For the Love of Savanna

My dear Savanna,

It seems like yesterday that I met you ( 2/23/06). To this day, I do not think of that day without tears welling in my eyes. When I saw you in Aura’s arms (your foster mom) I thought you were beautiful, the most stunningly beautiful baby I had ever seen. I also thought you were so tiny. Aura had dressed you in the outfit I sent to her a few weeks prior to our meeting. It was a very soft pink velour sweatsuit. You wore a pink satin headband that had a flower in the center, and you had the smallest little socks on. I still have them. I’ve saved many of your clothes that have “special” meaning for me, and hopefully for you too one day.

I think of your birth mom, Ramona, daily. You look a lot like her. I feel a special bond to her as you share her blood and DNA. I am grateful that she chose to bring you into the world. I feel honored and deeply humbled to be your “Mom”.

Aura will always be a very special person. You spent the first 6 ½ months of your life with her, her husband, and her son Christopher. They loved you dearly. I am so glad that Aura loves you and wants to be part of your life. It pained her deeply to “let you go”. She loved you as her own. Aura took wonderful care of you which gave you a very good start in life. I will always be grateful for all she gave to you. When you are older I will take you to see her, Christopher, and Anyela, who was born Dec. 2, 2006.

You have grown much in one year. You weighed only 14 lbs when I met you and now you weigh 23.5 pounds. You were only 21 inches in height and now you are 31. You also have a mouth full of teeth. And, you are 18 months old.

You have learned much in one year, Sass. You learned to crawl but were more enthusiastic about learning to walk, which you did at 10 months of age. You quickly learned to run, and I’ve been chasing you ever since! You love to climb and jump too. And baby girl, you learned to dance and are now better than I am. You love to sing “nah ne nah ne nah”. You love to go in a circle and say, “round and round and round and … ‘down”. I think it’s your version of “ring around the rosey and we all fall down” but I’m not certain. You like to play “peek-a-boo” by hiding your face under your blanket and quickly disappearing, and suddenly appearing. This brings great laughter from all of us.

You love to help me around the house. If something is spilled on the floor you will quickly wipe it up with a sponge or cloth. You love to put your diaper in the trash, and carry refreshments to family and friends. You also like to carry clean clothes to your room and put them away. You LOVE to flush the toilet too. And, if you see that one of the dogs wants to come inside you are quick to tell me “Mimi inside”. Oh, course you call Sam “Mimi” too, but I know what you are trying to convey.

You began talking before the age of one. At 16 months, you used two-word sentences and at 18 months three-word sentences were more frequent. You learn one or two words every day. Right now you speak 65 words verbally and sign “milk”, “bananna”, “done”, “cookie”, “dog”, “eat”, “milk”, “juice” “bath”, “sock”, “shoe”, and “cracker”. By far, your favorite word(s) right now is “NO!” and “is mine”. You learn words very quickly, with very little effort on my part.

I was concerned about your being “anxiously attached” to me a couple of months ago. However, “out of the blue”, you started playing by yourself a bit more, not following me everywhere around the house, and you started sleeping through the night. Maybe your “attachment thing” was something you had to go through—you just needed to know that I would be there to love and take care of you. I’ll never know for sure. I’m happy to report that last month you became more social with strangers. You have always been social, but your timeframe to “warm up” is much shorter now. You engage others by smiling (WIDELY) and bringing your doll or purse for others to play with. You love for people to talk to you, and YOU LOVE TOLAUGH (and everyone laughs with you). You have a great sense of humor.

You have had a few “Vampire” and hitting moments and as a result, you experienced your first “time out” last week. I hope this won’t be an ongoing “issue”.

You are high spirited and really keep me on my toes. I love your spirit, and I pray that nothing or nobody will ever crush it. You have an endless supply of energy and absolutely NO concept of how difficult it is for a 41 year old body to keep up with you. Nap time is a blessing!

You are also very observant, sensitive and kind. If you see someone who is sad you are quick to give them a hug, or rub and kiss their “owie”. You freely hug and kiss me, “Grammy”, “Sweetie” and the dogs. I love to watch you run through the front door, straight to your “Grammy” and give her a hug and kiss every day. She loves it too.

Savanna, I had no idea what life was going to “really” be like when I became your “Mom” one year ago. You have brought joy to my life that I never knew was missing. You have touched my heart in an everlasting way. You are beautiful on the inside and outside. You are my love, my light, my world. I am a better person because of you.

I love you now and always,

Mom

A few highlights of the last year, below.