This morning as we were eating breakfast, Willow pointed to the pantry/closet bi-fold door behind me. I assumed she wanted something (chips? chocolate?) to eat, so I told her "No, no. We'll eat this" and patted her dish of yogurt. She kept pointing, I kept interrupting and repeating in my rushed style all too familiar to most readers. She tapped my forearm with her finger, stopping me in my tracks to finally listen to her. Once she had my attention and I was STILL and focused, she pointed to the door again, and gestured sort of in front of herself, across sort of, with her hand/arm. She wanted me to shut the door. This is amazing for many reasons:
1. She is so patient with me and reminds me to be patient with her
2. She has many thoughts and ideas - most of them she can't communicate yet. I'm sure these incidents happen countless times each day and she lets them go unnoticed, unless it's tantrum-worthy. This might explain some of her tantrums: They might seem to be over nothing, but might be the 100th nothing for her that day and it pushes her over the edge
3. I have GOT to quit rushing!
4. She's a neat-freak just like Lily
5. She's brilliant at figuring out creative ways to get her point across. Lily and I are learning that skill too.
I am reminded today of all Willow is teaching us and not just what we are teaching her!
*****
This is the story of my journey to bring Willow home from Guatemala. I am now mom to two daughters: Lily (5) who was born in China and Willow (2).
