Sleeping with Shrimp Fries

My first image of Leila just before the nanny handed her to me.  I was so flustered I didn't get a clear shot, but this photo pretty well describes what was going on in my brain when I received Leila.

Before the children arrived, we waited for just a few minutes (seeming like an eternity) in the office of the province adoption affairs.  See the guy out in the hall?  He was our look out to make sure we were all ready with the cameras when the babies arrived.  My heart skipped a beat when he said "they're here".  But it was a false alarm.  There were two babies coming, but those were from another orphanage for another group.  Finally, our Kaifeng babies did all arrive.  They were all dressed alike in puffy blue snow pants and puffy orange coat.  The pants were the split pants, so her little bootie was hanging out.  I was worried when we put her in the carrier that she was going to mess it up with out a diaper on, but she didn't.  Turns out she is almost potty trained.

I, Kelly, am feeling much better today.  Mike told me it was time for the blog master to take back the blog and put up some posts.  

This morning I woke up feeling something scratchy under my legs in the bed.  It was one of those darn shrimp fries.  On the evening of Leila Day we received a list of things she liked to eat, and the list said she liked 'shrimp fries' as a snack.  Of course Mike and I had no idea what a shrimp fry was, but we knew we had to learn quick.  Evelyn, one of our agency guides, arranged for Mike to go to a store to buy some milk and some other things she would like.  He found these awesome single-serving milk containers that don't need to be refrigerated until after they are opened, and he also got to ask what a shrimp fry was.  Our guide pointed them out, and Leila has been chowing down on those things ever since.  This morning she even fed some to Uncle Earl on Skype.  They are all over the floor of the hotel room, and apparently even under the covers of the bed.

I had been too busy or too sick to post much about our time since we got Leila, so here's a little bit.  The first 2 to 3 days she was so sad.  She would pull my hand begging me to take her to her nai nai (that's the Chinese word for grandmother, but is also a common word used to call a foster mom, especially if its an older foster mom).  I found myself questioning if we were doing the right thing taking her away.  I talked a bit to Evelyn about this, and she reassured us that she really would have a better life with permanent parents instead a transitional foster home.  I felt a little better then, but it still hurts to see our girl in so much pain.

She is doing much better now.  This morning she was actually having a nice quiet and happy morning playing with her toys in the room.  It was the first time she had been in the room for any length of time when she wasn't crying or asleep.  She still asked for us to take her to nai nai, but it wasn't the desperate request it once was, and she seemed to forget what she asked after while.  She seems to call for nai nai mostly when she needs something and we don't understand what she is asking for - diaper change, to go to the toilet, food, etc.  She is re-teaching us all our Chinese that we learned a year ago at our class.  She is so cute when we hand her something and she says "bu dou".  In Chinese 'bu you' means 'don't want', and her little 'bu dou' is cute baby talk.

A little about her spina bifida.  Its amazed me that she doesn't seem to have any ill effects what so ever.  The other day she was playing with her little music bear (thanks Gwen and Jason for that!) and was pushing the buttons with her toes.  She has great control of her feet.  I was worried that she may have some mental delays from the mild hydrocephalous, but at less than 2 years old she is talking up a storm and she knows exactly what she wants and doesn't want.

Well that's all the time I have for tonight.  We need to go finish packing and will leave for Guangzhou tomorrow.  Our stay in Henan has completed our China adoption, now its on to the US consulate to do our US adoption.  Then she will be ours forever!

Kelly