Tuesday, September 12, 2006
A phone call from day care. Youssef refused to eat lunch, couldn’t nap in the afternoon, and one of the teachers had to take him for a walk so that the other kids could get to sleep. The director concluded her little report by saying that his mood would change from one moment to the next, that she had no idea why this was happening, that it was exhausting dealing with him, and that he should go to a doctor so we could find out the cause of the difficulties he was having.
Friday, September 29, 2006
“Why aren’t you sleeping, habibi?” I asked him. He said: “There’s a butterfly flying round inside my head and stopping me from going to sleep.” I asked him if it was the same butterfly he’d mentioned a few days before, fluttering inside his heart and making him afraid. He said, “It’s another butterfly, or maybe it’s the same butterfly but it’s moving between my head and heart and stomach.”
Saturday, December 2, 2006
A noticeable improvement in Youssef’s sleep and mood since Papa came to visit from Egypt. Today he asked him, “Grandfather, how do you say guitar in Arabic?” “Guitar,” said Papa. Youssef wasn’t convinced and turned to me: “How can it be the same word in two languages? Is it the same as habibi?”
