Kimi's Family Gotcha' Day!!

CJ 11.22.2010
Kimi Day!!

This morning, I was up at 4am… so I finished journaling and worked on the pictures… The internet is so slow here that sometimes blogger times-out before the photos get loaded, so then I have to start that photo load over again. grrrrr. So I taught Jerry how to load pictures on blogger and he kept the slow process going while I showered and got ready. Anyways, as you can see it took a long time to catch up. Plus I had A LOT from the Great Wall. Heehee!

We went downstairs for Breakfast at about 8:15. On our way to the elevator we met a couple who were going to get their child, I can’t remember if they said boy or girl! But they were so cute, she said she was a wreck this morning! They were so excited, she already had her Kleenex dabbing her eyes and they were that happy-excited-nervous thing that happens when you are about to meet your little child that you have WAITED so long for. I hope we run into them some more this week. I know there are other families here… just have to find them!

I was that way last week while we headed to get Maria. Yesterday wasn’t as bad! Ha! I didn’t tear up… however I was antsy-excited and could hardly wait to get there already!! While we were eating breakfast, Amy showed up… I freaked! I thought we were late or something!! We weren’t supposed to meet her until 10, but she got here at 8:20! She just sat with us and chatted. Then we came back to the room to collect our stuff. Gifts, toys, snacks… that was all we needed today. Amy and Jerry were talking Bible, and I was ready! Haha! I was getting more excited by the minute!

So, I forgot to change Maria’s diaper again… however God spared me her wetting-thru! Haha! I didn’t even bring an extra with me… good thing we would only be gone an hour or so!

We drove about 15 minutes or so to the Civil Affairs Bureau or CAB as they call it. We got there 15 minute early… Kimi was not there yet, but there was a couple other families there… and their babies were screaming! Poor people! Its so hard when your brand new child is screaming, good, but hard. That means your baby recognizes that you are a stranger… they will learn that you will take care of them. So we waited and waited and waited… Finally the other families came out fo the room they were in and I saw their babies… I couldn’t tell if they were boys or girls… they had boy clothes on, but that doesn’t always mean anything! Their little faces were precious! Fat cheeks… SOOOOOO cute!! Of course they were all looking at Maria, saying how cute she was too! Haha! They all left so fast we didn’t exchange any info… maybe we will see them again. It’s always neat to have contact with people from your province! So hopefully we will see them again.

So we waited over an hour, which felt like lots of hours, and then they were there… Amy found out, they were downstairs. Kimi had thrown up in the cab all over herself and the Director! So he was cleaning them up before they came up… which took another 15 minutes! Ahhhh! Finally they came out of the elevator. There she was!!! So was very timid, and quiet. She walked with a limp and she had puke all down her front!!! Poor little girl. Although I am sure she felt better afterwards than before! I am sure she recognizes us from the pictures we sent her. She kept looking at me… ( I don’t know if she was looking at Jerry or not… but noticed her staring at me). She was very willing to switch hands form the director’s to mine. She was ready to just come with me, just like that. She took no notice of Maria. Usually kids notice each other, so I wonder what that means… Maria noticed her… that is for sure and got quiet again. Anything or person new and Maria shuts off! Especially if the other person has mommy’s attention!! Haha!

We had to show our passports and the travel approval letter from the CCAA. Then we could take her hand. I gave her one of those little magna-doodle toys and a little phone with buttons that make noise. She wanted to hold them but didn’t know what to do with them. Even when I showed her what to do she didn’t do anything… I think she was a little scared. We did give her a few cheerios to snack on… although we were afraid they would come back out on our drive to the hotel!

Amy chatted with the director about us visiting the orphanage this week and Hengyang. They decided that we could come on Thursday. So he wrote down directions to get there, since Amy has never been there before. Our driver said we could hire him for 1500 yuan… about $200 to take us there for the day… it is about a 3 hour drive, I guess. Then we will see the orphanage and the director will tell the foster family we are coming, so they can “show” up at the orphanage while we are there… apparently the CCAA “forbids” contact with the foster families, but if they just happen to show up when we are there… its ok. Silliness! Then we will take them all to lunch there, visit a park and I am assured to see the Li River and mountains… then we will come back to Changsha. It should be a BIG day!

Meanwhile Kimi was scarfing down the cheerios and when she got the chance she grabbed the cheerio container and grabbed a handful and tried to stuff them in her mouth… timid-ness was gone! Haha! We grabbed it and kept her from putting them all in her mouth! Maria is just watching everything like a cute little bump on a log. She was sitting on Jerry’s knee by now. We packed everything back in my bag and gave the director a gift… by the way… a package of Jerry’s FAVORITE pens and some chocolate. Then we walked out… into the elevator… then down the stairs and into the van. The stairs were hard for Kimi… she is very careful also when she changes surfaces… like from a rug to the hard floor, etc. Her left side is weaker than her right side… But she does get around… time will tell what else she can do and can’t do. We don’t care if she walks with a limp we are just happy she walks! We will help her become as independent as possible!

On the drive, Maria fell asleep and Kimi leaned back against me… You can tell she wants affection… maybe she was watching Maria to see what to do, I don’t know. I was trying to avoid the puke! We arrived back at the hotel and walked slowly in… haha! Kimi walks about the same pace as Maria, so its just perfect!

We went to our room… Amy helped talk to Kimi, I undressed her and got her in the bath… We will wash out her clothes. She was fine with the bath… I scrubbed her down a little, washed her hair. She wasn’t scared of the water over her head. Then… she slid down into the water… with her mouth just barely above the water and grinned from ear to ear… At first I wasn’t sure if she accidently slid down or if it was intentional… which lead to my next thought is that a smile or a look of fear!? Haha! She kept trying to do it… so I figured out it must be the smile! Ha! And it is cute!

She was wearing split pants and a diaper under her regular pants. Humm… so she must not be potty trained. She is so skinny, you can see every bump on every bone!! She is very tall!!! She had on two sweaters and a thermal quilted shirt. Socks and the shoes we sent her. They look brand new so she must not have worn them until today.

Then we found some clothes to put on her… We had some pull-ups we had brought just in case for her and put one of those on her. Then I put a pair of 2T jeans on her… they are a tad short, but todays’ standards, but they will work… I will have to cinch them up some more though because they were falling off!!! Finally after a couple of hours we took those off and just put a pair of 24 month sweats on her, they are short too, but they stay on!

She played with the toys we have and walked around a bunch looking around the room. She will grab anything… so we have to make sure our important things are put out of reach, like passports, camera, etc… she is very rough on everything… she tries to rip the photo book, she chews on the stacking cups and her fingers… every finger… some of her fingers have calluses, so we know the at least has some favorite! Like Maria! Haha!

I filled out all her paperwork, like Jerry did for Maria the other day. Maria threw a fit… a big one!!! Amy, was very patient! Jerry put Maria in her bed to scream… and she did for a while… finally I reached over and rolled her over and told her it was enough and she needed to stop now… she did… she was still sniffling and breathing hard, but she was at the point where she was soooo faking it! Haha! Forcing out the crying! Silly! Then she was fine… Jerry sat her on the floor with him and Kimi and she just pouted for a while…

By the time I was done with my signing… she was over it and she started her game of yelling “mama!!!” and I answered “what?” and she just giggles! Yes… we have noticed how much she has changed in the few days we have had her… we love it… Its hard to remember that she has several days on Kimi and that we are starting over with Kimi… so in a few days from now Kimi will be doing much better, we hope!

We ordered room service… fried rice, spaghetti, and a couple other dishes… one was very spicy! The other was very mild… both with egg! Sometimes you order things and you’re just not sure… we figured if we ordered from the Vegetarian menu we were safe! Anyways… we fed the girls first and put them in bed… Then we ate… Kimi kept sitting up… I would lay her back down then up she would go again, as soon as I turned around… little squirt! Haha! then she started reaching for things on the night stand… oh boy… we finished eating quickly and Jerry laid down with her for a little it, then I laid down with her… I just wrapped my arms around her and held her tight… so she couldn’t get up and get in trouble… we both fell asleep! When she woke up… I was soooo NOT ready to get up! Seriously… I think I still have the jet lag! I felt like it was the middle of the night! It was my first nap over here!

Jerry fed her again… we figure the more we can feed her the better for a while at least!! Then we thought we should give her formula too… she needs the calories and the nutrients… however she can’t figure out how to suck the bottle… she just chews on it… so we will keep working on that… I think she needs to learn to suck! I put a bigger hole in it too… maybe I will try to make it yet a little bigger.

We went and walked around the hotel… stopped by the play room for a bit… where she dug in the garbage for a juice box! And stole the lady’s cookies! The family we met was back on a heritage trip I think… they had adopted their daughter in 2004. She is at least partially blind, she carries a cane. They were from California.

We walked around the mall inside the hotel and the lobby a little. Then around our floor twice.

When we came in we watched a couple baby Einstein videos to calm Kimi down… Jerry held her… if she has anything in her hand she is super busy… but when he took the stacking cups away from her she calmed right down and just sat, she still looks around the room a lot, but she was still… She hit Maria on the head with a cup… a few times I think… finally Jerry took Kimi’s cup and bonked her on the head… while telling her no! She understood that… and I saw that little light go on! Oh! That was the end of bonking the baby on the head! Ha! That is what seems to work with Alex at home too… once he knows how it feels himself he stops doing it to others… Most of the time, all I have to say to him is “would you like mommy or Anthony or whoever to do that to you?”

Anyways… then is was bedtime, we fed them both some warm baby cereal and milk, and off to sleep we went… Jerry slept with Kimi and I slept next to Maria’s bed… Fun, huh!? Haha!

As the day passed we have noticed a lot of things that concern us… but what is most concerning is how she arrived at these behaviors! Had she not been taught anything? I wonder if she spent time with anyone or if she was alone a lot. I wonder if people try to get her to talk. Does she chose not to talk or is something preventing it… apparently she rarely will say mama and baba (mama and daddy). Does she laugh or cry? What was the foster family-unit like? Do they love her or just “let her live there?” I guess we will find out more on Thursday.

So please pray for us to have patience! She is going to need a bunch! We have to watch everything she does like hawks, because we can’t trust her to do any of the right things… she doesn’t even know what those are! Goodness!

By the way… We do LOVE her already though!!! :)