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An Abundance of Joy

Yesterday ranks up there with our wedding as one of the best, happiest days of my life. If my memory were a camera, here are the photos I would show you:

My radiant daughter in her handknit christening dress, sitting in Shawn's lap in the pew (with many thanks to E and N for loaning us the beautiful gown!)

My aunt showing up by surprise, having driven last night from Alliston on the spur of the moment

Dennis' impassioned rendition of "Take Me to the Water"

Lia, content and alert, in our priest Gary's arms as he scooped the water three times onto her head, anointed her with oil, and carried her down the aisle to meet the congregation. Lia discovered the wooden cross on a silken rope around his neck, and Gary removed it and draped it over her as he gave her back to us.

The grandmothers' expressive scripture readings (link to the lectionary readings)

Shawn and I doing a tandem delivery of our homily, knowing that we had wrestled with the text and found a way to share our discoveries (email if you would like a copy)

Lia's godmother Marna singing a song about God's love in Mandarin, her voice trembling with emotion

Me belting out "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" (our wedding processional, btw) backed by the family band performing a swinging arrangement by Sufjan Stevens. Thanks for making my dreams come true, guys! I was in heaven, singing that song, and I couldn't stop grinning, and as it was ending I looked at Lia and my heart overflowed.

The crowd of kids anxiously waiting for us to cut Lia's banana strawberry cream cake during coffee hour. The cake was out of this world, and quickly devoured (kudos to our friend, Anne the baker!)

Keep track of our flickr stream for photos from my aunt and others--we were too busy orchestrating and baptizing and glowing to take pictures.

To return to the wedding analogy, these first weeks with Lia have been like courtship, getting to know each other, gradually (or instantly) falling in love. Baptism is our way of saying: Yes, this is our girl! We commit ourselves to her in the sight of our beloved community, and we share our joy with everyone. The music and liturgy allowed us to give voice to our emotions, and to ground everything in God's love.

P.S. In all the commotion of the afterparty, Sam the cat escaped out the door! She was gone for several hours before we realized it. Shawn went to look for her and it turned out she had sought refuge with some neighbours in their laundry room. Upon returning home, she took a few swipes at us for locking her out.

Developments

One of the exciting things about parenting Lia is watching her make strides in her development. In part because of her great foster care, she was on-track in her verbal and small motor development, but she was also somewhat delayed in her gross motor skills. When we first received her, she could not sit up unassisted, and when she was on her tummy, she could not push up on her arms to lift her chest. She pretty much stayed put wherever we lay her down.

Now, six weeks later, she has learned to:

• Sit up unassisted: this is great in the bath, or on her blanket when she's playing
• Roll from back to front, and front to back: she'll actually do a steamroll, turning over and over to get across the room!
• Stand up holding on: to the crib, the bathtub
• Pull up from sitting to standing: she first did this in the bathroom, holding onto the side of the tub. I felt like I'd witnessed a mountain climber making the summit!
• Walk with assistance: she's toddling down the hallway holding onto our hands!
• Crawl like a commando: using her elbows and feet, she propels herself across the floor any way she can, especially when the incentive is a precarious tower of cups she wants to knock down.
• Eat with her hands: when we first got her, she could pick up a Cheerio in a pincer grip, no problem, but she hadn't figured out how to get it in her mouth and let go. Now she's stuffing them in like a champ.

What makes this progress so fascinating is that she had the physical development and ability all along, she just needed the opportunity and knowledge to put it together. And the best part is that Lia's really excited about this movement and freedom. At first she was frustrated and whiny when placed on her tummy, because she couldn't do anything. Now she propels herself around, rolling and pushing to get where she wants, with grunts of determination and crows of success. When we compare the shell-shocked, immobile baby of our first weeks in China to the squirmy, grabby, kicky baby now, it's like night and day.

Lia has also learned a bunch of cute noises and gestures:

• She's a fiend for waving bye-bye. The other week she added a new move in the high chair, which was to tilt her head to the side coquettishly, and then wave. Priceless.
• She shrugs her shoulders, another coy move that looks adorable (the shoulder-shrugging was Aunt Melody's signature as a kid).
• Not only does she make kissy noises, but she has learned to associate them with her stuffed animals, so whenever we give her the puppy or the bunny, she kisses it. AND, I can hardly believe it, but she will now give kisses when we say "Give kisses! Where's the kisses?", even if her stuffed animals aren't around. I had no idea she'd pick up on language that quickly.

We revel in each of these milestones because it feels like her babyhood is going to disappear very quickly into toddlerhood. Since we missed the first ten months of her life, every day now, every step, is precious to us.

"I don't remember signing off on this"

Everyone who knows our cat asks how Samantha and Lia are getting along. In a word, fine. At least until Lia begins to walk. At first, Sam was so happy to have us back that she tolerated Lia's presence, skirting around her outstretched arms and disappearing during any crying spells. Now, I dare say, she is developing a bit of affection for Lia -- we were away for a few days and when we arrived home last night, I found Sam meowing at Lia's door after she had gone to bed. There's still hope for this relationship.

One thing Sam loves is when Lia is in her pack-n-play. In the video below you'll see Sam attacking the side wall as Lia moves her hand back and forth. I don't think Lia has any clue what's on the other side.

Happy 40th Kevin!

This week we were treated to a visit from my brother Kevin and his wife Jacquie and their three wonderfully precocious children, Brendan, Lauren and Nicole. Unfortunately for the kids, the canal was more suitable for swimming than skating, but we enjoyed ourselves by walking to the Market (Beavertails!) and visiting the newly re-opened Museum of Nature. Lia was thrilled to meet her cousins, and loved playing with them and showing off all her new skills.

Today, Kevin celebrates his 40th birthday and we wish him every bit of happiness as he enjoys this day with friends and family in Burlington.

A shot of Kevin and family I took a couple years ago on the island of Schiermonnikoog in the Netherlands.

Come to the Water

You are cordially invited to the baptism of Lia Na-Fei Gresik de Raaf

to be held on the Fifth Sunday in Lent, March 25th, 2007 at 10:00 am (Deo Volente)

at the Church of the Ascension, 253 Echo Drive, Ottawa, Ontario.

Holy baptism will performed by the Reverend Gary Hauch, the homily will be delivered by Mr. Shawn de Raaf and Ms. Alison Gresik, and special music will be provided by Ms. Lia's family and friends. Come one, come all!

Key Lime Tart

As Shawn mentioned, I used his birthday as an excuse to spend all day making a decadent Martha Stewart dessert from her Baking Handbook.

And because I'm a geeky blogger, I took photos.

I was lucky to spot the tiny key limes at our local grocery store. I candied the slices for a garnish. The cream cheese tart pastry was covered in parchment and weighted with dried beans in cheesecloth before baking.

The birthday boy had four slices. I'd call that a success!

Happy Returns

I gotta tell you, there's really no better way to spend a birthday: relaxing at home instead of working; sharing coffee in the morning with Ali; bathing, feeding, and rocking Lia to sleep; receiving phone calls, emails and cards from family and friends; and spending the evening enjoying good food and the company of friends. Ali got all Martha Stewart on me and baked a key lime tart -- amazing! Unfortunately for her, Ms. Martha's army of assistants did not appear to do the actual work, and she had to do everything herself (well, mostly everything; I DID do a few dishes).

I feel really blessed. I must admit that after the exhilaration of travelling to China, onset of jetlag and transition to everyday life with a baby, I went through a period of adjustment. I think Ali was able to work through most of this stuff pre-adoption, because she's smart that way. I only seem able to deal with things when I'm in the midst of them, and I wasn't able to work through all my emotional anxiety of parenting before I held Lia in my arms. I learned that a helpful remedy for me is spending quality time with family and friends, and we've been making an effort to do just that. While we're careful not to overwhelm Lia with too many new faces all at once, we've really enjoyed her interactions with people we care about. I've also found that learning to parent a child is a process that unfolds at its own pace. Yesterday, I simply took pleasure in each moment I had with her.

I walk slowly, like one who comes from so far away he doesn't expect to arrive.
~Jorge Luis Borges

On a lighter note, here are a few other things I didn't expect about parenting:

• Due to arctic-like conditions in Ottawa, leave house at most once per day.
• Plan life in two-hour increments around Lia's nap schedule.
• Categorize every activity by ability to do with or without child and slot into nap schedule accordingly.
• Have the washing machine running constantly, yet none of my clothes getting cleaned.
• Perform drool check on shirts each morning. If clear, wear for as many days in a row as possible (see laundry schedule above). Three days is the current record.

Thanks for all your well-wishes. I'll try to return the favour by posting our favourite shots of Lia we took yesterday with my new birthday present.

Click on the photo to see a slideshow of the set

Baby Talk

Da da da. Da da da da! Ah da da!

[translation: Happy birthday, Daddy! Let's play! You are the best!]