A YEAR IN REVIEW: E-DAY REVISITED
November 28, 2006: A year ago today, we became a family of three! Can you believe it?! A year? To all those people who tell us on an almost daily basis that: "it goes by so fast!" Okay, we get it! It goes waaaay fast! I find myself both nostalgic about where we were at this time last year (I had no idea of what was coming - being a parent is really hard work) and amazed when I think about the fact that we traveled half way around the world, they handed us a baby, and we figured it out! It was only recently when I was looking at pictures that I realized what a baby Eleanor was when we met! For some reason, those first six months are a blur in my mind and it was a bit of a shock to see just how far Eleanor has come!
Eleanor continues to delight and amaze us! She walks AND talks (who knew?)! It is not as easy to describe her anymore as she is quite a multi-faceted little person! And, as I said, she has come so far -- for example, it used to be that when we walked into a new situation she would hang back and sit with me surveying the room. Now: mama? Who needs her?! Eleanor is off and running and quite independent! It is really fun to watch her as she wanders around doing her own thing. I am constantly trying to remember who Eleanor was when she first arrived from China and trying to match that child with the one I see now. The changes are incredible!
The Lily and Eleanor team continues in fine form -- they crack each other up and are constantly imitating each other -- which means that when one falls, down goes the other - followed by gales of laughter! Lily the adventurous has rubbed off on Eleanor as evidenced this last weekend when Eleanor was climbing onto benches, jumping off of them and laughing hysterically when she hit the ground! I feel certain she could hold her own in any mosh pit! As a bonus, Eleanor has developed a crush on Lily's dad, Pete! If her crazy giggling and running in circles is any indication of her ability to flirt -- she is going to be a bit on the obvious side!
We still see most of the families that we traveled with - one family lives on the West Coast and so, unfortunately, we can only e-mail with them. All of the girls are doing well and it is a lot of fun to watch them come out of their shells and to see their personalities emerge! Again, as an example of the difference a year makes: recently, our travel group went to Chinatown for dim sum. Last year, in China, whenever we went out to eat, the girls sat quietly in their highchairs scarfing down whatever we gave them. This year? Chaos! All the girls were trying to escape from their highchairs and run around the restaurant without much interest in the food!! Suffice to say that the adults did not get to talk much to each other!
As we reflect on this past year, it feels trite to say how fortunate we feel because that simply does not express the magnitude of wonder we have over the creation of our family. There is nothing that we would change - well, I would get more sleep - but, in terms of Eleanor, we quite simply are blessed beyond our wildest hopes. She is funny, happy, has a great sense of humor, is interested in the world, smart, wants to explore, loves to be read to, and best of all: she loves US! How lucky are we? I have said before that I have such respect for this little person and the resiliency she has. I am in awe of how she can be this amazing, fascinating little person with such happiness and a sense of fun when her start in life was not so easy. I look at her a year later and I am amazed (could I use this word more?) - not because of anything we have done, but because of all she has done and become. You cannot meet her and not like her!
So, how is the view a year later? Pretty darn great! We never doubted that becoming a family through adoption was the best way for us to have a family. We never doubted that we would love Eleanor as much as we would love a biological child. But we had no idea that Eleanor would be so special. She is quite simply everything we could ever ask for in a daughter! And more!
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