On GiGi’s first birthday I described her as follows:
When I met G she was mere week old but already she had signs of greatness; though she couldn't move much she was very alert and beautiful. The job officially started in November and it wasn't long before the little lovely had permanently implanted herself in my heart. Every smile made me smile and every giggle reminded me how lucky I was to be doing this for a living.
Since those early days GiGi has learned a lot, as anyone who knows me is well aware because I tend to gush about her. It quickly became habit for my mother to ask me on the phone, "So what new things has GiGi done today?” It sounds odd but watching her do the simplest things is amazing. She can now recognize her body parts on command (nose, head, belly, mouth) can clap, communicate through sign language and an assortment of words, she can crawl like a maniac (and walk but she likes to pretend she can't) dances, and best of all gives hugs and kisses all day long.
It is hard to imagine that in just 365 days, GiGi has become a tiny woman. She continues to amaze me with how smart she is, it seems every day she has even more wisdom to share and everyday she gets more beautiful. But above all of her attributes, the thing that is most wonderful about GiGi is her kindness. She is constantly sharing with random other children, even when they are trying to take and grab and loves to tell us how she enjoys playing and helping out with her younger cousins who are only 10 and 4 or 5 months each. Sometimes she will just walk over to me and say, “Yissa, love you,” and hug and kiss me; she is such a loving person with such a beautiful soul.
There is certainly a lesson to be learned from this little girl. I have never seen GiGi hold a grudge or express misplace anger, something I am quite guilty of from time to time, as I am sure a lot of adults are. When G is mad, you know exactly why she is and who her anger is addressed to. If Lauren tells her she can’t do something she wants to do, she will ignore Lauren or hit Lauren, the same if I was the offender. If she does something to get time out, the whole incident is forgiven after “sorry,” and she doesn’t go off and take it out on Elmo.
It’s taking time, but I think, thanks to G, I am improving in this area. So thank you Gigi for spending another year making me smile, laugh, and play and for teaching me there is a lot to learn from someone who only comes up to my knee. Thank you also, to Gigi’s parents, I know how lucky and blessed that out of all the people in this world, you chose Lauren and I to take care of your most precious possession.
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