Thursday, January 17, 2008

Junie 15 month milestone





Have you ever seen the paws of a German Shepard puppy? Tiny fluffy body but HUGE paws? So you know that dog is going to get huuuuge.

I think of that every time I put shoes on my Junie Bug. She has the biggest feet. And her hands are huge, too. That, combined with her taller than average height makes us think we have the Yao Ming of Chinese babies. Which is hilarious, if you consider both Matt and I are 5'5". Our biological daughters are these tiny little things. And here's our China born baby who is so tall and so solid with those big ol feet and hands. I just imagine our family picture when she is a teenager and Juna just towering over all of us.

Her 14th month was a funny one. She is starting to say new words. The latest one is butt. I'm learning that's normal when one has an older sibling. The word butt is used often in this house. Mostly "buh-hind." Miss Boo is fond of saying buh-hind, but when she says butt, Junie echos her. "Butt butt butt!"

Avie walks around saying, Alllllll gone, just like Bug did as a younger baby. Occasionally Av will not finish and just says allllllllll... and trails off. Bug will interject, "Gone! GONE! ALLL GONE" Almost as if she is telling Avie to get it right already!

Junie loves her squeaky shoes. For those not in the know, they are shoes that squeak when the child walks, making a sound like a pet's squeaky toy. Squeaky shoes are popular for little children in China. I had purchased them for Miss Boo when we made the decision to adopt when Boo was just 18 months old. The shoes were huge on Boo, but fit snug on Juna. I will put Robeez on Junie, but Junie will go to her shoe shelf, find the squeakies, carry them to me, point at her feet and go, "Uh. Uh!" She will not rest until I switch her to the squeakies. There are days when I just don't want to hear all that squeaking but it's either squeaking or screaming. Squeaking wins.

Tempter tantrums have started. She will throw herself to the floor, screaming, and goes limp and no amount of consoling will calm her down. She wants her way all of the time. She is one strong willed little woman.

She also gets all of her teeth at once. She cannot just get one tooth, oh no. Last week, all four molars came in at one time. I guess that's easier. It's a lot of pain, but it's all over quickly, instead of being drug out over weeks. Whereas Av still only has two teeth. One is coming, but it has taken the past five weeks of misery for her. She is a slow teether. I think Juna has it right.

I recently referred to Junie Bug as being Chinese. The person I was speaking with got offended. "She is not Chinese! She is an American!" I stopped and thought about that for a long moment. I still think about it and it's weeks since that happened. I'm so proud of her heritage. I've mentioned before that when we got to China, it felt like home. I really connected with the people and the culture. We are raising her to embrace her Chinese heritage and plan to return to China as often as we can afford. She will always know her birth country and the traditions. So when I say she is Chinese, I am saying so with pride.

She's my daughter, period. Never ever do I feel a difference between how I love her and how I love my other daughters. When I look at her, I just see my baby. I don't see our differences in looks. To be honest, everyone says she looks like me. I take that as the highest of compliments. I am so proud when people say that.

She is growing up too quickly, but I'm enjoying every moment. She's so fascinating, so smart, and so much fun to be around.

I am so grateful she was matched with us. They got is so so right. I am also grateful I get to spend this milestone with her. Here's too many many more.

4 comments:

jen said...

She DOES look like you! That's the first thing I thought when I saw that picture. She totally looks just like you.

Ashley said...

She is such a cutie pie! What a hoot that she loves her squeaky shoes. Would she still like them if you took the "squeaks" out? Probably not as much fun that way. Gotta love those little "big" personalities!

Christy said...

Hay I found your blog from RQ and it looks like we have daughters about the same age. Mia is 14 months and will be 15 months on 1-29. I love reading about your family. It is funny- we have HUGE bio boys and MIa is TINY! SHe is only 17 pounds and is 29.5 inches tall. She is a peanut and I am use to my boys being off the charts on the high side. Anyway, we have opposite issues with our kids-- funny. Anyway, love your blog!

Christy :)

Louanne said...

Cute little Juna! She just cracks me up with the ALL GONE! It's so funny that she is going to be so tall and Nadia is just tiny!