She Misses Them in Days of My Destiny

My youngest daughter was just over 1 when we moved here. The change wasn't something she knew, it wasn't something she was aware of or could conceptualise, let alone comprehend. She's almost 3 now, and her understanding of this change begins to show.

She talks constantly of the people who are important to her, the ones who are faraway.

She'll call Uncle CJ and Aunty A on the pretend phone and have pretend lengthy conversations with them and their cat.

She'll collect countless flowers for her cousin K.

She tells everyone she meets that she's "almost 3 because K is 3 and K is [her] cousin."

She draws pictures of grandad, with two arms on each side of his body.

She draws our old dog (who now belongs to my sister) with a thousand legs.

She constantly asks when grandma and grandad are going to be here.

She'll hug the colourful plastic plate that was supposedly from grandma when she was a baby. I have no idea where this plate actually came from, but in her mind's eye, it is a symbol of the love between her and her grandma.

She is aware.