last day as a one year old

Today was our daughter's last day as a one year old. Her big birthday present arrived in the mail. Dada put together a toddler sized table and two chairs, and Hannah and I played with play-doh for a long time before bedtime. We got out both yellow and blue colors and started working on those new words. She loves ripping the play-doh to pieces, rolling it in her hands and on the table, and putting bits of play-doh into containers.

Tonight at bedtime, Dada and I rocked her to sleep in her room while we told Hannah her life story. I hadn't started doing it yet because I didn't know what words I wanted to use, but I've had great advice from other adoptive families just to start young and that I'll figure it out after telling the story several times. Of course, the story will change over the years as she's old enough to understand more adult details. I think I did a pretty good job with word choice, but cried the whole way through. I'm one of those people who cry easily, making a red-eyed runny-nosed mess of myself at any wedding that I attend. I hope that Kevin will tell the story the next time, and together we'll have our word choices consolidated by the time that Hannah really understands what we're talking about.

I think a lot about our daughter's Taiwanese family, and how giving a child a name that means "worthy of celebration" shows how much they love her. She's certainly worthy of celebration!

Thankfully she's perking up and feeling a lot better already. There's significantly less coughing, boogers, and whining coming out of that cute little package that is ready for play time and is asking for "cack-uh" and cheese. The Elmo cake has been ordered, and our little family party is still on for Sunday after Dada's done jumping up and down after the Colts victory.