I have tried to write down the dates for everything new that A has done and, while looking back at that list, I noticed that I don't really have anything written down for August. A started army crawling a couple weeks before we brought her home, so that wasn't new. She already waved. All I can think of that she did in August was start crawling more as her main transportation mode and rolling around less. Oh, and her first signed word, but that's all. I think August was a month for adjusting to her new life with us, without all of her friends around and with three new pets. And then there was September.
Oh my, I ran out of room on my piece of paper to write things down. It seemed like everyday there was something new and big that she was doing. It was such a BUSY month developmentally. Here's an abbreviated list of some of her milestones in September:
FOUR teeth came in, all at once, now she has SIX!!
Clapping
Crawling on hands and knees (when it behooves her)
Pulling up
Clucking her tongue
Dancing
Waved hi
And as her final touch on the month...her FIRST WORD!!
Yep, you read that correctly, she just last week said her first word. She had said it a couple times, but I thought it a fluke and possibly just babble, until this weekend when she waved hi back at me for the first time. I was so excited and explaining to Bryan how she waved at me when I said hi (yes, she's been waving a while, she just hadn't put it together yet) and was showing him when she said it, "HI", in front of Bryan. Turns out that it wasn't just babble. Tonight we were at bible study and I was in a different room from her when one of our friends yells to me "did she just say HI to me?" It felt nice to know that I'm not crazy, my kid really did say her first word.
All I can say is...thank you Hannah's Hope. I don't think September would have been possible with out the special care she received there. Hannah's Hope is why we adopted through AGCI. We knew that their setup would allow our child to have the most individual attention possible and give her the best opportunity to develop normally and boy, did it ever!
Being a mother has been so much fun. It would be fun even if all of these things hadn't happened, but it has been so special to get to see so many "firsts" all at once. One of the hardest things about waiting was knowing my child was growing up without me in Ethiopia. I constantly thought of all of the firsts that I was missing out on. What a blessing it has been for God to show me that, while I did miss out on a few things, He has a TON of firsts that I get to be a part of.
