The Howard Family: One Month Ago Today...

One month ago today, a precious girl was placed in my arms with the words, "Here's your baby." I can hardly believe that Amelia has been in our family for a month. In so many ways, it seems like she has always been with us. We are so in love with our daughter and feel that she is really settling into her new home and family. We have seen so many changes and are so grateful to Our Lord for bringing this child into our lives.dxddd

As I look back over the past month, we have seen Amelia

- begin to walk! She uses her walking toy to make circles in the house, but she has taken 15 steps in a row without falling. She will be cruising on her own before long, and we are so excited to be able to experience this development milestone.

- move from being ALL about Mama to actually reaching for Daddy when Mama is holding her. :)

- take only a bottle and rice cereal to eating everything she can get her hands on (minus goldfish). We just knew she should have gained at least a pound after being with us, but she must be burning it off with all of the walking.

- go from sleeping in a room with others to sleeping in a room by herself (and for 11-12 hours at a time!)

- learn to blow kisses and wave hello and goodbye.

- adjust to riding in a car seat. Car seats are not really used in China, and she was NOT happy about being strapped into one at first. Now, she actually falls asleep in the car.

- have her first injury. Her bite is looking great and all of the doctors agree that it is healing nicely. It was a huge jolt into parenthood to have to rush your child to the doctor on your 3rd day home.

- love baths. She had never had a true bath before joining our family. The orphanage sponge bathed the children (we asked). She was never afraid of the tub or the water and has been a little fish from the start.

- leave her Mandarin behind and pick up some English. She is now saying "Mama", "Dada", "Ba Ba" (Bailey), "Tan U" (Thank you), "Uh Oh" (her favorite), "Pop" (Poppy), "Hi", "Bye", and signing the word "more" (but not consistently).

- get 2 new teeth and learn to brush them. She LOVES to brush her teeth and gets super excited when she sees the toothbrush come out. I wonder what her first dentist visit will be like...

- really let her personality shine, especially during the last week. She is very determined, busy, happy, sweet, and curious. She really likes music and dances to whatever she hears. Amelia wants whatever we have and gets very upset when you don't give it to her.

- dislike the words "no" and "lay down". I think she learned what these two words meant first and was not happy about them.

- settle into her new life with parents who adore her.