There is a song by Steven Curtis Chapman that says:
Well...that precious little bundle is Hope. That photo was taken shortly after she came home in February of 2004. The reason I dug it out? Well...it is simply ridiculous how excited I am about this...but...see those two teeny tiny teeth poking out of her bottom gums? When she was placed into my arms by Mme. Xu on January 29th, 2004 it felt like the first time I had exhaled in my entire life. A feeling of complete and utter peace enveloped me. *My* baby...the one God had chosen for me...was FINALLY in my arms. I remember smelling her sweet baby smell...how rough her tiny bit of black hair felt...how big her huge dark eyes were looking up at me...how her tiny hand immediately grasped my index finger...how she gave me this look like, "So what TOOK you so long?"...of course I remember I was sobbing all over her and whispering over and over and over, "I love you Han Tao." The next voice I heard was Garry's, "Mama...stop bogarting the baby!" I laughed...and although I knew I'd have to let him hold her for the first time eventually, he was just going to have to wait a few seconds longer. Then he started talking about her "teefies". Yeah...he'll kill me...but we were both talking baby talk to her about her "teefies". I hadn't the slightest notion my child had teefies...or two teeny tiny bottom teeth. There was a momentary flash of sadness because it was one of many firsts we had missed but it was soon replaced with complete joy because she was finally with us.
Today at lunch, my soon to be six year old took a bite out of her English muffin and said, "Ouch!" Hope tends to have a flair for the dramatic so I waited a bit knowing that she had at least one more and much louder "OUCH!" waiting to come out. She took another bite...sure enough..."OUCH!" I said, "What's wrong honey?" She said, "My teeth Mama!" I said, "Did you bite your tongue?" She shook her head yes then took another bite and by the look on her face I knew she was in pain AND concerned. She said, "Mama...my teeth hurt. Do I have a cavity?" I asked her where it hurt...and you guessed it...she pointed to one of those two original teeny tiny teeth. I reached over and felt both of them...and my baby has her first loose tooth. When I told her what was going on you would've thought I'd told her we were going to Disney World. The next few moments were spent learning how to take bites from the SIDE instead of head on...and then we called Daddy and gave him the good news. Claire also had to get on the phone and give Daddy her two year old version of the events which had just transpired. It sounded very much like this, "Daddy! Hopie! OUCH!" Once I had the phone back to my ear Daddy said, "It's a lucky thing we bought that doll!"
Said doll is Carrie The Tooth Fairy. Carrie is doubly special because she is named Carrie...after my sweet friend in Dublin...and because she was created by my dear friend Carol from Rose Creek Cottage. I've collected Carol's dolls for YEARS...and now, very soon, Hope will have her first Ragamuffin. A picture of Carrie The Tooth Fairy as we first saw her can be seen at Carol's blog here. She has lovely dark hair...and big brown eyes...and is dressed all in pink. Hope doesn't know that she exists yet...we'll wait until that teeny tiny tooth has made it's escape before we introduce the two of them.
So, this afternoon has been one of memories...wonderful, wonderful memories...and a shared first...I don't plan on ever missing another.
Hugs y'all!
P.S. Carol...I guess we'll be needing another one of those dolls for baby sister in a few years!
Fingerprints Of God can be found on my playlist at the bottom of this page.
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