ten different colors, and you can tell what one was her favorite because it had been used the most.

She smiled as her little sister ran about looking at the different toys she had.

"What do you want to do?" she asked her.

[Shy-Diapers]

Malee squealed with delight when she found some of her sister’s dolls. She grabbed one in each hand and headed back over to April, but paused when she saw the chess set. She was amazed by the little pieces and shapes and didn’t know what they were. She dropped the dolls and reached for the chess set, wanting to see what it was. 

“Sis?” She asked, meaning to say ‘this’. She’d never seen a game with so many pieces before. She was too poor in Thailand to have ever seen such a complex game which would certainly be a luxury and had been in the hospital after only a few weeks at home in America. 

[Ishigreensa]

April shook her head no.

"Not that, Malee.  No."

She ran over and took the game putting it over her head.

"This one is special.  It's the game I play with daddy."

She loved her sister, but there were some things that were just hers, especially when those things are things she shared alone time with her dad with.

Looking around quickly, she decided to put it on the top shelf of her book case.  Malee couldn't reach it there.

 

[Shy-Diapers]

“Malee Aplil!” Malee cried, she didn’t understand April’s English enough to know what she was saying. She just wanted to play with her sister and didn’t understand having something that no one else could use. The only other time she was around other kids was in the orphanage, and their the few toys they had everyone had to share. 

Malee jumped and reached for the top of the bookcase, wanting to play with her sister. She didn’t understand having private things, and couldn’t even understand the words her sister was saying. 

[Ishigreensa]

April sighed and looked for something else as fast as she could to try to distract her with.  There was no way she was going to get a piece lost and then lost the one game that her dad worked hard to teach her so they had something that just the two of them did.

She found the dolls again, and she tried to show her sister a doll.

"Let's play dolls," she said."

She gave her sister the best of her dolls to try to get her to be quiet.

[Shy-Diapers]

Malee frowned. She really wanted to play with the game that April had put away. She might be able to figure it out if Rick had explained it to her, because she understood his words more than April’s and April talked so fast sometimes. 

Malee sat down on the ground, but didn’t understand still. She just wanted to play with her sister. She had played some simple things like checkers in the hospital, but she didn’t really understand the concept in English, but she remembered the board was similar to the one April took away. 

Malee pouted a bit. She was frustrated that she couldn’t understand what her sister was saying to her. She wanted to yell and cry, just like she used to when she was first learning English and would be frustrated with her confusion. 

[Ishigreensa]

April could see her pouting.  She knew that her sister wanted to play the game really bad, but she didn't want to lose the pieces, and she was afraid her dad wouldn't get her another one, and besides, that game was special because it was her first ever chess set.

She sat on the floor with an arm full of dolls.

"What dolls do you like?" she asked her trying to tear her mind from the game.

[Shy-Diapers]

Malee looked at all April’s dolls. She pointed to the first one with darker hair that she saw. She didn’t see any that had anything but pale white skin, but she wanted a doll that looked kind of like her, so one with dark hair was the closest she could get. 

She didn’t know how to play with dolls really, so she just looked at the doll and ran her fingers through its hair. It was soft and well taken care of. She didn’t know what to say to her sister, especially because she didn’t know if she even had the English if she did know what to say. 

[Ishigreensa]

April frowned when she noticed that none of her dolls matched her sister.  Her sister wasn't exactly black.  She had one of those, but she was definitely not peach while like she and most of her other dolls were either.  

April wondered about making one of the faces the same color as her sisters' but she wasn't sure how to do it right.  She figured marker would just look dirty and not really get the effect right.  Paint might erase everything including the eyes and other details of the dolls.

April decided to think about that later.  Maybe their mom could just buy some that looked like her sister... maybe.

"Do you like that one?" she asked.  "If you want, you can have it.  It can be your special doll."

[Shy-Diapers]

Malee liked the doll. She preferred her soft stuffed doll she got when she arrived in America. But this Barbie doll seemed nice. She stroked its hair for a while. She was content for the time being. 

After a while of sitting and listening to her sister, Malee jumped up. She felt her bladder leak a little and then tense up. It was the earliest she’d realized she had to go since she was hospitalized. “Malee am wet! Malee potty!” She said instinctively crossing her legs. She could use the bathroom on her own, but didn’t know how to get there on her own. She’d completely forgotten the house layout. 

[Ishigreensa]

"You wet?" April asked her again to make sure she heard right.  "It's okay, Malee.  Let's go get mom to change you."

April thought that when Malee said she was wet, it meant she peed her pants or her diaper completely.  She wasn't used to a kid that could use the  bathroom saying they were wet.

April held out her hand and reached for her little sister.

"I'm sure mom will change you, baby sis."

[Shy-Diapers]

Malee nodded when asked if she was wet. “Am wet.” She said with a nod. “Malee potty!” She whimpered afterwards. 

She followed her sister to the stairs, but shook her head. She knew there was a bathroom upstairs. “Malee potty!” She insisted. She didn’t know how much longer she could hold it for. 

Malee shook her head and stood still, holding herself and crossing her legs. 

[Ishigreensa]

Not understanding why she wanted the potty if she was already wet, April just yelled from the top of the stairs.

"Mom!  Malee says she peed her pants!" she called down.  "And now, she keeps saying potty!  I think she wants a bath or something!"

She didn't want to leave her sister alone in case she wasn't ready and got hurt.

 

Rick heard the commotion and came to the bottom of the stairs, and then looked over at Mary.

"Do you want me to take care of her, or do you want to do it this time.  I'm not sure, but maybe Malee isn't completely wet, but wants someone to take her to the potty, and April doesn't understand her that well?" he guessed.

[Shy-Diapers]

“You can take care of it. I’ll finish cleaning up the kitchen.” Mary said. She headed back to the kitchen and started loading the dishwasher. 

Malee whined and squirmed. She was really trying to hold it. She could use the toilet pretty independently, but didn’t know where it was. She was dancing around quite a bit, but pretty soon it was just too hard to hold. Malee felt herself wetting her pull-up, unable to make it stop. The little girl was so frustrated and upset with herself, she started crying. Just as Rick was emerging at the top of the staira, Malee threw herself down into a sitting position and started to cry. 

“Malee am wet.” She whimpered through her tears. 

[Ishigreensa]

Rick reached down and picked up his little girl and hugged her.

"It's okay, baby," he said patting her back lightly.  "It's probably just because of being home for the first time in a while and not remembering where everything is, honey," he said.  "We know you don't usually wet your pants, sweetie."

He started to carry her towards her bedroom to get her a clean pull up and April followed.

"She said she was wet in the bedroom, but she didn't start crying until you got almost here," April told him.

Rick sighed and bent down halfway to the bedroom.

"Sometimes, when your sister says she's wet, she actually means it's an emergency, like you do sometimes, you know, like on a long car ride?  Her English is still limited, so she just says she's wet, but you'd likely say it's an emergency and to please stop soon."

"Oh," April blushed.  "That's why she was still dancing around and holding herself when she said she was wet.  I'm sorry."

"It's okay.  Next time she says she's wet, but isn't acting like she's peed herself, take her to the bathroom.  The disease has caused her body to be weak, so we're keeping her in pull ups for a while, and she will probably leak a little in her pull ups on the way to the potty still, but the doctors say that her body will start normalizing as it gains strength."

"Um...."

"Sorry.  I mean, she will get strong enough soon and will not want to wear pull ups anymore."

"Okay."

He stood up again and took both girls into the bedroom.  

Sitting on the bed, he pointed to the pull ups for her and looked at April.

"Get us a clean pull up for her, can you?"

He continued to hold Malee and rock her a little while sitting on the bed until April brought the pull up over for her.

He then whispered to her.

"Do you want to change by yourself?" he asked Malee. 

[Shy-Diapers]

Malee cried and sniffled. She hugged Rick and burrowed into his shoulder. She had done her best to hold it, and she had for so long. She had to get used to where things were again. She had forgotten after a year. 

“Malee am wet.” She said shaking her head. She liked to clean herself up if it was a minor accident, but when she was soaked she couldn’t. She’d get too frustrated with herself. 

“Emeljsee?” She tried. She heard Rick say emergency a few times, and didn’t recognize that word. She had figured out bigger words were more useful than ones with just one sound. She wanted to earn English and was determined to, one word at a time. 

[Ishigreensa]

Rick smiled and nodded.

"Good girl," he told her when she tried to say the word.  "But how about potty?  Can you say, potty?  Potty is easier, and if you are doing a potty dance, then we will know it's an emergency, sweetie."

He stated to pull down her pants after he stood her in front of him between his legs.

April watched.  "Can I do anything else?"

"You can give us a little privacy.  If you had been the one to pee your pants, would you want your little sister to watch you getting changed?"

She blushed and gulped and shook her head.

"No, you wouldn't, honey.  So go see if your mom wants anything, okay?"

April nodded and left the room.

Rick got her pull up down and started to wipe her with wet wipes.