Six months home!

In a couple of days, Willa will have been with us for six months! To say that time has flown is a complete understatement. It feels like we're leaping forward exponentially. Part of it is due to the pace at which she's developing. She's our first experience with a baby, and how quickly they grow!

She knows exactly what is going on and understands us well. I can ask her, "Where's the ball...or book...or block?" and she finds it right away. She waves and says, "Bye!" all the time. (She also says "bat" all day because we have lots of them around the house for Halloween.) And today, she shoved her teething ring in my mouth and said, "Bite!" She has said Mama and Baba for a long time now, and it's always lovely to hear.

She looks to us for reassurance. When she's scared, she instantly searches us out. She almost always looks at us to determine whether or not she should do something, like open (or break) a cabinet. And when we say "no," she shakes her head, and then does it anyway, of course.

Yes, she is also a complete stinker. She is horrendous when we change diapers or clothes or put her into her car seat. If we tell her "no" she fights even harder. She also has the amazing capacity to bite and pinch us at the same time! Alas, she thinks it's funny.

Speaking of her stinker-ness, her crib is against the wall that separates our bedrooms, and she has figured out that our room is next to hers. So when she wakes at night, she kicks the wall with all her might! She has really banged up her crib! After she learned how to pull herself up, she started to stand and whack our wall with her open hands, all while screaming at the top of her lungs! (However, two nights ago she slept through the night for first time! She didn't last night, but we remain hopeful.)

She gives kisses and if I say, "Hug?" she'll put her head down on my chest and smile. And then she'll do it again and again. She also loves to dance. She has danced from the moment we brought her home. Her birthmother told us she herself loves to dance more than anything else; what a wonderful thing to inherit!

Willa is truly what our family needed for balance. And for unlocking Jia's heart to us. Once we returned home, Willa seemed to trust us quickly, and accepted our role as her parents. From this I think Jia learned that it was okay for her too. Jia now looks us right in the eye, and can relax with us. She smiles and runs directly into our arms. That type of behavior was infrequent at best before Willa. I look at the kid Jia is now and I'm astonished.

Interestingly, Willa is now the same age as Jia when she joined our family. Eleven months old. I've been waiting for this moment. We really had no idea how kids were developmentally at that age. We didn't have a clue about what they knew, how aware they were of what was going on around them. We likely thought they were blissfully unaware of their surroundings. How wrong indeed. Knowing what we do now makes us especially sad for Jia and all she went through. What terror, confusion and grief she clearly felt. It makes us appreciate even more how very, very far she has come.