Abby's Adoption Celebration - Take Two

I had written this really nice, long, and emotional post about reaching the big milestone of one year with Abby. And then, I felt like it was all just re-hashed stuff. Touchy feely things that I have probably said a million times, and so has every other adoptive parent out there in blogosphere.



So, I scrapped it.



Instead, I thought I'd do another favorite of adoptive parents, which is much more light-hearted. A list of things about Abby. I went with twelve things, one for every month she's been a part of this family. 'Cause I thought no one would want to read 365 things about ANYONE else..... no matter how cute that person might be!





1. The girl can SLEEP. When she wakes up in the morning, she tumbles down the stair and has that "nobody talk to me until I drink my coffee" look on her face that she must have learned from me. I think most days she finally gets up just because she doesn't want to be alone upstairs. Which leads me to number two......





2. She HATES to be alone. I don't know if that comes from being in the orphanage and getting used to always having so many others around, or from having been punished by being left alone in a room, or from abandonment fears, but she avoids being alone in any room at all costs. The only place she's comfortable alone is the bathroom. Thankfully. lol





3. She loves salty foods. When most of my kids finish a meal, they beg for cake, cookies, or candy. Not Abby. She always says: "Can I please have some chips for a snack??"





4. She is gifted with a beautiful singing voice and is not afraid to use it.......... in the shower, or when doing chores.



5. She LIKES chores. I mean, she knows enough by now to do her share of complaining when she's assigned them. But she does them with JOY. And does not rush through them. She honestly looks every bit as happy doing chores as she does when she's playing. Either she loves them, or she's found the secret of doing everything cheerfully the way we SHOULD. But wait: she doesn't do schoolwork cheerfully - so maybe not.



6. She has the best handwriting out of any of my kids. There might be two reasons for this: 1- I wasn't her sole handwriting teacher!! 2 - There's something about learning to write those complicated Chinese characters that makes our alphabet ridiculously easy.



7. She cannot get enough of looking at her reflection. She says they had no mirrors at the orphanage, so she did not get the opportunity much for most of her life. But now she just can't stop. I've caught her fixing her hair using the microwave door for a mirror while on time-out. I found this kind of endearing at first but now it's just a little over the top.



8. For those of you who think I talk fast, you have seen NOTHING until you meet our Abby. Her English is GREAT - but we have to keep reminding her to please.slow.down!!



9. She has never taken a bubble bath in her life - but I'm terrified to leave her in the bath by herself. I'm going to have to sit myself in the bathroom with her so she can experience this indescribable joy, or figure something out.



10. Bible is her favorite subject in school.



11. She is great with babies, and baby dolls too.



12. She is a total Daddy's girl. And to think, before adopting, I worried about how Jim would bond with our adoptive child. You worry about the dumbest things sometimes.