10 Months

Today marks the passage of our 10 month anniversary with Sweetpea. We are amazed that it has been 10 months while at the same time we scratch our heads and say, "it can't only be ten months, it feels much longer to us". She is elated that today is a special marker. In lieu of celebration amidst our hectic day we popped marshmallows into the cheeks of all four buttons and played a silly round of "Chubby Bunny" with strawberry flavored ones of coarse for we are girlie girls! (The strawberry ones are pink, I cannot vouch for their taste but they sure look cute!) She is delighted to be delighted in even with a small celebration. I hugged her more than usual today and told her that I was so glad that she is a part of our family.

Recently something happened that hasn't happened in a long time and it caught my attention. She caught a moment of an infomercial of a steaming floor cleaner, I'm sure you have seen this lately too, and she joined the chorus of young voices who longed to have such a product. (Okay, I will admit yet another time my children are strange, even to me. Longing for a floor cleaning product at such tender ages can mean a lot of things but it doesn't mean that they like to clean the floors, just that they are acquainted with such tasks once in a while. Why they wish to own such a device rather than a doll or toy is beyond me.) Sweetpea went on to say that she recognized that she had no money to buy such an expensive product right now but that she would have her husband buy it for her when she got married.

This line of thought happened hundreds of times a day when she first came to us. Anything she wanted and was seemingly denied she would intone about this future husband marrying her, getting a job with lots of money at which time she would beg him for the money to buy the desired item. For the longest time she had a story about this husband buying her a hotdog truck and driving it around so she could sell the hotdogs. Eventually she allowed me into the story by creating a job position for me as the mustard dispenser, but not the ketchup, it was too valuable!

So when she made mention of this mythical husband the other day it was said softly almost like a distant echo. I caught it and realized that she had not said that for a very long time, that she was growing out of her need to hold onto her story. Also her past constraints of how she understands the world are beginning to shift, for she lives in a family where the wife is well loved and never needs to beg the husband for money. The wife also does not wish to live in a hotdog truck! It just isn't my cup of tea.

These are really subtle changes in her that I could easily miss. I am so glad that God is using a highlighter to show them to me when they occur so that I will rejoice in what He is doing in her heart.