Sunshine's Ten

Three sets of feet walked out today, leaving our house very quiet. The thing with these three was that they were so very easy to do for. To do anything for. They were by no means easy kids, but something about these cute kids made crawling with them through the trenches of trauma and recovery a privilege.

Sunshine was a funny girl. It took her about six weeks to come out of a shell, talk regulary, and play with us. But what a delight she was once she showed us her true self.

Sunshine:
10.  Called "flip flops" "plip plops".
9. Had a perpetually rescheduled dentist appointment. She actually never ended up going though it was scheduled several times. Her recap of the situation happened every night while brushing her teeth. "Tammy, I not go dentist. Dentist SICK! I go another time."
8. Nailed the difference between city bus, school bus and jeep really quickly. Only after a while did I figure out that she thought "Jeep" meant the tire on the back of an SUV.
7. Liked listening to a Japanese drum song and "drumming". She had a very serious, eyebrows scrunched, jaw tightened, face when drumming. She knew it cracked the rest of us up so would intentionally do it sometimes, drum song or not.
6. Mastered her tantrum. Fully.
5. Of all three, loved our nightly trip to the mailbox the most. As soon as we sat down to dinner, she'd ask if we were going.
4. Had hair that had a mind of its own. Those twists stood straight up no matter what I did.
3. Was a bit vain in front of mirrors. Snot on face, food on shirt, twists going this way and that, still got "Tammy, I so pretty!" I love her self-image.
2. Was sort of a picky eater but would devour brocolli. So we ate a lot of brocolli since that was the only thing she'd put in her mouth many nights.
1. My most favorite sentence from her mouth came out so sweetly and so often: "Tammy, you wanna play with me?" Of course, I do!

Sunshine got into her caseworker's car today and said: Bye Tammy! You pick us up later, K?

Ooh, I wish I could, sweet girl! Missing you already!