Friday 14 March 2014

The smell of Digger


The first time I met Digger, I thought his smell was strange, and truth be told, unpleasant, vaguely off-putting. It made me very worried. How could I bond with him if I didn’t like the way he smelt? Was it a fundamental dislike I had sensed? Was adopting him going to unravel because of it?

I love the way my husband smells, and have always done so. I fell in love with it and him at the same time. But with Digger was different. It felt like a barrier I had to break through, and I didn’t know how.

Few months later, the perfume of Digger was as intoxicating and wonderful to me as that of my husband. After a good work out in the park or the playground, it is always that little bit stronger. Especially if the sun is out. I can bury my nose in his soft, wild curls and inhale him. It has become familiar, and completely connected to this little person who I love.

I cannot pinpoint the exact moment when it all changed. I guess I was too busy to dwell it. But by October I found myself in love - he had moved in in August. I imagine I started to like the scent of him sometime in that two-three month window.

Perhaps it was the diet then that initially made him smell so peculiar to me – along the lines of Europeans smelling a lot like old cheese to the Japanese, because of our diary intake as opposed to theirs. And I wonder whether he now smells like us. I guess we smell like a family, The Norwoods. Or perhaps it is simply the love I feel for him. But one thing is certain: It is.

Our Norwood smell would have been an omnipresent signifier of how things had changed. I imagine he must have felt something similar to what I was going through, only he had landed in our world.

No doubt Digger thought we smelt odd at first. As did our house and everything in it. He couldn’t turn away from it.

Digger has a keen sense of smell. Nowhere is it more obvious than when he is trying new food. He is very confident in declaring likes and dislikes. I think smell is at the heart of this. He doesn’t need to taste it to know.

I guess, after a while you grow used to a scent. Or it could continue to grate. Or you begin to love it.

Now when he turns towards me as he falls asleep at night, it is not only the closeness he wants. I sense he wants my smell too. And that it adds to his sense of safety.

In preparation for transition we were told to copy and transfer as much as possible from his foster homes into our house, his new forever home. We were told to begin using the same washing powder and softener as his foster mum, and we did so as soon as we had met her, and continued to do so for months after wards. I still like the particular transition-softener smell very much, and sometimes use it for our towels even now – for sentimental reasons.

I can’t help but to think that it is actually impossible to transfer very much from the foster homes. Bringing the physical things from one home to the new is the easy bit. It is whole context that is difficult to translate and is mostly lost. Because the overwhelming sense and reality of the situation will be changed, forever. This is not to undermine the sound and obvious advice in being very sensitive and in trying. It is to remind myself of just how much these children loose through adoption. As good as everything vanishes overnight. Expect for their little bodies and some physical memories. Smells and scents are but one aspect of it.

We were conscientious to bring some the smell of his foster home with us. And we expected not to wash his bedding for a long while. On Placement Day, the foster mum wasn’t going to let Digger go with dirty laundry, so everything was spinky spam and smelt of her clean home.  We left the bedding on for two weeks. Then he peed on it, which neatly ended the discussion of when to wash it.

Whenever we travel we make sure to bring along something with Digger’s distinct smell on it – his pillow, for instance, or better still duvet. And one (or two) of his beloved soft transition bunnies without which he will not leave the house and cannot sleep (we haven’t really tested this – we trust his judgement on the subject). Bringing these items helps him sleep in a new environment.

The only malodour around Digger’s two-year-old self (well… expect an obvious one) is that occasional pungent waft of a too well-loved soft bunny, when he sweetly offer it to our cheeks for comfort. That can be really hard on the old nostrils – stale regurgitated milk and sleep dripple, and whatever else it has been in contact with over the last few days.

I am grateful to Digger’s foster mum that she always kept everything so very clean, that it is easy for me too to stick everything – bar Digger himself, or my husband for that matter – in the washing machine when it needs it, without fear of loosing too much redolence.



6 comments:

  1. I love this post, it really made me think about the smell of my own family. I know my youngest also relies on his sense of smell a lot. Recently we used a pieces of fabric with my perfume on as a comforter for school. He too has a bear that to me does not smell overly appealing but he buries his nose into him as he curls up to sleep each night. I know I have smells that remind me of childhood, I wonder what those will be for my children? I hope it's roast dinners and open fires. I'm off to bury my head in my sons mop of hair now, I just can't resist after reading your post.

    Thank you for sharing on the Weekly Adoption Shout Out.

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    1. You're very welcome! Thank you. Nice touch with the piece of fabric with your perfume for school. I'll make sure to remember when we get that far. Now I often tuck my scarf under his cheek when he naps. That works a treat too. In fact I wear scarfs to do just that.
      Hope you are having a Happy Sunny Sunday. ;)

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  2. I sadly ruined my sense of smell with years of smoking, but even so, I still know the aroma of a dribbled-on soft toy! Lovely post :)

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    1. Thank you very much. and Haha… it is a special smell the dribble-on soft toy. Happy Sunday to you. ;)

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  3. I loved reading this because I spend half my day with my nose attached to Pip's head and neck. I adore the smell of him. He didn't smell like that to start with either but slowly the smell of our washing powder and conditioner and our food and shampoo etc oozed out of him. He smells like us now, as does Katie. I love both their smells. It's so important. We prepare for the children and their ol factory needs but ours are equally as important. Great post!

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    1. Thank you very much, Gem. I love your comment - attached to his head and next...
      Hugs are a great way to disguise a good old sniff. ;)
      Happy Sunny Sunday to you.

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