Hard to believe that...

Four years ago tired, sick, but very happy, we arrived at SFO with the little girl we conceived during a camping trip in Vancouver, British Columbia, five years earlier. We still have a good laugh about juggling SS, our luggage, and carry ons, while making sure her feet did not touch the floor. Why? Because P had been waiting for this moment for years.

It was so important to him, that we managed to tee off our agency, by refusing to fly into LA as they required. It was so important to him, that he did not think a second before telling Grandpa that no way was SS going to enter the US through Maui. P did not want the seemingly requisite picture we saw on so many blogs, a cute Chinese child touching US soil for the first time at the airport. P wanted SS to plant her tiny feet on US soil in the town he was born, San Francisco. And he made it a family connection by choosing La Taqueria, a place all four of us now have in common.

Hard to look at SS today and remember the shy sixteen month old who tentatively crawled around looking at her new room, her new home, her new things. Heck, she had no idea each and every item was exclusively hers, chosen for her, and just her. No more common property.  SS did not know that her crib had been set up in three rooms, in three different dwellings, while we waited for her to come home. 

Four years later SS is an interesting study of contradictions. She is with us every day, she has self assuredly taken over every aspect of our lives; yet every time we get ready to go somewhere, or exit the van, she asks if she is coming along. She worships super heroes, and anything boy, but is the most feminine looking creature. Her Spanish pronunciation is flawless, while she struggles with English pronunciation. SS is the proverbial box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get.

SS can be extremely shy at times, becoming paralyzed when simply asked her name, her age, or how she is doing. But five minutes later she does not have any qualms about belting out, in the middle of a Carters store, "It's a quarter after one, I'm a little drunk and I need you know."  SS still struggles with simple concepts three year olds have mastered. Then turns around and assembles a Lego toy years above her age, or assembles a 100 piece puzzle in record time. SS loves music, technology, and has a wicked sense of humor.

SS cracks us up just being her quirky self, from her love of skulls and bones, to her fear of plain old pumpkins in a pumpkin patch. She goes around singing "I'm sexy and I know it," like other kids sing Barney songs.  While driving today, SS went all Commodores on me by singing "She's a brick HOUSE." Then asked, "Mama, what is a brick house?" Yesterday morning she came to me and asked, "Does my breath stink?" Then cupped her hand, blew on it and smelled. Where does she get that from? We still struggle with attachment, a seemingly never ending reminder of her beginnings. But SS has enriched our lives beyond anything we ever expected. Happy four years home SS. And as much as we love you, we are glad you are finally in your own bed.

Her legs look deceivingly long in this picture.