Thursday, January 21, 2010

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.

7 comments:

  1. Happy Birthday Sweetheart Hannah! Love watching and listening to all the cuteness.
    When I think about how much she has grown over the past year it really amazes me... She is such a beautiful little girl! Have an awesome weekend and post pictures ASAP!

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  2. Perfect! I know it doesn't seem like it, but your tears will ease after awhile. The pain is still there, absolutely, but somehow you process it so that it feels less raw with each retelling. And then you'll be able to focus on her emotions when she's older, when she needs you to. My eyes still well up sometimes, but my tears are more focused on her than on me, if that makes sense. (((hugs)))

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  3. I can't believe that "2" is just around the corner. It seems like it's gone by so quickly from my faraway perspective.

    You've given me a good reminder that I need to start telling William his adoption story in more concrete terms. You're right: now is the time to start getting the wording right because time will go by quickly.

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  4. I'm so happy Hannah is starting to feel better just in time for her birthday party. Happy Birthday beautiful little one!

    I haven't really thought about how to start telling Andy his story. I guess that's something we'll have to start thinking about.

    Your blog always gives me something to think about, I love it!

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  5. Hmmm.... I want the resources you have. I haven't really begun to word her life story. I wonder how it goes with families like mine where older kids saw it all unfold. They know details. They also know the lack of details (no birth family info). This means, I'm one of 5 people who may clue her into parts of her past and how she came to join our family. Anyway, its an asset, I guess, because there is no breaking the ice in talking about it. We talk about it all the time since Grant, Dean and Lael get it. They understand the miracle of adoption and have fallen in love with Dorothy- hardly remembering a time before her. Well, if I'm being honest, they remember a time when the house was cleaner! Ha!

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  6. Happy Birthday to Hannah!!! You are such a big girl!

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  7. What a precious girl! But Mommy, I have a little secret to share with you..... she's still a baby. Yep. You'll look back at this video when she's 5 and you'll gasp because she was soooo little!

    Her sweet face makes me smile. She sure does love playdoh! Thanks for sharing!

    Donna
    Our Blog: Double Happiness!

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