Bonding

Thankfully yesterday (Wednesday) we were able to have some down time in the hotel. We had the morning free until 2pm and then we were supposed to go to the park with our guide but as we walked out to the van it started to rain, so we ended up just going back into the hotel again for awhile. So we got some good time to play and bond.

Sadie does not like our hotel room. She is fine once we are in here but each time we head in she cries for a minute. She also won't eat (except puffs) in here but when we are out she eats pretty good. We are still having a hard time getting her to drink liquids besides these little "milk" bottles they give the kids here - which are basically syrup! I hate giving them to her but we will worry with changing her diet once we are home! We did get her to drink a little bit of formula - about half of what they said she normally has in a bottle - and she threw up some of it right after. Outside the hotel she does better with eating but not really with drinking yet. They told us this is a normal part of grieving for adopted children. I think the hotel room was so confusing and hard for her when we first brought her here so it is a place where the hard feelings hit her. Yesterday morning was probably her hardest grieving time so far. She wasn't shut down or zoning out like day 1, but she was just sad. She would walk around the room gathering her things that she had brought with her or worn (her coat, hat, sweatsuit, shoes, etc) and want us to put them on or want to hold them in her lap and cry. Not like a screaming, irritable cry, but just sitting in our laps crying a soft cry for quite a while, holding her belongings. It was the saddest thing and broke our hearts for her. We rubbed her back, held her, and let her grieve. She finally fell asleep for just a little while then woke up and became much more open and playful. I think we earned some of her trust.

Also the first few times she woke up here it was almost like she would see us and her reaction would seem like, "oh no...it's still you guys". But now she has been waking up smiling and playing peek-a-boo through the crib and making kissing noises at us. She has been so much more playful and silly and we are seeing more of her personality come out.

We got to Skype again with Carter and Myah this morning and Sadie was waving at them and interacting more. I can't wait for them to be together. We also got to do a Skype session with most of my family last night all in one room so she got a little taste of the fun and chaos :)

Sadie also seems to be a snuggler which is great because she will fit right in with us :) She likes sleeping on us and she loves giving kisses.

sleeping on daddy

She fell asleep on me with a lollipop in her mouth and coat on

She sure loves this coat that she had on when we got her, so we let her wear it when we go out instead of the one we brought.

We were prepared that in the beginning children being adopted often will attach to one parent and reject the other. Thankfully Sadie seems to be attaching well to both of us. The first day or two she was a little more comfortable with John - she would cry for a second if he handed her to me but not if I handed her to him, and she would be more distraught if he walked away than if I did. But she never seemed uncomfortable with me and once I had her she was good with me. Now she seems to be about the same with us both.

Last night we decided to head over to get some things we needed at Walmart and eat dinner at Pizza Hut (yep, there is a Pizza Hut and a KFC :) As good as the Chinese food is here, sometimes you just want something different than that same taste and pizza will do just fine! Even the breakfast here is like Chinese dinner. Fried rice, noodles, soy sauce, chicken, beef, vegetables, etc. The first day here I saw on the end of the buffet a plate of fried eggs and thought, yay some breakfast type food! And the very nice chef behind the counter reached over and poured some soy sauce on my egg for me...haha. We have discovered that Sadie likes noodles and is pretty good at sucking them up into her mouth. She really plows into the hotel breakfast, which is good because she doesnt eat or drink much in the hotel room.

The pizza hut is very different here. The pizza tastes very similar but it is like a nice restaurant. The atmosphere is much nicer than ours, and they have a book type menu with tons of different courses and kinds of food besides pizza. Sadie liked the pizza too. The first half of our meal there was super uncomfortable because a lady came up and sat at the empty table right next to us, turned her chair to face us, and stared us down with a glare for probably 15-20 minutes. It was so awkward. We thought we were getting stares before, but this definitely increases once you have a Chinese child with you! Some people are nice and just curious, but many of the older people give dirty looks and glare. I was sweating and was so relieved when she finally moved.
Another different thing - we had heard a lot about the split pants that babies wear here and had seen them over other clothing - in fact Sadie had some on over her sweatsuit when we got her - but until pizza hut we had not seen them in action. These are pants that are split apart at the diaper area so that toddlers can just pee and poop right out of their pants - no diaper required! A friend who lives in China had told me they just go where ever they are - slides, parks, grocery aisles! So in pizza hut there was a little boy with them, bare bum on the restaurant seat. Interesting.

Here are some pictures of Walmart. It is huge and different! Some things you have to pay for in the department they are in, and some things you pay for at the checkout. There are whole ducks hanging, random meat sitting out raw in bins to grab, and live fish, crabs, and bullfrogs to be chosen for dinner.

We aren't sure what these are - egg sacks of some sort maybe? But apparently they are
delicacies because a box of them cost several thousand US dollars.

We came back after Walmart and went to sleep pretty early. Sadie slept from about 9pm-7am! Yay.

This morning we went to a museum here and after awhile Sadie was wanting to get down and run...she is starting to show that she is full of energy and loves to explore! When she would take off too fast I would grab her and bring her back toward the group and she started making it a game. She would run away and then look back through the other people and try to find me and giggle and wait for me to grab her. John pointed out that this was the first time she really showed that she was distinguishing us as who she belonged to and looking around other people to find me to get her and play with her out of the group. We are making progress!

We bought a Christmas ornament at the museum that is the bird symbol for Sadie's province and then we went and ate lunch at a place our guide recommended and came back to the hotel so Sadie could get a nap. She is waking up now - the girl takes so long to wake up good! She is like me! Carter and Myah and John pop up but Sadie likes to take her time getting awake. Once she finally is awake though she is getting to where she is so silly and happy to see us!! We plan to go get some of the famous Taiyuan noodles for dinner. Tomorrow night we head to Guangzhou - about a 3 hour flight and we will arrive there late. Tonight our guide will call us to let us know if Sadie's passport will be ready before we go. If not, they said they will be able to send it to us in Guangzhou next week. Please continue to pray that this all works out easily.

Thank you so much for your prayers. I know that everyone covering our family in prayers makes such a huge difference. Sadie is doing so well and we can't wait to bring her home.