Updates on Ben!

I managed to get in contact with English-speaking (American and Australian) volunteers working at Ben's orphanage who have graciously spent their time writing e-mails to me, describing Ben and his orphanage, trying to find more recent pictures, and measuring him for me! It looks like he's ready for 3T right now and will be in 3T through the winter, since he's on the lower end of the measurement for 3T. He turns 3 next month and sounds very average in terms of American sizes. According to the volunteers, he's not the introverted child described in the referral report at all...He sounds outgoing, happy, smiley, sweet, caring, and playful, and he likes to be hugged and held. They say he also likes to help out the workers when they are feeding other children. One thing that was true, according to one lady, is that he likes to look at books. There are apparently hardly any toys at the orphanage and ones the volunteers bring in mysteriously disappear...maybe because it's work to keep them clean. He does know some English, probably because he was in foster care with a British couple for at least a year and a half, and they called him "Chris or Chrissy." I guess it's possible he was introverted and afraid of strangers before he went into foster care. In late February or early March, he came back to the orphanage. He was understandably upset at first, but appeared to be very happy after adjusting, according to one volunteer. I'm imagining he'll probably have seperation anxiety with us. After getting an e-mail from me, one volunteer told him that he is soon going to a new home; she said it in English and she wasn't sure if he understood her because he just smiled. It turns out that a volunteer found a picture that was taken around this past Christmas:

Let's get a better look! Awww...