Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Happy Gotcha Day!!!! (Forever Family Day!)


Today (6-22) is Shiloh's Gotcha day! This time last year at around 12pm, there was a knock at our door in Hohhot at the Holiday Inn. There she was....after 2.5 years of waiting. I now know that things happen the way God plans. I am blessed to have given birth and to have felt a baby kick, but I am also very blessed to have waited and prayed for a child I didn't know. I have given life and given love....both are amazing! At times I am sad for the 2 years and 7 months of Shiloh's life that we missed. There are some things we will never be able to know about or answer during those years. I often think about her birthparents and pray for them, as they can't know just what a wonderful child she is and maybe they still grieve for her or wonder if she is O.K. I thank God for the choice they made to leave her where they did. If not, she would not be our precious child to raise.

Shiloh has had an incredible year of lot's of firsts and lot's of learning. Here are a few Tidbits from her first year:

***Shiloh loves to sing. She is surely musically inclined. She sings what we call her "china song". She gets very serious and soulful as she belts our loud words we cannot understand. The tune is the same but the words have changed a little as she has forgotten her chinese for the most part.
***Shiloh has come a long way with her speech, but still has a long way to go. We understand her most of the time and if not, usually Dakota can figure it out. She rarely gets frustrated with us anymore when we do not understand...she will just find another way to tell us the same thing.
***Shiloh didn't run very well when she first came home with us, but it didn't take her long to catch up and now she scares us as she has no fear or climbing and jumping too! She loves the water and has no fear of jumping right in...thank heaven for swimmies! (They keep her afloat!)
***No matter where we eat Shiloh lets us know she wants "meat" and "rice". Now and then I fix rice or noodles for breakfast so she will eat. She has gained from 22 to 29 pounds, and has grown from 18 months to 2T clothing. We still have to be careful and not take any food from her plate unless we ask.
***She copies everything Dakota does but certainly doesn't play the role of the second child...she fights just as hard to be first in line for most anything. She plays well alone but I often hear giggles and laughing when the girls play together. She knows which toys are hers and doesn't like to share.
***Shiloh still cries at times when I leave her at daycare but they tell me she does well. She might be the smallest in her class but she "bosses" everyone around. She knows some of her letters, can count to ten and knows her colors. She loves books and her favorites are ones about adopting babies from China. She will read them over and over. I think she gets that it is about her too.
***Shiloh seems to enjoy her Sunday school class though she still fusses when we leave her. She is usually fine in a few minutes and some of the teen girls who help in the classes love to take care of her. I think they make a fuss over who gets to carry her around. She is quite a hit.
***She is the fastest thing in town in her electric jeep, keeping right up with Dakota. At least now she knows how to drive and doesn't just go forward until she hits something. She has mastered that skill.
***It still looks like Shiloh will not need any further mouth surgeries until she is 5 or 6. For that we are thankful.
***Shiloh clearly prefers Baba to Mama most of the time. (Baba is a pushover and Mama makes her mind.)
***Shiloh loves to view the blogs of children she knew in China or from China. She also loves to look at the pictures of her with the children in the SWI of Baotou where she came from.
***She still hates brushing her teeth so we pretty much have tears every morning but she gets over it quicker these days. She clearly hates pants that have zebra or leopard designs. Not sure why as Dakota loves clothes like that.

3 comments:

Christy and Kevin said...

It is hard to believe it has been a year! Happy 1 year Gotcha! Shiloh sure has blossomed being in her forever home! Keaton said her name today looking at the pictures this morning. They are growing up so fast.

Waiting for Emily said...

Wow! I can not believe it has already been a year!! Seems like yesterday to me. She is a beautiful little girl and is so lucky to have such wonderful parents as the two of you. (as is Dakota)! Happy Gotcha Day and we hope to see you all really soon!

Tammy ~ Country Girl at Home ~ said...

Oh I loved reading about Shiloh's likes and dislikes! There must be something about those Inner Mongolian children being bossy because we have a bossy one too! :)

Tammy