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HelpRe: Please welcome Benjamin, León, Anjali & Ritu!
in reply to a message by ishild
It’s been two years since the Eliot-Wellcroft family grew by four, and everyone is pretty much settled in.
When they first adopted the twins, Kat and Jackin had a long discussion about their names. At three, the girls were young enough for a name change not to be much of a problem and their new parents thought they might fit better into their new home if they had new names. After a lot of thought they decided to give them new short first names that mean “loved” and they kept their birth middle names to honor the girls’ heritage. Anjali is now Kara Devika Eliot-Wellcroft and Ritu is now Esme Indira Eliot-Wellcroft. Their new names fit them perfectly and Kat and Jackin are glad that they have ties to American pop culture through their names.
The twins have really profited from having their older siblings; they’re doted on constantly and they’re often read to two or more times a day as Benjamin and León read to learn English. Although they both still play with their bunny from the orphanage and they treasure the toy, they now have as many toys as they want, many of them gifts from their brothers, and they also particularly enjoy playing imaginary games together. Kara heard that Supergirl shares her name and now aspires to be a hero, dressing up and “saving” the toy houses from Esme, who acts like a different type of monster each time. So far Esme is the more social of the two, while Kara is exuberant around her family but shy around others. No matter what, they’re each other’s best friends and they always will be.
*
León struggled to connect with his new family at first, feeling stubbornly opposed to this American family that had plucked him from his life in Honduras, but Kat is stubborn as well and his opposition and her determination soon drew a battle of wills. Obviously, Kat won after a while and they bonded over the experience. Jackin also helped to make León more comfortable, showing him his research into adoption and explaining the family’s reasoning for taking León and his new siblings in. Now, looking back, León is glad he had his doubts because they drew him closer to his new parents and helped him to understand everything he was going through.
León hasn’t connected with his siblings as much as with his parents. Even though he and Benjamin are close in age and started off at the same school, they both soon discovered that they would make less friends if they hung out with each other so they began avoiding each other during school. At home, Benjamin and Pip were very close and León found himself naturally excluded. Although he might have liked a better relationship with his siblings, he’s happy with the friends he’s made at school and the companionship he found with his parents. He’s not naturally as nurturing as Pip and Benjamin, but León has done his part in being a friend to the twins and he and Kat have made some artistic toys for the two of them.
León’s dream of being a pilot has become more realistic after he had surgery last year to fix his damaged heart valve, and he has also started studying the history of flying in his free time, something Jackin in particular is very proud of. With Kat, he has discovered an affinity for artistic endeavors, in particular sculpture and construction. He is very proud of his latest creation, a gigantic replica of his sisters’ plush bunny that he made for their birthday. León still speaks Spanish with his many latino friends at school, a nice connection with his heritage, and his English isn’t very strong yet. However he studies hard in school and aims to improve his language skills soon. His parents are very proud of all the growth he has demonstrated in such a short time, and they can’t wait to see him realize his dreams.
*
Pip and Benjamin really hit it off immediately, connecting through their close ages, their affinity for sports, and their shared instinct to help others. While Pip helped Benjamin master English and taught him slang (an area Benjamin was lacking in), Benjamin in turn got Pip interested in running, introducing him to Benjamin’s namesake and hero, Kipruto (an Olympic Gold medalist in middle distance running). Together they have started running daily with Jackin and they convinced their parents to set Benjamin up with a trainer so he can get closer to fulfilling his dream of being an Olympic athlete. Benjamin has been practicing soccer with Pip as well and he plans to join him on the middle school soccer team this year.
Benjamin hasn’t yet developed the perfect parent-son relationship with Kat and Jackin. He loves them as parents who opened their hearts to bring them into their family and he respects them as authority figures in the household, but he never related to them at the deep level he related to Pip. He would probably say he relates most to Jackin as they run together every morning, but the relationship is more of quiet camaraderie than of personal connection. Kat, well… Benjamin just doesn’t understand her creative outlook and, while respects her determination, he has never personally been her main focus of that energy (unlike León) so he never created that bond. Despite these complications in his relationships, he finds his family perfect and he loves the cozy, loving atmosphere.
Most of what creates that family atmosphere for Benjamin is his adopted siblings. He and Pip are more like best friends than siblings, but he, León, Kara, and Esme definitely have a sibling relationship. He and León were distanced from the beginning as he was extremely grateful for the new family and León felt skeptical of the whole thing. It created a bitter rift that, while it healed eventually, caused the two to have a typical bickering love type of sibling relationship. In hindsight, he thinks he should have empathized more with León’s position and helped him through it, but what’s done is done and maybe they will bond sometime in the future. Benjamin and Pip took nurturing big brother roles for Kara and Esme. Benjamin tried to read to them at least once a day and he would sometimes sing them traditional Kenyan lullabies when they couldn’t sleep. As he avoided discussing the culture he grew up in most of the time, sharing such memories with the girls helped him to deal with his move in his own way.
* * *
The Eliot-Wellcroft Family
DH: Jackin Barnaby Wellcroft-Devereux [28, historian]
DW: Katherine May Eliot-Wellcroft [33, interior designer]
DS: Peregrine Salvador “Pip” Eliot-Wellcroft [13]
DS: Benjamin Kipruto Eliot-Wellcroft [11, adopted from Kenya at 9]
DS: León Felipe Eliot-Wellcroft [10, adopted from Honduras at 8]
DD: Kara Devika Eliot-Wellcroft [5, twin to Esme; adopted from India at 3, originally Anjali]
DD: Esme Indira Eliot-Wellcroft [5, twin to Kara; adopted from India at 3, originally Ritu]
When they first adopted the twins, Kat and Jackin had a long discussion about their names. At three, the girls were young enough for a name change not to be much of a problem and their new parents thought they might fit better into their new home if they had new names. After a lot of thought they decided to give them new short first names that mean “loved” and they kept their birth middle names to honor the girls’ heritage. Anjali is now Kara Devika Eliot-Wellcroft and Ritu is now Esme Indira Eliot-Wellcroft. Their new names fit them perfectly and Kat and Jackin are glad that they have ties to American pop culture through their names.
The twins have really profited from having their older siblings; they’re doted on constantly and they’re often read to two or more times a day as Benjamin and León read to learn English. Although they both still play with their bunny from the orphanage and they treasure the toy, they now have as many toys as they want, many of them gifts from their brothers, and they also particularly enjoy playing imaginary games together. Kara heard that Supergirl shares her name and now aspires to be a hero, dressing up and “saving” the toy houses from Esme, who acts like a different type of monster each time. So far Esme is the more social of the two, while Kara is exuberant around her family but shy around others. No matter what, they’re each other’s best friends and they always will be.
*
León struggled to connect with his new family at first, feeling stubbornly opposed to this American family that had plucked him from his life in Honduras, but Kat is stubborn as well and his opposition and her determination soon drew a battle of wills. Obviously, Kat won after a while and they bonded over the experience. Jackin also helped to make León more comfortable, showing him his research into adoption and explaining the family’s reasoning for taking León and his new siblings in. Now, looking back, León is glad he had his doubts because they drew him closer to his new parents and helped him to understand everything he was going through.
León hasn’t connected with his siblings as much as with his parents. Even though he and Benjamin are close in age and started off at the same school, they both soon discovered that they would make less friends if they hung out with each other so they began avoiding each other during school. At home, Benjamin and Pip were very close and León found himself naturally excluded. Although he might have liked a better relationship with his siblings, he’s happy with the friends he’s made at school and the companionship he found with his parents. He’s not naturally as nurturing as Pip and Benjamin, but León has done his part in being a friend to the twins and he and Kat have made some artistic toys for the two of them.
León’s dream of being a pilot has become more realistic after he had surgery last year to fix his damaged heart valve, and he has also started studying the history of flying in his free time, something Jackin in particular is very proud of. With Kat, he has discovered an affinity for artistic endeavors, in particular sculpture and construction. He is very proud of his latest creation, a gigantic replica of his sisters’ plush bunny that he made for their birthday. León still speaks Spanish with his many latino friends at school, a nice connection with his heritage, and his English isn’t very strong yet. However he studies hard in school and aims to improve his language skills soon. His parents are very proud of all the growth he has demonstrated in such a short time, and they can’t wait to see him realize his dreams.
*
Pip and Benjamin really hit it off immediately, connecting through their close ages, their affinity for sports, and their shared instinct to help others. While Pip helped Benjamin master English and taught him slang (an area Benjamin was lacking in), Benjamin in turn got Pip interested in running, introducing him to Benjamin’s namesake and hero, Kipruto (an Olympic Gold medalist in middle distance running). Together they have started running daily with Jackin and they convinced their parents to set Benjamin up with a trainer so he can get closer to fulfilling his dream of being an Olympic athlete. Benjamin has been practicing soccer with Pip as well and he plans to join him on the middle school soccer team this year.
Benjamin hasn’t yet developed the perfect parent-son relationship with Kat and Jackin. He loves them as parents who opened their hearts to bring them into their family and he respects them as authority figures in the household, but he never related to them at the deep level he related to Pip. He would probably say he relates most to Jackin as they run together every morning, but the relationship is more of quiet camaraderie than of personal connection. Kat, well… Benjamin just doesn’t understand her creative outlook and, while respects her determination, he has never personally been her main focus of that energy (unlike León) so he never created that bond. Despite these complications in his relationships, he finds his family perfect and he loves the cozy, loving atmosphere.
Most of what creates that family atmosphere for Benjamin is his adopted siblings. He and Pip are more like best friends than siblings, but he, León, Kara, and Esme definitely have a sibling relationship. He and León were distanced from the beginning as he was extremely grateful for the new family and León felt skeptical of the whole thing. It created a bitter rift that, while it healed eventually, caused the two to have a typical bickering love type of sibling relationship. In hindsight, he thinks he should have empathized more with León’s position and helped him through it, but what’s done is done and maybe they will bond sometime in the future. Benjamin and Pip took nurturing big brother roles for Kara and Esme. Benjamin tried to read to them at least once a day and he would sometimes sing them traditional Kenyan lullabies when they couldn’t sleep. As he avoided discussing the culture he grew up in most of the time, sharing such memories with the girls helped him to deal with his move in his own way.
* * *
The Eliot-Wellcroft Family
DH: Jackin Barnaby Wellcroft-Devereux [28, historian]
DW: Katherine May Eliot-Wellcroft [33, interior designer]
DS: Peregrine Salvador “Pip” Eliot-Wellcroft [13]
DS: Benjamin Kipruto Eliot-Wellcroft [11, adopted from Kenya at 9]
DS: León Felipe Eliot-Wellcroft [10, adopted from Honduras at 8]
DD: Kara Devika Eliot-Wellcroft [5, twin to Esme; adopted from India at 3, originally Anjali]
DD: Esme Indira Eliot-Wellcroft [5, twin to Kara; adopted from India at 3, originally Ritu]
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