She sleeps great! We get her ready for bed, Austin tucks her in and she falls asleep. She also still naps and has the same sleeping habits for naps as nights.
She is at least day time potty trained. We have her in a diaper but I don't think she appreciates it very much. We would forgo the diaper but she hasn't done a great job telling us when she needs to go
She speaks but doesn't want to. She calls Austin something like 'yaya' when she's really upset. She squeaks and hums and ....
She loves riding on her daddy's back in the ergo and she SINGS! It's completely adorable.
She only eats liquid foods but we have taught her (really more like convinced her) to use a sippy bottle for water and to eat fruit and veggie pouches. She loves soup as long as there are no chunks.
She loves the bath and being clean in general. If she has something on her hands, she squeaks and shows them to Austin to wipe. She's very careful about her clothes and isn't too happy about them being too big for her and falling off. Shopping in our future...
Her eyes are so shiny and captivating that even cell-phone entrenched Chinese teenagers look up if she catches their eye and smile at her. Older women on the metro eat her up too.
We had a free morning today so we decided to figure out the metro system in Guangzhou. It is incredibly easy and mostly in English so we felt pretty accomplished riding around town without getting turned around, lost, or trampled once. We zipped over to another side of town and checked out a 'mountain' park (read- lots of stairs). We walked through a beautiful bamboo forest, weird Chinese fairy tale statues, and the creepiest looking closed down amusement park you'll ever see. While at the park, a teenager with a cell phone ran up to Austin. We're already used to the stares - Austin carrying Mila is quite the site- but this kid didn't even seem to notice Mila. He rattled off something in Cantonese at rapid fire, held up his cell phone- stopped to make sure Austin was giving the V for victory sign (peace sign)- and then snapped a selfie with him. And took off. Austin didn't even realize the kid was taking a picture. It was awesome. (I wonder if Chinese teens hang out at night showing their friends random selfies with foreigners that they took for the day).
We metroed (new word) back to our hotel to put Mila down for a nap. I bought a pomelo or something similar that was delicious and Austin ran and picked up laundry we had dropped off- we felt very local.
We had to wake Mila from her nap to go to the passport office. They processed some paperwork for us, checked our passports, and gave us the official adoption papers finalizing Mila's adoption.
We hung out at the hotel for a little while and then decided to find a large shopping mall we had passed on the way. After consulting Google, we headed off on foot and a few minutes later, found the mall! It was very American so we decided to stick to the theme and have Pizza Hut for dinner. Our American theme kind of need there as we had to choose which weird pizza to order- crab and roe? Corn? Beef brisket? We went with the beef and it was ok. Mila had minestrone-minus all the chunks.
While we were eating, the weather really started to change. It cooled off and the wind picked up. Supposedly we will get rain tonight. We booked it back to our hotel and beat the rain thankfully.
Tomorrow we have Mila's medical appointment. I'm not looking forward to it. She has to have a blood draw and they take the child to another room away from the parents to do it. She's still having a tough time adjusting to me and I don't think the medical will help. Thankfully she has really opened up to Austin. She is uber curious- loves to walk and explore but stays close to Austin. She plays with the toys we brought her- so many kids from orphanages I've worked in have no idea what to do with toys. Mila stacks cups, pretend plays with her dolls and speaks to them, rolls balls, reads books. Austin has even been able to get her to start to allow him to brush her teeth- something I'm pretty sure she's never done and has decided she dislikes with a passion. She really hasn't allowed me to get close. It's incredibly hard to see her tiny broken heart and want to be close and comfort her when yours feels like it's breaking for trying. This morning was difficult for me emotionally and even though it went unexpressed, so many friends and family members messaged and texted me saying they were praying for me. It was absolutely life giving and a very needed time and I am so grateful to all of you. If you get a chance (and our internet cooperates and I can post this in time...) pray for our medical appointment tomorrow- that will be around 6:30 pm California time. Also keep praying that sweet Mila lets some of those walls down, especially around me.
Thanks friends-we keep putting one foot in front of the other and know that we will someday see results of this. Beauty from ashes- right?
Praying for you all throughout each day. Praying for you to not feel disheartened and praying for Mila to let you in. I believe that it will happen but I think it will take time. You've had a lot of practice with waiting this past year, and this will be both the hardest and most important one, but God is with you. You're doing great.
ReplyDeleteThe Sovereign LORD is my strength! He makes me as surefooted as a deer, able to tread upon the heights.
Habakkuk 3:19 NLT
I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 15:13 NLT