Category: Adoption

We all woke up Monday morning to find a new child had joined our family overnight. She was full of happiness and smiles (still the tantrums when she doesn’t get exactly what she wants, but that is expected). The biggest difference was how she behaved all day with Mike. Laughing, playing and the cutest was her “chasing” him around the hotel. She thought that it was hilarious that he was “trying” to get away from her. She let him tickle her a lot and was even lifting up her shirt to have him get her tummy. SO ADORABLE!

With me she likes to stand in front of me and dive bomb into my lap. Even if she bangs her head on my knee she still laughs and wants to do it again. She also likes to spin around in circles so Mike decided that she would love to fly into the air. So the first time he picked her up facing me and tossed her up in the air with me watching her reaction. She liked it – a lot! So then he faced her towards him and she laughed and laughed. Then Nadia wanted in on the action and he was switching back and forth. When Amelie wanted a turn she would run up to his legs  and bang her arms on him and say, “maaaa” which we think is her attempt at more since we have been trying to teach her that. She was really sweet and precious with Mike all day and it helped fill us with much needed hope. What a difference a week has made with her relating to all of us, but especially Mike.

Other observations about Amelie:

• Emotionally she is like a 1 year old. Intellectually she is at her age level. She is very smart and can figure things out quickly. She just can’t cope with changes and all the stimulus has to be impacting her.
• She doesn’t have a “full belly” signal. I honestly think we could feed her at each meal and she would stuff the food in until she threw up. If she is awake she wants to be eating.
• She bangs on the table at meal times for more food. If you don’t respond fast enough she screams.
• If she sees a snack (in any form) and we don’t give it to her instantly, she flips out. Even if she just ate a huge meal.
• She likes to put stuff on her  head or around her neck like a scarf. This can be a toy, book, diaper whatever. Then she throws it behind her.
• When she is tired or recovering from a tantrum she sucks her thumb. Then she uses the other hand to rubs her ear, her eye or the hand of the thumb she is sucking. A lot of the time she drapes her arm over her eyes while she is sucking her thumb.
• She waddles like a penguin or Charlie Chaplin. We are sure this is from the 57 layers of clothes they put the kids in which leads to them having no lower back or trunk strength.
• She really needs 2 naps a day, but the appointments and everything else are preventing any sort of routine.

Once we were up and moving we headed down to grab some breakfast at the buffet. Then we all loaded up in a mini bus and headed back over to the island for the bigger kids to have their TB tests checked. We were able to drop off our laundry at a store near there before heading to Liu Hua Lake Park. This place was filled with people doing everything from Tai Chi to dancing lessons. There were old men playing poker and people singing along with an accordion. We took a nice walk all the way around the lake and then they had a little amusement park and the kids were able to ride a few rides. Nadia rode a train and then I went with her on this alien space ship looking thing where you shoot guns at fake animals to make them make their sounds or squirt water. It was totally random, but she liked it.

Then we headed back to the hotel because Amelie desperately needed a nap. Mike, Nadia and I just ate noodles in the room while Amelie slept. After she woke up we headed down to the club level and had dinner down there and visited with friends. Then we took a little walk around the shopping area before coming back to the room for the night.  Amelie continued to be cute and fun with Mike, which was really so sweet. It really was a good day for us and we could see a lot more into her playful personality.

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Health update (Wednesday night in China, morning at home):

Nadia is fine. Amelie still has a bit of a cough. Mike is on antibiotics and still can’t hear, but his cough is getting better day by day. I am in a lot of pain still for whatever I did to my side last week. I may go to the Western Clinic on the island on Thursday morning, but if it’s something with my rib all they can really do is tape me up, but they might want to give me pain meds. It’s the worst at night when I cough. Please continue to pray, it’s going to be a horrifying 24 hours of travel if this keeps up.

We all slept late again on Sunday which was nice. We headed down to breakfast and then it was time to go to the Yun Tai Garden. It is a beautiful botanical garden and we had a very peaceful time there walking around. After we were about a quarter of the way through Nadia said, “This place is really beautiful.”

Amelie checking things out.

Nadia all of a sudden started singing and dancing. Mike said, “As if we weren’t being gawked at enough.” We know everyone loved it though from the big smiles.

Near the end of our visit I saw Spiderman up a hill. Mike took her up there and she started to scream “Spiderman! Spiderman!” It would be an understatement to say that she was thrilled.

After returning to the hotel it was time for some lunch. Mike had started on the Cipro antibiotics the night before and I didn’t have a voice so some American comfort food was called for. We headed over to Papa Johns and it was delicious. We then headed back to the room for naps and a little playtime. For dinner we went to McDonald’s for Nadia and she was very excited that the toy was Hello Kitty. Here is a photo Mike took right by our hotel.

Amelie is doing a lot better with Mike. She is willing to play games with him and doesn’t look at him with complete suspicion. She also continues to chase Nadia around babbling and and getting into her “stuff” which is a whole new experience for Nadia, but she loves her sissy. It was a fairly peaceful day all around, but here are some tantrum photos for our loyal readers. Here she is mad at me for making her share the goldfish with her jie jie.

We all slept until 8 am because we were so tired after such a crazy day. Then we were scrambling like mad because we had to be ready to leave by 9 am. We all got dressed really fast and headed down to the breakfast buffet. We needed to eat before Amelie’s medical exam. Several other families got in much later than us on Friday so we were all in the same boat trying to scarf down some food. We met up with our guide in the lobby and then loaded into a little bus to head to the island for the exam. Notice the Santa Claus hanging up in the background.

There were quite a few other families there, but it wasn’t near as busy as when we adopted Nadia. We saw the family we met at the Novotel and saw their new daughter. I took some photos of the exam room doors and then it was time for me to wait in line with Amelie for her exam. She was NOT excited about being poked and prodded and having her hands and feet checked out. The doctor was very abrupt, but he has to see so many kids that I don’t think bedside manner really matters.  Then we had to see the ENT where they checked her ears and squeezed things to make sounds on each side of her head. Our last line to wait in was the height, weight and temperature room. They told us that she weighed 22 pounds (she was dressed) and I can’t remember the height. She didn’t have a fever so they sent us on our way. Here is what she thought of waiting in line.

Then all the other families had to have a TB test done on their children so we just waited around for them to be finished. Amelie didn’t need to have one because she is under 2 years old. Ningxia did a test on her and sent the results with us, but that didn’t really matter. While we waited, Mike had Amelie in the carrier and Nadia on his shoulders and started singing songs with them and swaying back and forth. Amelie enjoyed it and would hold out her arms and swing them back and forth. In those little moments we see her opening up more each day.

After the exams the families went to drop off laundry at one of the shops on the island. Our guide didn’t tell us we were going to do that so I didn’t have anything ready. The van took us back to the hotel and we just had lunch in the room with some rice we brought from Ningxia. Then it was nap time for everyone. After our nap we headed down to the club level to see what they had for dinner and to visit with the other families here to adopt.

After eating we headed down to walk around the pedestrian shopping street where our hotel is located. It looks awesome at night. There are a ton of shops and restaurants and lots of stuff to look at. Mike took a quick photo with his phone and plans to take some better pictures one day this week. We got some ice cream at McDonald’s and then headed back to our room. My heart was made happy to see a Papa Johns and I knew we would be back to eat there.

Amelie warmed up to all of us a lot more on Saturday. By the end of the evening she was chasing Nadia all over the hotel room and yelling “Jie Jie!! Jie Jie!!” That screaming was so much better than the temper tantrums. She had a couple of meltdowns all directed at me, but I told Mike that she doesn’t know I already have one strong willed child so I am ready for this stuff. She smiled and laughed a lot more with us which was a delight for our ears. Nadia was so excited that she wanted to play with her and chase her around the room.

Amelie decided just about the time we were settled in at the Yinchuan airport waiting to leave that she was comfortable enough with me to show us another side of her personality. TEMPER TANTRUMS. Complete with throwing her water  cup and food at me and flailing around like crazy. The flight to Chongqing was chaotic because of this. She did sleep for half an hour, but her behavior was amazing. By the end of the first flight we were positive that she was placated at the orphanage. This made her description in her paperwork make sense and the behavior of all the nannies on Gotcha Day. “Give her what she wants and she will stop that piercing screaming.” They made us get off the plane in Chongqing for about 15 minutes while they cleaned the plane and Amelie took this time to wig out on both Mike and I. It felt like everyone in the airport was staring at us and she was throwing things and screaming. We got on the plane for the next flight to Guangzhou and more screaming and screaming. I am sure that her ears where bothering her when we ascended and descended. Poor Nadia had the hardest time dealing with the screaming and burst into tears herself at one point and I didn’t blame her.

Amelie’s behavior was so much like the most spoiled toddler you have ever seen in your life. I won’t go into any more details, but it was safe to say that our day of travel was HARD, HARD, HARD.

Once we arrived in Guangzhou we put Amelie in the stroller and the airport seemed to distract her. Our guide Grace was waiting for us outside of security and when she said, “Hello, I am Grace with Bay Area Adoption” I wanted to give her a hug just for saying something familiar. As we rode through Guangzhou to our hotel my spirits began to lift because the city looked so cosmopolitan. When we got to the Holiday Inn Shifu and the guy in the check in booth spoke to me in English I wanted to sing the Hallelujah chorus. Then we opened the door to our room and I said, “Praise Jesus!” Smoke free, big and a clean carpet. Here is my reaction after walking through the suite.

We are on the executive level and it includes internet, breakfast and access to the club level where you can get snacks and drinks all day for free. They have a happy hour with food like the Novotel in the evening. Our room even has a tiny kitchen, but the refrigerator doesn’t work. I am just thrilled that the girls have a place with room to roam around and we don’t have to worry about the filth of the floor.

View from our room.