But, now 3 days later, I am SO happy to report that we have made baby steps of improvement. Like peeling back those layers of the onion, she is coming alive..and what a precious little girl she is blossoming into , right before our eyes. Witnessing the slow transformation from Orphan to Daughter is truly eye opening. It's similar to watching your newborn learn things for the very first time. Same thing...but she is almost 15 months. We have watched her learn how to use her hands. She has just l;earned how to pick things up. She learned how to play with toys, she is starting to learn to crawl, trying to stand while holding onto Daddy's fingers, Watched her take a bath in the bathtub...her first time ever. It was so bittersweet to see her figure it all out. we just sat there, watching in amazement as she splashed and played. We also learned a bit about the way she prefers to take her bottles. When I hold her, she will push herself back until she is laying completely flat. They she likes to hold the bottle herself and feed. Each time I would try to raise her up, at an incline, she would scream hysterically and push herself back down flat on her back. I later learned that the way she was fed in her Orphanage was by tying a rope across the two slats of her crib. A bottle was ties in the middle of the rope and hung over her head. She would grab the bottle overhead and position it, to feed herself. Makes complete sense as to why she prefers for us to feed her that way, but what a sad thought.
Today we decided to venture out and see a little of the City. Its a big city..people, cars and mopeds everywhere. Watch out or you will get run over. People here are so fascinated by us. They will just stop on the street, grab their phones, come up to us and start taking photos. Throw a Chinese baby in the mix..and you REALLY get stares. We were told that the public here doesn't fully understand that we are here adopting. They don't know what it means. We don't really understand HOW they don't know what it means, especially given the political stance on the one child rule. I mean...where do they think all of the Orphans go?? Why do they think we are here? Do they think we are stealing their kids? It's kind of strange, but none the less, we definitely get stared at everywhere we go.
We decided to try out another local restaurant today. We were going to try the chicken...until we noticed the wire cages out front of the place..with live chickens in them. We opted for the pork, instead....
As I mentioned before, we are slowly watching this sweet girl come to life. She is smiling, grabbing for us, laughing and playing The day we got her, she could hardly sit on her own. She was not crawling or picking up toys. Today, all of that has changed.She still has moments where she will shut down or burst into tears as if she is in pain..but for the most part, we most definitely see that she is beginning to trust us. It is truly amazing what LOVE can do for a child.
We love her much...more than we could have even imagined. When i look into her huge, brown almond eyes, i am reminded what a blessing she truly is....and how she was FEARFULLY and WONDERFULLY made by GOD.....
Blessings from China.....
Angie
