Three and a half years later...

I remember when my boys were babies.......I remember their little arms reaching back out to me when someone else was holding them...and they had had enough...and wanted me back.  I remember when they fell as toddlers, again they ran over to me, crying and wanting me to pick them up to kiss away their boo boos, and wipe away their tears.  They came to me and I took care of what ever their needs. It came naturally...for them and for me.
When you adopt a child at the age of three, it is not the same.  The first time Sierra fell and got hurt, she lay there, not  crying, not moving, NOT reaching out to me.  She really didn't want me to pick her up, but I did anyway/. That incident was over three years ago.  Since then we have spent   much time teaching Sierra what the role of parents are.  She didn't know....there had been no one for the first three years of her life that was there for her.  We knew we had made great progress, we knew she loved us and trusted that we would be there for her.  But still, the other night, an incident brought home to us, how far she has come.  We were at a friends house for a graduation party.Sierra was playing with a group of children.  We were near by but not in sight.  All of a sudden she came tearing around the house, crying.  She was looking and looking, amongst the  many people there, for me.  She found me and I picked her up and held her close.  She had gotten hurt, she had fallen and hit her ear.  I brought her in the house and Scott followed us.  We put ice on it and with in 5 minutes she was good to go!!  She ran back out to rejoin her friends.  I started to get teary eyed.  I looked at Scott and I knew he knew what I was going to say.  "Do you realize that it was  the only time that I can remember that she has run to me when she has gotten hurt?"   I could tell , even in her frenzied state, that she was looking for us.  Not just anyone...us!   Three and a half years.......she is finally....really....truly......home!!!