Grendel’s Kitchen

As I left Li-Li at school this morning, and was saying goodbye to her lovely teachers and fellow students, I called out “Bye Bye, Li-Li” although she was facing away from me and clearly involved her very exciting craft project.

She spun around and waved at me, saying somewhat clearly, “bye bye.” The room froze, her teachers were speechless, and I casually smiled and walked out. But then my knees buckled as I stepped outside and it hit me that not only had she heard me (and from a distance!), but she distinguished a “bye bye” addressed to her by name from goodbyes to the others in the room (she knows her name!), and then responded in both ASL and speech.

Holy cow! Do you realize what this means? I’m not even sure I’ve got my head around it, but it sure is a beautiful day, isn’t it?

UPDATE!  Of course this would happen on such an auspicious day:  1 year ago today we got “the call” and first heard that we’d been matched to our little Cen Li Ning in a small orphanage in the mountains in the northeast of Jiangxi province!