Day 4 - Changsha

Ni Hao!

Today has been a great day!  Miss Olivia is coming out of her shell, and we have gotten quite a few smiles today.  She has the cutest little dimple.

She slept great last night….about 10 hours.  I had to hold her for her to go to sleep, but that was fine with me.  Sleep training an adopted child is quite different than a biological child.  The first thing you must do with an adopted child is to establish a "circle of trust."  That means that you must respond quickly to their needs, so that they know they can trust you.  So, anytime she cries, we need to respond and attempt to "fix" the problem, as quickly as possible.  Eventually, she will know that she can trust us.  I tried to give her a bottle, but she didn't want that.  So, I laid her down in her crib last night, and she wasn't having any part of that either, so I tried something different.  She went right to sleep.

This morning, I tried another bottle, but again, no luck.  After that, we tried a bath.  Ansley got in the tub and tried to show Olivia what to do, but Olivia would never sit down in the tub.  I managed to bathe her anyway, but she wasn't too happy about it.  She never cried, but just had a blank stare on her face the whole time.  I have since then learned that they bathe her in a small "basin" at the orphanage.  The hotel staff provided one for us, so we will try that the next time.  It is basically a plastic, oversized baby tub like we have in the states.

After baths, we went down for breakfast.  She ate congee, drank an apple juice/water blend from a bottle (She holds it herself.), and had some more Puffs and Cheerios.  She only drinks from a bottle, no sippy cup, yet.

After breakfast, we headed over to the Civil Affairs Office to sign more paperwork and make it official.  The orphanage staff came back today to sign papers as well.  I was a little concerned that it would be hard on Olivia to see them again, but she actually opened up more once she saw them.  They had her talking a little more and laughing.  They liked the fact that the girls were dressed alike and LOVE Ansley.  However, I could tell that they were concerned that Olivia didn't have enough clothes on.  I had read many times that the Chinese think that children should be covered from pretty much head to toe.  With that in mind, I had dressed Olivia in a dress, leggings, socks, sandals, and a jacket.  They didn't see that I had a jacket for her, but I quickly put it on when I could tell they were concerned we didn't know what we were doing.  In fact, I put my own jacket on, so that they didn't think I was crazy.

Our translator spent quite a bit of time asking them all the questions that I had prepared, and they answered them all.  This is quite helpful because I asked about a lot of different things….from when they found her (no information here - no note, etc.), who named her, how she likes to be comforted, her favorite things to play with, her favorite foods, how she likes to sleep, her friends, the orphanage, how long they had worked there, the area, etc.  The bottom line is that Miss Olivia was one of their favorites, if not THE favorite.  Evidently, she pretty much had free reign of the place and would wander into their offices throughout the day to visit.  They took a lot of pictures of her with us.  We gave them their gifts, and they left.  They were sad to go.  In fact, one of the workers just kind of disappeared from the room.

After they left, we had a family photo made (official Chinese document) and then had to answer some questions such as, "Do you promise to never abandon her and to take good care of her?", when were you married, do you have any other children? etc.  We paid more fees to the Chinese government, signed more papers, and then we left.  We began to see some of the grieving stage come out on the car ride back to the hotel.  In fact, she cried most of the way back, but she did let me try to comfort her, so that was good.

When we got back to the hotel, we located the playroom.  It was pretty nice and equipped with some older toys, but sufficient for what we needed.  Ansley had Olivia giggling, laughing, and smiling, so that was good to see.  We had a great time in the playroom and will visit again while we are here.

We had a little lunch, and then nap time.  Olivia wouldn't lie down in her crib again for nap, so I held her unit she went to sleep.  She slept about 2 1/2 hours.

Philip went out exploring while the girls were napping.  He found a Pizza Hut and a little market.

After nap time, we went back to the playroom and then went out on an adventure to find the Pizza Hut.  And, what an adventure it was!  Not only do we stand out because we are American, and Ansley has red hair, but also because we are toting around a Chinese child.  I was carrying Olivia in a Baby Bjorn, so that she was attached to me.  We finally made it to the Pizza Hut, and let me tell you….it was pretty good pizza!!  We should have ordered a larger pizza because we quickly learned that Olivia would eat the breading.  We received a lot of stares and some smiles….mostly stares, though.  Changsha reminds us a lot of New York City in the amount of people who are walking on the sidewalks and the traffic.  I was really glad to get back to the hotel.

After dinner, we went to the indoor swimming pool.  Olivia wasn't so sure what to think, so she didn't stay in long.  She definitely has some teeth issues in the front, but we will address those when we visit the pediatrician upon our return.

Please pray for Ansley's adjustment.  We are having some issues where sometimes Olivia doesn't really want anything to do with her.  In particular, Ansley wants to hold Olivia's hand when we are walking places, and Olivia won't have anything to do with her.  It is hurting Ansley's feelings, so we are trying to muddle through that as well.  All in all, though, we are doing really well.

Tomorrow, we will tour YuLu Academy, an ancient Chinese university.  Thanks again for reading!
Jill