Love and Joy with Gracyn

I started this post back in December. I was going through a really painful period of bonding with Gracyn. I felt that our growing love was starting to slow, and I knew we still had a relationship that we needed to work on. My love for her still continues to grow and change with the seasons. She is a three year old girl, but she is still my 15 month old baby. In many ways, developmentally, she is about a year and a half to two years of age. As I sit here and type, I realize that she was 15 months old at referral, and two years old when we met.

I have been watching Addi grow so fast over the past 4 months, and it reminds me how much of Gracyn's life I wasn't there for. Seven more months and she'll have spent half her life with me and half without. I was heartbroken that I missed Gracyn's 2nd birthday by less than a week. But she had a happy second birthday with people she loved and with people who loved her. She had a cake! That was my hope for her. To have spent her 2nd birthday with us would have made for sad memories. Here's my girlfriend turning 2. . .

 

 

Gracyn is growing by leaps and bounds. She now asks to "baby" which means I cradle her in my arms like a baby and we just stare into each other's eyes and I love on her soft cheeks. She still loves for me to hold her face in the palms of my hands. She has the most generous heart. She shares with everyone. She might ask for "two" of something but that's a bad habit she learned from her big brother. If she's by herself, even if it's just pretzels, she will only take one. Well, this might not hold true with M&M's, but for everything else it does!

She will wear anything if I put the same thing on Addi or Peyt. She's finally learning to want what she wants, not just want what Peyt wants. She's a great eater, her muscle tone is improving, and she loves to pray. She knows the letters T, D, G, P, A, J, V, and S. Being the sweetheart that she is, she knows these letters because they are the first letters of the names of those she spends the most time with!

She's riding a tricycle and she's potty training! (Want a potty training tip? Put a sanitary pad in big girl panties and the dribble accidents are captured without clean up!) She would still rather clean house than play. Hope that's something that stays with her in her teenage years! And her eyes are still the most expressive part of her. She tells all with those big ole beautiful eyes. If someone gave me photos of just her eyes, I could name the emotion. There's her "surprise, uh-oh" eyes, her "guilty" eyes, her "scared" eyes, her "sad" eyes, and her "joyful" eyes. The joyful eyes that I waited so long to see with my own two eyes. . .

 

She's talking up a storm! Praise God. I never thought we'd have to tell her "shhhh". Since Gracyn started talking more I've heard more "no's", a lot more fighting with her brother, but I've also heard some special words. It wasn't until tonight that some of those special words were so clear and so real. . .not just her repeating words. After reading her a book and praying with her I tucked her into bed. She would rather sleep with a hard book over a soft cuddly animal, so at her request, in went the book beside her. I left on the big bedroom light because she said the small night light hurts her eyes. I covered her up and said, "love you." And in her sweet voice I hear, "love you, mom." I walked out of the room with my heart smiling and overflowing with joy. She loves me. . .she finally loves me.

We've come a long way in a year girlfriend. Sweet dreams. . .love you.