One year ago today Alexa was placed in my arms. What a year it has been! What an amazing little girl I have! Where do I even start? One year ago Director Han handed Sui Hua Fu to me and she looked at me with a lot of apprehension. This morning I when I went into her room and woke her up and asked if she was ready to get up she looked at me and said "no". And once she was a little more awake I got one of her beautiful smiles and a hug and a kiss.

We went to work and daycare then this evening was gymnastics. Afterwards we stopped and got an M&M McFlurry and shared it. That was our celebration. I told her the story this morning as she was drinking her bottle but she didn't seem very impressed by it. It still brings tears to my eyes though.

I have thought a lot about the changes in the last year. Some things haven't changed. She still likes a bottle in the morning and evening - and she still likes it warm. And she will tell me if it is not warm enough. (Have I mentioned that my daughter is a little bossy?) She still loves having a towel around. She sleeps with a towel and usually has one downstairs and one in the car. It doesn't have to be a special towel - any one will do - but a towel is very comforting.

She loves shoes. I should have known that when she loved putting on the slippers at the White Swan in Guangzhou. She loves all her shoes now - especially the squeeky shoes from China. We try to save those for special occasions where the noise won't bother anyone.

Alexa had one toy from the orphanage they let her keep. It was a Fisher Price key set. She enjoyed playing with it when we were in China but now she is into real keys - and she would prefer the keys to my car. But she will ask anyone for their keys - total strangers. And she is rather insistant that she have them.

But there have been many changes. A year ago she had never heard English. Now her vocabulary is amazing and she is putting more and more words together. She says "thank you mom" for everything - except when she is telling me to "go away". She can sing the alphabet song pretty good and when she is "writing" she will say letters out loud as she writes - a-l-e-x-a-l-e-x-a-l-e-x......She can spell her name! She has no idea she is spelling her name but she can do it! She can count to fourteen but has problems putting seven and eight in quite a bit. If you count with her she will repeat numbers up to about twenty-six. And just when I am about overwhelmed at how brilliant my child is she will try to sit on the chair that goes in the dollhouse - it is two inches high!

I would love to share more but it is time for bed.