Ruminations

Gioia is ten months old today.

In the two months we have known her, she has learned to wave hello, sit up without support, stand steadily while holding on to something, go from a sitting position to standing in her crib, pick up her feet and move forward while we hold on to her hands, roll over, crawl backward.

She starts dancing to Bob and Ziggy Marley immediately when they come streaming over the internet. Sometimes she will dance when you sing to her as well. It is a rocking, rocking dance, one that is quite intentional. Mozart, for example, does not cut it. Elvis and the Marleys, though, KICK IT.

She munches up her veggies, but makes faces at chicken and yogurt. She does not like to be on her back for changes, especially after lunch. She sleeps from 7:30 pm to 7:30 am. Every night. She loves to be held upside down and will throw her head back and arch her back to try to get you to do it again and again.

When she wakes up in the morning, she talks to herself for quite a while. Chris and I fight to be the one to get her up (seriously, we fight). That is because when you walk into her room in the morning she looks over sleepily. Then she slowly, slowly breaks into a smile of such joy that it completely makes your day.

She is fabulous, this little girl of ours. We asked China to give us a daughter. And by goodness, they actually did.