Friday-Saturday,
September
21-22, 2007
ROCK STARS
Can you say "rock star"?
Well, I was thinking about me, but I suppose it takes two to
make one take a nap. The wee one doesn't like to sleep. Once she
gets to sleep, she sleeps great. Like really great. But it's the
getting' her there that's the hard part. She'll be soooo tired.
Just punch drunk, stumbling around, but she REFUSES to go to
sleep. The first couple of nights we pushed the issue by holding
her flailing, screaming body until she cried herself to sleep.
We thought it was a grieving thing (we think she slept in the
same bed as her foster Grandma), so we thought that holding her
through it was the best thing. But then we decided the drama was
a bit much...for everybody. So now we just hang out with her
until she collapses. Here's a picture of how she fell asleep the
other night. Totally zonked out.
So this afternoon, Eric is hanging out in a different room doing
the adoption paperwork and I decided to make it my mission to
figure out how to get her to take a nap, without walking halfway
to Beijing in the stroller. So I tried this and I tried that.
She really enjoyed my rendition of "You are My Sunshine" (as you
can imagine, that just made her scream even louder). Eventually
I gave up and decided to just sit at the computer and let her
fart around in the room. So I was flipping through pics of the
last couple of days and, of course, they're all of her, so I
pulled her up on my lap to have a look-see. She loved it. She
sat in my lap...we talked about Mama and Baba and Nola...and she
was out like a light in five minutes. Rock stars (plural). So
now she's snoring on the bed behind me (it's the first time I've
heard snoring from her....it's really really cute).
So we're kicking it White Swan-style now. We couldn't write
yesterday because we had a busy day packing, eating, checking
out of the hotel, running around in a park near the hotel,
sitting at the airport for hours waiting for our long overdue
flight, having mind-blowing meltdowns, making nice with all of
the Chinese ladies that tried to help, and showing up at the
White Swan around 12:30 in the morning. So, yeah, couldn't get
to the computer.
The White Swan and Shamian Island are just as surreal as you
would expect, so I'll save that for another day. For those of
you that don't know, the White Swan is the Hotel "de rigueur"
for Americans adopting Chinese children. We even get a
complementary blonde Barbie with her Asian baby. It is, by far,
the most opulent hotel we have ever stayed in. There is a
waterfall next to the breakfast buffet, a beer costs $8 (no, we
did not order a beer for breakfast) and you are not allowed to
press the elevator buttons...somebody does it for you. The best
part is the Swan Room, AKA the play room, AKA Nirvana. An entire
room with nothing that can harm your child or that your child
can harm. Bliss.....
Nola cruised through her medical check-ups like a champ (we are
now baptized members of the Church of the Cheerio and the
Goldfish). Wanna hear a cute thing? She shares her Cheerios with
me by biting one in half and giving me the other half. Cute.
After the check-up, we bought her (or was it me?) some totally
cute squeaky shoes (soon to be de-squeaked) and a couple of
over-the-top, girly outfits for next to nothing at a shop down
the street. We hooked up with our good friends John and Deb and
their little one, and we're looking forward to a swim later this
afternoon.
Things are just going amazingly well with Nola. It's really
interesting to have the opportunity to compare her to other
children her age. She should be the poster child for the
benefits of foster parenting. It works. She's transferring the
attachment she had to her foster parents over to us and we can
see changes every day. She runs, laughing, down the hallway, and
looks back to make sure we're following her. She is now coming
to us to comfort her. She is shy with strangers, but kind to
them after she's checked them out. I could go on....OK, I will.
She's remarkably engaged and intelligent. She's great with
people, other kids and with pets. She loves vegetation and
animals and she especially loves flowers. She expresses an
unbridled and boundless joy, and she has a smile as wide as
China. She is confident and bold and curious.
I never knew I could love like this. I feel things changing
inside of me. She is my daughter. She is Eric's daughter. We are
so incredibly happy to be her parents, and we feel like the most
blessed people in the whole entire world. |
I don't wanna go to bed...
Our awesome driver, Mr. Yuan
Workin' the sunhat (thanks Gina!)
Daddy's little girl loves bicycles...and Cheerios
Being a good girl at the Doctor's
The most beautiful girl in the world |
