My bé

As we approach one year home with Reagan, I marvel at how she is simultaneously both so very American and so very Vietnamese. She obviously looks Asian, but I’m always tickled by the other ways her ethnicity manifests itself. Her little voice forms a hard “A” sound easier than the Caucasian babies I’ve known, she’s still so tiny that people are constantly amazed to see that she walks, her hands – and especially her fingernails – are incredibly delicate, her nose is a little more challenging to squeeze (though according to my Vietnamese nail lady, she has a good, “tall” nose!), her hair is so dark, shiny, and straight… but my very favorite is the way she squats. She moves so effortlessly in and out of this position! There is nothing comfortable about squatting to me, but she can play like this indefinitely. Her hips just must rotate out differently than mine. It’s clearly not something she was taught, because she wasn’t even sitting when we brought her home, but something in her nature that she shares with those of her beautiful first home country. To me it is just the cutest thing, and it brings a smile to my face every time I see my sweet baby squatting like the beautiful Vietnamese girl that she is!