The End of Summer

The daytime weather will probably remain hot for another month (fine with me) but the mornings are a cool 70-something now. Summer is also over in the sense that we are all back at school/work again until the end of May 2012.

Lar and I had a lot of fun with Abigail this summer. She learns things incredibly fast, she emulates us in almost everything we do and she has enough energy that if we could harness it, we could go off the grid!

I am posting 2 pictures from the past week. One was taken when Abigail was playing with her chalk (the pieces that Larry did not run over with the car). Somehow, she decorated her lids with blue chalk and it gave her the look of some of Larry's Milton FL friends. Pretty awful, but very funny on a 1-year-old.

The other pic shows the tan lines in the creases of her ankles from running bare-foot most of the summer. She has gorgeous skin for sure! My mom loves these tan lines.

The daughter I always pictured in my mind

People who have known me for a long time are aware that I have always wanted to adopt children ever since I was old enough to form an educated opinion on the subject of having children. Adoption was always my first choice for having a family and I was fortunate enough to marry a man who also thought it was a great idea. I was told by others it was a “phase” and I would want biological children eventually.

But I don’t. I do not wish I was Abigail’s birth mother because if I was, then she wouldn’t be who she is and she is perfect in our family. The only reason I wish- even a little bit- that I was Abigail’s birth mother is for her: so she would never in her life have to realize that someone else gave her up.

As I was watching my daughter with wonder the other day, I took her in with my eyes and realized that she is exactly who I pictured she would be. When my younger self pictured my future daughter, she always looked exactly like this:

Hide-Seek-Chase

This is what it looks like when Abigail plays her version of "hide and seek" (you hide, she seeks, you chase)!

Reunion with fellow Adoptee!!

We were privileged to have the opportunity to spend part of today with a family we met when we were waiting for our flight from Seattle to Beijing last December. K and S, a wonderful couple, were actually from our same city and we were elated at the thought of being able to get to know them, and for our girls, of the same adoption group, to get to see each other periodically as they grew up. Unfortunately for us, K and S were quite literally in the process of moving over a thousand miles away, having the stressful job of closing on a house while in China adopting and getting to know their daughter!

With their old friends still in our home city, K and S brought their children for a vacation to visit and we got to see them for the afternoon. It was fun and interesting to watch Abigail and their daughter, E interact with each other. When E crawled comfortably in my lap (a very loving and affectionate child), Abigail went crazy with jealousy. Abigail, who just last week really started picking up on the concept of “mine,” was not interested in sharing her people, toys or house with such a close rival!

I really enjoyed talking to S, as though we were old friends; it was so easy, I suppose, because we sort of share one very intimate part of each other's lives, however brief the experience was. What I probably enjoyed the most, though, was seeing how much E has grown and changed since we last saw her in January. Seven months ago she was very withdrawn. Now she is a curious preschooler, almost 2 years older than Abigail, and her command of the English language is amazing. (I could understand her when she spoke. No one but family can yet understand Abigail!) E really seems thoughtful, introspective, patient and observant about her world. She was the kind of kid who always seems to be thinking something and you just want to know what is going through that head!

At the end of the day, S and I agreed that we are the two luckiest families with two of the most amazing girls ever! (We do know we are a slight bit biased!) We tried to get the girls to pose for a picture together to commemorate the reunion, but they had other ideas. Abigail scowled for about 40 of the 47 pics we tried and E was busy examining other neat things in our yard. Kids really are a blessing!!