01.07.2005 REFERRAL!!!
03.03.2005 Travel Plans!
03.11.2005 Arrived in Beijing
3.12.2005 More on Trip
3.12.2005 Touring Beijing
3.13.2005 Second Day Beijing
3.14.2005 We Have Maya!
3.15.2005 It's Official!
3.16.2005 Shop 'Til You Drop!
3,17.2005 AM Museum
3,17,2005 PM Mother's Love
3.18.2005 Nanning Zoo
3.19.2005 Green Mountain Park
3.20.2005 Paperwork, Park, & P
3.21.2005 Guangzhou
3.22.2005 Shop 'Til You Drop!
3.23.2005 Last Day in China!
3.23/24.2005 The Journey Home
3.24.05 DFW Homecoming
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Good morning! Things are definitely getting better and better each day with Maya. She went to sleep last night without crying, is no longer crying for diaper changes, and took her first bottle!
The bottle hasn't been important for nutrition or hydration -- Maya has been eating like a trucker, and drinks from a straw like a pro! Mostly I wanted to regress her to a bottle for a little while to enhance bonding. But up until this morning, she's refused to take a bottle. Catching just as she was waking up was the trick to getting her to accept being a baby again for a little while. She loved the bottle, and took a bottle of water with me this evening before bed (if you saw all she ate for dinner you'd understand why I didn't try formula!).
Maya is also starting to show us more of her personality -- she babbles like crazy! I can't tell how much is Chinese and how much is just baby talk. But she has taken to speaking continuously in a sing-song string of sounds whenever she is happy. She also walks with a little swing of her head when she's in a good mood. Quite adorable!
She's also beginning to understand who her people are, and some English, too. I asked her last night to give the doll to her big sister, Zoe, who was in the bathroom. She promptly toddled over to Zoe to hand her her doll!
Maya hasn't wanted much to do with Zoe today, which has been very frustrating for Zoe. It's hard for her to understand that it's a little overwhelming to Maya to have Zoe in her face all the time, trying to grab her hands, wanting to show her things, etc. It was a hard day for Zoe, all things considered. We had two major meltdowns today. Hopefully, tomorrow will be better.
We had a great time this morning at the Guangxi Provincial Museum. Because Guangxi Province is comprised of a large population from the 56 minority groups in China, the museum is dedicated to minority cultures. We enjoyed the dancing, singing, and beautiful costumes.
These women are weating the costumes of the Miao tribe in China -- a tribe closely related to the Hmong from Vietnam (Guangxi Province shares a border with Vietnam). Everyone got into the spirit of things, with members of the dance troupe bringing our group onto the stage to dance. Here's Zoe skipping through the bamboo poles that are being rhythmically clapped together:
Thank goodness they didn't choose Zoe for the dance where they threw people up in the air -- I would have had a heart attack!
After watching the singing and dancing, the troupe prepared a special tea welcoming ceremony for us. The tea was terribly bitter, but Maya drank quite a bit, even though she made a face after each sip, she came back for more! Then we moved to the river bank to watch a Zhuang version of a mating ritual. All the marriageable girls stood on one side of the river, and all the boys of marriageable age stood on the other. They sang back and forth to each other, and then one girl began to sing questions to the boy of her choice -- kind of a "Dating Game" musical interview! One member of our group was chosen to sing back to her, which he did in a beautiful tenor -- singing show tunes and old standards! What a hoot! Anyway, after several of the musical Q & A interludes, she threw him a wedding ball, which he put around his neck. Apparantly, if he wanted to, after 7 days he could marry her -- something I'm sure his wife would have objected to!
The performers were so nice, and seemed to love posing with the babies especially:
I had a blast at the museum shop, because they had quite a few of the handmade minority group costumes for sale. I bought a beautiful skirt, which I plan to display on my dining room wall next to the Han jacket and Miao jacket I already have. I also bought a hat with bells for Zoe, and quite a few handicrafts -- some for Suzi, as you asked, Vicki! The staff seemed highly amused -- I don't think they've ever seen anyone buy as much as I did as quickly as I did! It earned me a gift of a free box of tea!
Then it was back to the hotel for lunch. We decided to eat in the room, since we didn't have much time until our trip to Mother's Love orphanage and meeting Maya's foster mom. We bought Cup-o-Noodle things at Walmart, so those came in handy. As you can see, I've got two great noodle-eaters on my hands!
I'll post later about our visit. I'm excited about meeting the foster mom, and anxious, too. Maya has been doing so well, and I'm sure we're in for a set-back after seeing her foster family. But I know in my heart it's the right thing to do -- for the foster mom, who loved and cared for her, but most importantly for Maya. She deserves an opportunity to say goodbye before starting her new life in earnest. And I truly believe that seeing her foster mom and her new mom together will give her permission to move on, to transfer her attachment to her foster mom to me. While we may be in for some short-term turmoil, I believe that in the long run, it's going to be the best thing we do. Wish us luck!
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