Milestones

As an adoptive parent, I think you appreciate all these milestones more but only being an adoptive parent I guess I really have no idea.  But I know that I have spent a lot of time think about milestones lately and what I have missed and what we have yet to see.  There is so much that happens on a daily basis in a babies life that when you are not there for the first 16 months you miss.  I have morned for a few of those and I wish that I had been there when Chloe first rolled over or when she was getting her first tooth but I was not and that is just the way life was meant to be, I don't have to like it but I can't change it.

As much as I did not want to miss these milestones, one month ago when we met our daughter, I was saddened by all the things that she had not done yet.  There were a lot of mixed emotions because although I was happy for me that we would see her expression the first time she ate from a spoon, I was sad that at 16 months old that she had not experienced this yet.  A dear friend said to me on our trip that, Chloe is still such a baby, and it was the most honest real thing I had heard.  So simple but yet so very, very true.I expected a toddler but she was a baby in so many ways.  I think that once I started accepting the fact that she was a baby, things started to get a little easier.   I was happy for me that I got to experience her babyhood but I was sad because you could tell that she needed to be a toddler. I thought she should be a toddler and those expectations were hard to let go of.  It was hard for me to step back and start parenting a baby but that is what had to be done.  You learn a few things right away on an adoption trip like we were on, expect the unexpected, go with the flow, and you are no longer the one in control, a child has taken that from you and you just have to deal.

Now that we are home and Chloe feels comfortable here, we are seeing an accelerated development of sorts.  In 2 weeks she has gone from only taking bottles to eating baby food and yesterday tried a cupcake and today a baked potato!  Before we know she will be eating steak with the rest of us :).  2 weeks ago she was only crawling and pulling her self up to things.  Last week she was cruising around the furniture like a pro and yesterday she stood from sitting in the middle of the room and took a couple of steps.  She is going to be running before I'm ready with the video camera.   I am so proud of her, my little toddler!

Here are some really short clips of yesterdays, main events.





Today was another sort of milestone, her first doctor's visit here.  It was a long day and there were not any pictures or video to commemorate the event.  I am pleased to say she has gained at least a pound and is now a gigantic 17.5 lbs!  We are doing the full range of tests, typical for an international adoptee and catching her up on her shots, so the visit was far from fun but it had to be done.   So far though everything looks good and we will see a ear nose and throat doctor about her ear in the next couple of months. Although if this girl has a hard time hearing it is news to us, she is simply amazing.