Child of my dreams

I don't even know where to start. Thalia has been with us mere hours, and I feel like she's always been with us. I don't really know what I was expecting, but who she is is not what I was expecting! When she first came out of a side room at the civil affairs office, she came right up to us with the mother and baby panda we'd sent her for Christmas and handed it to me. I thought she looked scared, but then someone told her we were Mama and Baba, and a big smile broke out on her face. Within seconds she was grinning ear-to-ear, making silly faces, giggling, posing, and sporting Curtis' sunglasses. She did classic "rapper" poses wearing those sunglasses, and we all just laughed and laughed. She was so FUNNY, and she totally got that she was being funny. There were screaming babies all around us, but here was this smiling, charming, trusting, engaging little angel that we got to call ours! It was seriously amazing.

Now, we've done this a few times, and I know all about honeymoon periods, but there is something completely different about this whole experience. This little person looks us in the eye. When the camera comes out, she grabs onto the people next to her and wraps her little arms around them and smiles. She stays with us when we walk through the hotel and on the street. She seems to understand already that we're her people, that she is safe, that we will meet her needs, and that she is loved.

She is so sweet and affectionate - not overly so, but just the right amount. She doesn't talk a lot (but she does talk a little, and she imitates quite a bit. She also has very mandarin-sounding jargon!). She gestures like crazy and she gets her intent known without much difficulty. Just watching her figure things out so quickly on the iPad has me floored. She is smart!

Tonight we took her out for dinner. She could have been cruising all over the restaurant, but she sat on her stool and ate everything we gave her (with chopsticks!) and behaved like an angel. She ate a little ice cream for dessert back at the hotel. She had a bath, during which she petty much bathed herself, she dressed and undressed herself, used the bathroom independently, and took care of putting her toys and clothes away.

Right now she's sitting next to me, playing with the iPad and making her little toy dog kiss me repeatedly. She's absolutely amazing and I'm overwhelmed with gratitude. I'm one lucky mom. <3