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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 |
We had a quiet day today. My morning was devoted to preparing all the paperwork for our visa application for Maya -- since I'm bringing a little foreign national into the country, the U.S. Consulate has to issue her a visa. Our group spent about 2.5 hours filling out government forms! And I love how complicated they can make the simplest things. On THIS form, Maya's name has to be Jin, Bing Li. On THAT form it has to be Bing Li Jin! Ah, well, our guide, Veronica, is a pro at this, and had our group of 11 filled out, cut and pasted, stapled and collated in no time. While I slaved over the paperwork, Mimi had the adventure of taking two girls to the park! People's Park is very near the hotel, and is HUGE! She tells me they probably saw less than 1/3 of it this morning. There was another costume-photo booth, and Zoe clamored to have her picture done again! What a ham! And of course Mimi said yes! (I'll upload a picture tomorrow -- we're all packed up right now and I don't want to disturb anything for fear all our stuff will come bursting out at one small slide of a zipper!). Zoe said the best part of the park was watching the Tai Chi exercises and hearing the singing. Did I mention that in Beijing we also heard large groups of retired people in the park singing? They consider it a form of exercise, like tai chi -- and the Chinese are very big on morning exercises. Even after using up lots of stuff -- snacks and diapers -- we had packed, and dumping other stuff (extra diapers, etc., which is being donated to the orphanage), it was STILL tough getting everything back into the same suitcases. I definitely see a suitcase purchase in our future in Guangzhou. We leave tomorrow for Guangzhou, our last China stop on this adventure. All American adoptive families exit through Guangzhou, since that is the U.S. Consulate in China with an orphan petition division. I'm sorry to be leaving Nanning, and I wish I had had an opportunity to see more of the city. We already had fond memories of Nanning from Zoe's adoption trip in 2001, and they are now compounded with Maya's adoption trip. Still, we will definitely come back for a visit one day. I'm still determined to get to Guiping SWI, even if we didn''''t make it this trip. Tomorrow in Guangzhou, we will have Maya's visa physical examination, and have to take her visa photo. Then on Tuesday, our visa application will be taken to the U.S. Consulate. We'll have to make an appearance Tuesday afternoon to swear that everything in the paperwork we filled out is true and correct. Then, on Wednesday, we'll get Maya's visa. We leave Guangzhou on Wednesday at 9:30 p.m., and will arrive in Los Angeles the same day (I just LOVE that international date line!). We'll stay the night in LA, and be home on Thursday!!!! I'll post our flight information before we leave. Maya is doing so well, it's absolutely amazing! She is a supremely happy child, and like a typical toddler is into everything. She is still eating and eating and eating . . . She also is taking 2-3 bottles a day, and snuggles into Mama to have her bottle. We've started playing a game during bottle time -- she'll squinch her eyes shut, and I'll follow suit. Then she'll blink two times, and I'll do the same. She'll nod her head up and down, and so will I. She gets so tickled she has to let go of the bottle to laugh out loud! Sounds simple, but that eye contact and playfulness is really great for bonding! I'm sure some of you are thinking, "Wait a minute -- you adopted a toddler who was potty trained and you put her back in a diaper. And she was weaned from the bottle, and you put her back on. What are you, nuts?!" Well, it's that bonding and attachment thing again. With a toddler especially, it's important to take them back a few steps to infant. It's during that needy time that babies learn to trust their parent/caregiver. And that trust then allows them to venture out into independent exploration as a toddler, trusting that their parent will always be there for them. Since Maya is a toddler already, she missed that dependent stage with me to cater to her every need. So, we have to build that trust in order for her to safely move on to independence (actually we're pretty much doing both stages at once. For example, I feed her at the beginning of meals when she's really hungry. When that basic hunger is satisfied, I let her have the spoon so she can feel independent about self-feeding.). So, there's your mini-lesson on toddler adoption! And believe me, I'm pretty much learning as I go! Zoe is still having a hard time adjusting to sharing Mama with baby sister. Though, according to Zoe, the problem is that Maya isn't sharing Mama with her! We're still having periodic meltdowns. At lunch, we had one with Zoe sobbing her heart out. After awhile, she got distracted by the goings-on at the restaurant and stopped crying. Then she leaned over and whispered in my ear, "I'm not crying, but I'm still sad." I'm beginning to think maybe I'm being manipulated just a tad! I had to remind her of the story of the little boy who cried "wolf." We'll see what the next few days bring. I think it will really help when we can get home and Zoe can get back to her routine. Then maybe it won't be so overwhelming to share Mama. We have to have our bags outside the door for pickup tomorrow at 6:30 a.m. So night-night for now! More from sunny (cloudy? hazy?) Guangzhou. |