The Guangxi Museum

We had time to visit the Guangzi Museum today. There are 56 minorities in China, and 30+ of them live in this area. We saw a lot of examples of the daily lives, clothes, music, and culture.

This was a tea shop.

Luck frogs.

Village house. Strongly influenced by Vietnam.

Opera masks.

Intricate vases and traditional painting.

Sleeping area. Had the dragon and the phoenix like many places in Beijing.

Banana tree

Old and older

Covered bridge with 2 layers. The top layer was for people and business. The bottom was for livestock.

Ceremonies

Blooming in winter.


Inside the covered bridge.
Place to store grain.

Smiling at the Museum- Mom is good!

Ari is settling into the ownership of "Mom" and demands that she not leave her sight. We were able to get pictures of her outside by taking pictures of other things, and then eventually her.

Long Day

Ari was extra fragile today. She cried a lot and we did our best to comfort her. After we returned from shopping she cried for a long time until she finally fell asleep. Then she took a good nap for 2 or 3 hours. When she woke, she was in a much better mood. We went to dinner and she did pretty well. Last night we took turns eating. Tonight she mostly tolerated sitting on one of us while we ate.

This evening she cuddled up on me and cried for a while until she held still too long on warm daddy and fell asleep. I thought she was down for the night, but right now she is awake and having a good ole time playing with Lora. She is so sweet when she forgets what has happened.

It's official, Ari hates the camera

Ari has a phobia about the camera. So does the little girl down the hall. I think it might be because when they gave her to us, there were cameras everywhere. She smiles and is adorable, so it is hard to not take pictures. We have resorted to sneaking a few and giving her time. Today we pretty much put the camera away except for a shot while she was sleeping. I've also snuck a few with the phone since it doesn't look as much like a camera. However, she is suspicious of anything.

Legal Parents

Today is Tuesday, and it's about 5:00 pm. We had a low-key, yet important day. The great majority of the day, we have just been in the hotel room letting Ariana run around on her own and get used to us. It's getting better and better as her personality starts to emerge. She smiles and chatters a lot. It's hard for her when she wakes up and is disoriented and afraid.

It's so different to have a quiet little girl after all those rowdy boys. She sits still so contentedly playing . . . NOT!!! She is into everything, is very curious, and pretty noisy. She's delightful. We finally had to strap her into the carrier to force her to be still for just a minute to see if she'd fall asleep. (She did.)

This morning, we went to the notary and the provincial office. At the notary, they asked us to promise to give true answers to all their questions. They asked what year we were married, how many children we have before Ariana, what are our levels of education, why we want to adopt from China. Then they asked if we wish to adopt this child, if we are satisfied with her, and if we will provide love and education. We signed many pages of papers and put our thumbprint over our signatures. Then Ari's footprint was added. The next office, we were asked the same questions, signed and thumb-printed two pieces of paper. Then, the official said, "Congratulations. You are now the legal parents of Guo Si Jing." :) :) :)

The orphanage director gave us a few pictures of Ariana and her foster family as a gift, and we came back to the hotel for the day.

All the rest of the waiting and paperwork is for her to get a passport, a visa, and legally immigrate to the US.

Making friends

Smiling

The New Mom Report

Lora is awake and bustling about. She reacts to every squeak so she can hear clearly. She also responds well to facial gestures from the child and smiling. It appears that Lora loves coffee, and can drink a cup with either hand. I would assume that with more practice she could move on to other drinks, but shows no interest. She has a good memory for the location of coffee stands and other hot drink locations. Lora is partial to chewy candies over chocolate.

Lora communicates well directing her husband to pick up this and that. She also makes it clear when she is not please by frowing or uttering other loud noises. In our brief floor play, Lora was able to direct her husband to all the things that should be put away.

Lora walks well, but trips over many objects, sometimes bruising her legs and thighs. Overall she seems happy, in love with her daughter, and anxious about the upcoming day..

Ari's Preliminary Developmental Report

Good news - she can hear! She has no problems responding to the sound of a candy wrapper across the room. :)

She is a very good communicator. She has been held almost constantly so far, and she lets us know exactly what she wants by leaning, pointing, and vocalizing. She's actually quite bossy, which is a very good thing. She seems to have an excellent memory of where things are or where they have been relocated, in order to point at them again later. She is extremely curious. In our brief floor play, she learned games very quickly. She liked putting something in a cup and dumping it out cyclically. She also liked cup lid on/lid off (and on and off, on and off), interrupted by reaching out to ask for (demand) help when it didn't work right.

She crawls well. She does not stand very steadily without support and takes some quick, rushed, wide-based steps. Her fine motor skills are poor. She has no pincer grasp and has difficulty raking cheerios into her hand and getting them to her mouth. She is eager to try but has no idea what to do with solid food in her mouth. I will assume that both hand and eating skills are limited by what she has been allowed/expected to do herself/cultural differences. Her daily routine report said she eats congee (like rice porriage) twice per day and rice at night. It said she "likes candy," and though I am afraid to give her more than a tiny pinch of something (which stays in her mouth until it dissolves), I can see that this is true! :)

First Night Together

A brief report. . . I slept like a mom with a new baby. She slept with us, and she is a very restless sleeper (like Gabrian). Also attuned to every little squeak she makes, and happy to watch her sleeping face. Hmmm, I just yawned.

She did not cry at all when they handed her to me. She was very, very serious. She cried when we had to have our family picture taken for China's paperwork (She hates cameras) and continued for about 4 hours or a little longer. Poor baby. It was very easy to be patient with her while feeling helpless. She was so hot. She came with two pairs of pants, shirt, sweater, vest, fleece sweatshirt, and jacket. We started peeling layers off when we thought we wouldn't scare her too much, but she was still so hot. Finally, we gave her ibuprofen, not knowing if she had a fever or was hot from crying, but figuring by now, she probably has a headache, and it can't hurt. I also finally got her to take the bottle she had reached for and rejected by heating it - a lot. She likes it as hot as I would drink a mocha. Then she crashed in the carrier, and we went to dinner. She woke up during dinner but was quiet. Sure enough, about 4.5 hours after her ibuprofen dose, she was whimpering in her sleep, thrashing about, and very hot again. More 'profen, and 30 minutes later, sound asleep and cool. Poor little thing is sick. (So is big brother Cameron.) She is digging at her good ear and pulling at both of them. Maybe it is an ear infection? I am unsure of the hypothesis because she is pulling at her microtic ear as well. It might just be a comforting geture or habit. Or is it possible that she has middle ear structures on that side that could become infected? I have no idea.

After dinner, she felt better and was able to play on the floor a little. She was showing off how bright she is with her play skills, and Daddy got the camera out. She dove onto my shoulder and clutched me (picture below), and I thought it was very nice that she came for comfort. She is terrified of the camera. It might be a while before we get any happy pictures. Michael thinks it might be because there were at least one dozen cameras/camcorders and flashes everywhere in that horrible room where her life was shattered and she was given to these strangers.

A bit after this unfortunate camera encounter, she was crawling back toward the toys and gestured at me to come. I started crawling after her, and she stopped, smiled, and reached to touch my face. That first smile meant for me rates very high up there with the best moments of my life!

Two exhausted but very happy family members

Getting Sleepy...

Settling down

She is here and she is so Big!