Monday, January 28, 2008
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..
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! :)
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!
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!
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Crunch Time
It is about 1:30 here. We will get Ariana at 3:00. It's crunch time and we are just burning away the time watching some TV and making up things to do to get ready.
We were supposed to go to the park this morning, but because of the rain, our guide canceled. We did have another huge breakfast, maybe too much as the tension builds :)
We were supposed to go to the park this morning, but because of the rain, our guide canceled. We did have another huge breakfast, maybe too much as the tension builds :)
Around Nanning
Nanning seems way nicer to us than Beijing. Beijing is certainly growing and looking forward to the Olympics. However, Nanning is green (sub-tropical) even with the temperatures approaching freezing. The average temperature here is usually around 50 in the winter. Unfortunately for us, they are predicting snow Thursday night. We have went to a lot of shops both new (mall type) and local (street vendors and shops). It is a neat way to spend time and take in all the things that are so different from home.
Living in China
Living in China is all about the apartment. With wages so low (1000 rmb or about $140 per month), affording these downtown ones are nearly impossible except for the wealthy.
Chinese Acrobat Show
After the Summer Palace, we attended a performance by traditional Chinese Acrobats. They were very young, did all the traditional things you would expect. Contortion, juggling, balancing, tumbling, etc. There were no cameras allowed, but everyone was taking pictures, so we did too. We even did some video that we may be able to post later.
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