We had a great visit this morning! Yesterday, her caregiver asked if we would like to come and feed her the mid-morning meal today. Of course, we said "Yes!!" When we walked it, she recognized us (!!) and gave us a big grin!!! It was heart-melting. We weren't too sure what to expect.
Her caregiver (different ones today and she seems bonded to this set as well - more good news!) picked her up and handed her to me. She came right away and today she looked around and looked at us - yesterday she looked down a lot. It was awesome! We looked out of the window some and she played with my necklace some. And she LOVED looking at herself in the mirror. She saw herself and gave a huge smile and laugh.
Once her lunch was ready, we sat her down in a highchair. She was very excited to eat! Lunch today was soup - it looked and smelled like chicken noodle minus the noodles, bread, mashed potatoes, baked meat (it looked like meat loaf) and a cup of apple juice. (As a pediatrician, I'm sure it was killing Stranger to feed her "real" food before the 1 year mark! hee hee Especially since she is so underweight!)
She has a good appetite! We fed her much slower than the caregivers usually do and she was grabbing my hand and guiding it to her mouth. They have to feed the babies quickly - they have 15 to feed after all! And I think they usually put them in their laps and lean them back some - like giving them a bottle only they are feeding them real food. It must be easier to get it in that way) (Another note - there are two children in her group that can feed themselves - they have their own little table and chairs to sit at while they eat.) She was very impatient and I tried to give her big bites quickly. So different than if we were at home! We were very messy and her hands ended up in the soup a few times. hee hee And I have no idea how they get them to drink out of cups (as big a coffee mugs!) so young - when I brought the cup to her mouth, she bent her head down and it mostly just went all over her shirt! hee hee Great fun and a big mess!! After 25 minutes, they told us it was time to leave and go to the playroom. Poor girl - we were only done with half of her food! 8 ( She'll be hungry this afternoon! 8 (
We went to the playroom and on the way, our translator told us that there was someone from the local (city) MOE that was going to observe our time to see how the attachment was going. Nothing like being nervous right before playtime! But, it went great. She met us in the playroom just as we arrived and we took off her coat and "outside pants" and "outside socks" (I don't know what else to call them) and her hat. She then had on an undershirt, a regular shirt, long underwear, a pair of pants, and a pair of socks. Thats a lot of clothes! 8 ) The local official asked EasternStar if she would come to her, but she grabbed onto Papa and wouldn't let go. "She belongs to you!" she said. Yup! She does! She asked us if we had made a decision on whether to persue the adoption and what our decision was. A big HUGE YES!!!!
She looked at our album (a HUGE thank you to my best friend Nicole for translating the labels for me - they LOVE the labels with the English and Russian on them!!) and she seemed to like it. Then our coordinator told her our reasons for adopting, about SleepingAngel, and our reasons for choosing Russia. It seems to us that it would be socially unacceptable to say that we wanted a child that would look like us - but here that is a fantastic answer! And she very much looks like us!
Finally, we got to play! Today we brought the same toys from yesterday AND some stacking cups and a toy with several shapes on it with different textures all hooked together. She LOVED the stacking cups! Developmentally, I think the toys from yesterday may have been too advanced. But, the stackng cups were a huge hit! We played with those for most of the visit and with the alligator from yesterday for a little bit.
We got lots of laughs and lots of smiles today. I think that she is very ticklish but still a bit too shy to let loose. We did get some good tickles in and some good laughs though. Her laugh cracks me up!
And a note to TinyDancer - they have been combing her hair and putting it up in a little ponytail so that it doesn't look crazy! hee hee hee
Not sure if we'll be inside our outside this afternoon.
Love to everyone at home!
2 comments:
Your time with Eastern Star sounds great. I turn on my computer first thing in the am to read of your visit. Keeping all of you in my prayers.
How exciting. She sounds like an awesome fit for the LT crowd. Humm, maybe this explains why Jack puts his mouth down to the cup. It really doesn't work all that well!
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