So it’s been a year since our lives went from being really easy to not so easy.  We used to have one child.  Two adults and one child.  That child can go to the bathroom on his own.  He can get dressed, take a shower, make his bed.  He scrambles his own eggs, slices tomatoes with the big knife and rides his bike like a master.  He’ll let the dog out and knows to watch out for the cats.  He can tell us how to find our way around the Wii and Xbox 360.  We can trust him not to burn the house down.  Easy peasy.

Then what were we thinking when we decided to adopt a 2 1/2 year old girl from China?  It’s not like we had all this free time on our hands and thought it would be cool to use that extra time running around after a toddler, changing diapers, chopping food, measuring, weighing, dressing, bathing, rocking and soothing.  She’ll be four years old in January and knows only a handful of words:  baby, more, bread, oh oh, water and yay (not to mention eee-i-eee-i-ohhh and quack quack quack).  She’ll sit silently and stare at your face, mimicking expressions but not sounds.  She doesn’t know what her teeth are for, so she doesn’t chew her food.  She’ll take the path of least resistance and let you do all the work.  When she falls and hurts herself she doesn’t expect anyone to come running, and is surprised when we do. She must have opinions, preferences, and desires but for now she’s content not to speak of them.

One thing we know for sure is that she experiences utter joy, often, several times a day, and when she does she lights up the universe.  Little Talks plays on the radio and she starts to dance.  She rocks from side to side, her feet pointed outward, legs bent at the knees, fingers splayed, hands moving at double-time.  She is so happy!  When she’s ready to tell us about herself, we’re sure she’ll let us know. I can’t wait.

Yo-we-yo-we-yo-we-yo!