Getting to know Miss Mia a little better: 31 for 21

"It is so magical to watch this child come alive right before my eyes...my cup runneth over"

It is so fun to watch Mia's personality emerging every day! She is doing so well and learning so much. It is quite miraculous to think how much she is learning, and has learned in the last few months. She now understands most everything we say to her and she is starting to say words and use new signs all the time. I often think how after a month of being in the Ukraine I was still overwhelmed and could not understand anything anyone said to me, and here this little 4 year old is thrown into a whole new culture and language and life, and she just learns and adjusts and surprises us all.

She is a spunky little thing and always exploring this new world around her

She LOVES her food! She is protective of eating time and territorial about her "space" when she is eating. If anyone is in the kitchen even thinking about preparing food she climbs up to the table and sits there patiently waiting for some food to be served. The only time she will sit and watch a show (besides signing time) for more than 5 minutes is if she has food in front of her.

She LOVES being outside. She will play outside by herself for hours. I mean can you imagine going from very few opportunities to be outdoors, and even those opportunities were not "free reign" to explore, and then suddenly you are allowed to play in a backyard and go freely from one thing to the next? She is going to be very sad when the weather is bad and she can't go outside anytime she wants.

She is VERY curious and explorative. She makes LOTS of messes around the house as she is exploring. One day I was getting after her and thought, this is not what 4 year olds do, this is what 18 month olds do...things like playing in the toilet and such. Then I realized, she has never had the chance to explore and make messes.

Her and Bree love to pair up and get into trouble together

She LOVES to clean, and the funniest part about watching her do it, is that she knows the proper way to clean. She will scoop crumbs off the table into her hand. She knows how to sweep under the table, and take the garbage bag out of the garbage can. I think she may have been the little maid at the orphanage! Sometimes she even puts white socks over her hands and uses them to dust....she definitely didn't learn the dusting trick from me!

For a few weeks, every time I got her up from her nap I would get so frustrated because I would go into her room and she would have taken all the bedding off both beds and put it in a pile in the middle of the floor. I was telling Kris about this and he said "don't you remember they always had piles of bedding in between the beds at the orphanage?" I guess they did....and she must have thought this is what she was supposed to do.
She is never in her own bed when we come in to tuck her in for the night. Most of the time she is on the floor or under the bed, but sometimes she has climbed into bed with Bree (which is adorable). She wanders in the night and will end up sleeping in very strange places, like under Kyra's bed in the other room, or part way on the chair in the hallway or next to the bedroom door. The funny thing is if she gets up in the night she will never come in our room, she always goes into her big sisters room. She is also very quiet and we never know she is up...which is a little scary.

The other night I went in to kiss her goodnight as I went to bed. She had been asleep for a few hours at this point and as I kissed her cheek and said I love you, without opening her eyes, she smiled this big, sweet smile that said "I am finally right where I belong and it sure feels good"

She loves to gather things from around the house and take them to a "fort" of some kind and play with them. She also loves to hide things. There are still items that she hid months ago that have never turned up. She has some good hiding places...I am afraid one of them might be the garbage!
She loves dressing up, both in dress ups as well as her own clothes. She frequently empties her or Bree's (or both) dressers and then puts layers and layers of clothes on herself. She loves wearing headbands or clothes on her head too.
It never gets old watching Mia thouroughly enjoy the simple things in life that she has never experienced before. Still, after 4 months of having her home, we are still amazed at how little of the world she has experienced. And we often forget that she hasn't been here with us forever, and that she hasn't done all the "normal" 4 year old things.
One night at the end of the summer, I sat in the back yard watching her play with the hose. She was so enthralled with such a simple pleasure that most kids have been able to do all their life.
She played for close to two hours without a care in the world, besides where the water was coming from and where she was going to put it next.
Watching the freedom, the joy, and the contentment in her face made me take a deep breath and remind myself....this is what life should be about....enjoying each moment. Taking the time to breathe.
Don't get me wrong, all my children help teach me this, but there is something so powerful about seeing the contrast between what this little 4 year old was living and could still be living, and what she gets to live now. And this little munchkin is literally soakin it all up!
We can always find joy around us, we just need to stop and take the time to see it

Whether it is water trickling magically out of a long green thing, or hearing a child laugh, or taking a minute to just breathe in the fresh air, it is all breathtaking and should be enjoyed even amongst our busy, crazy lives.
Every day we get to see the world through a whole new light with Mia, and it never gets old. The wonder, the sparkle, the amazement that she looks at everything with is astounding. It is miraculous to literally watch another human being come to life in front of your eyes. And with it being down syndrome awareness month it makes it even more pertinent to think that so many other children just like Mia are still waiting for their chance to really live. They have the right to enjoy life and the potential to contribute to the world, and to others, regardless of their extra chromosome.