More than Just a Picture

Back in August, we got our first picture of our little girl. She was cute, and we (and others) inferred all kinds of things from her picture about her personality. But we didn't really know her, her likes or dislikes, her daily routine, what will make her laugh.

Even after our November trip, we still didn't really know her. We knew more- that she could crawl, she liked snacks, she liked being held, but we couldn't tell you much.

Now, we really feel like parents because we KNOW her. We could make a fairly accurate guess to what she will like or not.

She isn't a big fan of stuffed animals. Has dozens of them that people have given her as a gift, but has never really cared about them.

She loves things that make noise- books, toys, phones, etc. If she can do something and it makes a noise, she is a fan. One of our more recent purchases from her has become a favorite- it is a book where each button plays its own song, and it also has separate keys if you want to compose your own song. She doesn't do much with the separate keys yet, but she loves pressing the buttons to hear the different songs.

I know that my daughter is aware enough to know that she likes the "adult" food better than the kid food. She has never gone for the straight baby food (the mush), and even torn up pieces of chicken nugget or strips are not as good as the full sized piece. She is more likely to eat a big chunk of banana (in little bites) than small chunks.

I can tell you that when she starts to get grumpy and itchy and nothing seems to make her happy, it is because she is tired, and needs to take a nap. But I could also tell you that she legitimately fights sleep, and might be flailing about, kicking and screaming when you try to get her down... she is still tired, it just is going to take some work to get her to sleep. I know that most days, she takes two naps, one in the morning (around 10... thus my ability to write a blog) and one in the afternoon, which varies in time.

We know how to make her smile, we know how to make her laugh. We understand more of her gibberish than a random person might.

Having her home, even on the hard days, is such a blessing because it means that we get to know her. Her unique, God-given personality, combined with our nurturing and teaching, blended together to make what we know as our daughter. We are so thankful that she is so much more than a picture and a face to us now.