What I Like About Vera

I love my daughter as a mother.  You know, that fierce kind of mama-bear love that's prepared to tear apart anything that would threaten her.  

I also really like her as a person.  Things I like about Vera:

1.  She's always ready to laugh at herself.  Case in point: She's screaming, and I start "play" screaming along with her.  After a few "AHHHH-pause-AHHHHH's," she busts up laughing and then develops the uncontrollable giggles.  The same thing happened this morning -- I should have written down what it was over.  She seems to realize when she's doing something silly and is prepared to leave behind any negative feelings and instead, laugh about it.

2.  She's courageous.  Who else would stick around for nine months of low thyroid hormone, severe stress and sadness?  Not only did she stick around, here's an ultrasound picture of her "kissing" the uterine wall, as if to say, "It's ok, Mama.  Everything's going to be ok."  

Now that she's out, she's shown herself to be equally fearless.  She cooed and smiled through the postpartum drama while all the strange and terrifying PP OCD thoughts swirled in my brain.  She didn't avoid me; she didn't get tense; she just kept cuddling as if to say, "I trust you, Mama.  I'm just glad to be here with you."


Now that she can crawl?  The edge of beds, blankets, couches don't faze her one bit; she just dives for that clock radio she has her eye on.   

If I weren't designed by nature to walk alongside her for as long as I can possibly muster, I would do it out of sheer gratitude.  She's amazing. 

3.  She loves to dance and sing (just like Mama!).  Any kind of waltzing or bogeying with her in our arms cheers her right up.  She doesn't mind when Mama whips out the operatic voice; in fact, she mimics it - and isn't half-bad at tone-matching.  Best of all, the lady has rhythm!


4. She loves food.  All food.  Any food that she can get her hands on...from anyone's plate.  She stares down wait staff at restaurants to bring her food.  Unexpected foods she's had and liked so far:  kalamata olive tapenade, roasted garlic (just whole cloves of it!), trout/tilapia/other types of whitefish, guacamole, curries...the only thing she's tried and refused thus far: hummus.

5.  She's very interested in books.  Examining and talking to the pictures, flipping the pages, banging her head against the cover, crumpling pages, gnawing the corners...any and all types of books...interested.

6.  She's SOCIAL.  At around 7 months, she started exhibiting signs of stranger anxiety.  Instead of immediately smiling at people like she used to, she would grimace and maybe even cry a little.  That lasted for about two weeks.  Then, instead of showing a negative reaction, she would scope them out by looking from me to the strangers...her expression became a half grimace, half smile.  After a few days of that, we're back to that brilliant, joyful, soul-filling smile!  Stranger anxiety just doesn't match her personality, I suppose.


I just wish I could get her to stop trying to interact with people in the cry room while they're attempting to hear our pastor preach the sermon!

7.  She is content with what she has.  Only parents can know the love that flows from a child.  ...To be typing away on my laptop and to turn my head and find her beaming at me from inside her playpen...to walk around our empty condo with her on my hip and look down to see her just so happy that she found her way into Mama's arms and is "taking a walk" with me.

I understand more fully why Jesus said that only such as these (meaning children) will inherit the kingdom of heaven.  She is not only my gift but an exhortation and an encouragement...a fun-filled adventure and a profound lesson wrapped into a single package, one that only God can create.


Other fun facts about Vera:
We believe that her name is a gift from God.  We were living in grad housing at UCI from 2004 to 2006 and had not even seriously considered starting a family yet.  Sometime within that period, I had a morning quiet time when the name "Vera" came into my mind.  It was stuck there the entire day at work.  At the end of the work day, I looked it up and found that it is the Latin root for "truth" (i.e. veritas) and Russian for "faith."  "What a nice name, "I thought at the time, "but I'm gonna have boys" (yes, I am really that naive sometimes).  I literally couldn't believe it when the ultrasound tech told us that our first child was a girl in 2008.  What better name for her than Vera!  (We pronouce is with an "eh" because we believe it sounds better, but either form would fit its meaning).  So if you ask me whether or not I named her after Vera Wang, I will know you didn't read my blog!