Adoption Day!

Hi everyone!

Things are going well. Tian's adoption was completed today so we are officially her parents!

We saw the staff from LYG again today and I have to say that I liked them very much. They seem so warm and kind and really love these kids. I gave them the print outs of the kids who are already home and they were very excited and talked about each one. Our guide was with the other family so I don't know exactly what they were saying, but they seemed to recognize the kids and thanked me a lot.

We are traveling with another family with a little boy, 15 mos., with cleft lip and palate. He is so cute and seems like such a trooper. He has been pretty sick and having trouble eating. The staff spent a lot of time with the mom answering her questions and showing how to better feed him.

Tian appears to be very smart, like her big sister. She has decided that she prefers her mom and doesn't allow me to put her down at all or she just wails. Dad can hold her if I am not in site. It's a bit hard on both of us, but not unexpected. Interestingly though, she won't go to sleep easily for me. Dad is defiantly the one to put her to bed.

She seems to be very healthy too and surprisingly a great eater. She is eating all kinds of things like cereal, gerber puffs, congee and baby food. I thought it was unlikely she had been given solids, but she clearly has and eats them with great gusto.

Her motor skills are challenging. I don't have much knowledge of this, but I think she is lacking in experiences perhaps rather than capability. She is VERY strong and can grasp onto me and pull like no ones business. She can sit on her own. But she seems sort of floppy and awkward when maneuvering. It's a bit hard to explain. She can pull up and stand. She adamantly refuses to go on the floor so I can't really tell if she can crawl. And I suspect she has not had much "tummy time."

While she can grasp things like Cheerios in her fingers, she prefers to throw them on the floor than maneuver into her mouth. Or she will move her whole head forward to take the Cheerio in her mouth rather than move it there with her hand. She will grab spoons and toys when it suits her and can hold her bottle in both hands.

On one hand her thumb is actually "webbed" to her first finger which I didn't really realize from the photos. This limits her mobility with that thumb. Her fused finger is very usable and bends well at all joints. It actually feels like there are two separate sets of bones in there, which might be fused only at the top, but I can't say for sure.

If you take off her socks she will rub her feet together and kind of grasp them together in the two clefts. In some ways they seem more useful than a typical foot and very flexible, almost like a pincher, which I suspect she may be able to grasp things with some day. She seems to stand up on them just fine, although balance is not there yet.

We are learning new things about her every minute. She is such a sweet and good baby! She is sleeping and eating well which is a major things considering the stress she must be feeling.

Clio is doing very well considering. We've had some meltdowns and crabbiness, but to be fair, it's pretty boring for a 3 yr. old going to all these appointments and having the be quiet and sit still and to have your eating and sleeping schedule all messed up. We are hoping to find a playground for her this afternoon or tomorrow. We are here in Nanjing three more days while we wait for Tian's visa. We travel up to LYG on Sat. and will try to see as many of the kids who are waiting as possible. I'll also try to ask about those who just had surgery, especially if we can't see them.

We did have some unfortunate excitetment today...a minor fender bender with our van being rear-ended. It was scary, but everyone is OK.

I'll try to do some photos later. We haven't been very good at getting photos. Last time one had the baby and the other the camera. Plus we had 15 families with last time and one guy who's a professional photographer. Not so easy this trip!