Love Internationale

This is going to seem like a stupid question, but oh well.

…when a baby is teething?

Sophie is drooling a lot and I know she’s got two teeth coming in, but she’s not especially fussy. She’s a little fussier than normal (I’m actually not sure what ‘normal’ is for her yet, but I think she’s a tad bit fussier). But the thing is…she’s waking up at 3:30 - 4am every morning. This is a new trend. Before now she slept through the night without a hitch. And I’m wondering if she’s teething. She doesn’t want to chew on anything (well, except my hand occasionally).

Teething experiences welcome.

She might be waking up simply because she’s more active now too. Since I’ve been giving her a lot of floor time, she rolls around more, scoots backward, ect in her crib. Before she never did that. I would put her on her stomach and SNAP, out like a light and she didn’t move all night. Now she’s rolling, kicking off her blankets, ect. So perhaps her early morning wakefulness is due to that. When she wakes up I change her, give her a bottle and she falls back to sleep…eventually. It can take up to an hour and a half.

Also…DUDE, they don’t make overnight diapers for tiny buttskees! They only make them for older kids with bigger buttskees! What is UP with that? When Sophie sleeps through the night she soaks her diaper through every time. I’ve tried different brands but nothing seems up to the task. Darn those diaper makers anyway.

Another blogger does this. If she’s reading this, she knows who she is. I LOVE the idea. I think it’s brilliant and I’m shamelessly stealing it. I intend to post a pic of Sophie every month on the 26th (our adoption day). It is, incidently, Sophie’s birthday too. Today she is ten months old.

Sophie on 4/26

Sophie on 3/26

Ack! She already looks older.

Sophie did fantastic at the zoo today. I thought she’d be too young for it, really, but she noticed and watched most the animals we showed her. Her favorite by far were the wooly monkeys. She got so excited when she saw them–squealing, laughing and kicking her feet. Maybe she thinks they’re big kiity-kats? They do walk on four paws and have long tails, after all, and she adores our cats. She loved the elephants, meercats and penguins too.

It was a beautiful day and great time to go to the zoo. I’m sure we’ll go back again soon.

In the parking lot. (With link-a-doos)

In front of the elephants (again with link-a-doos)

Babeh elephant (would probably like link-a-doos) and momma

So far Sophie….

• Has just sat in grass for probably the first time in her life. So far, I think she thinks it’s pretty weird.
• Is afraid of flowers! OMG! We went to buy some flowers for the front of the house today and I thought it was a fluke when she cried upon being presented with them in the store. It turned out not to be a fluke. She’s actually frightened by them. Interesting, hmmm? I personally find flowers to be fairly non-aggressive. We’ll work on this one (and the grass) slowly.
• Ironically, (after being afraid of flowers) LOVES the dog and squeals with delight every time she (the dog) comes near. I keep having to say “Please don’t lick the baby, doggie, please.”
• Is learning that when she cries, she will be picked up. This is good. It means she’s looking to us for comfort and is a sign of attachment.
• Is currently (as in this moment) sitting up on her own, playing with toys. The playing with toys part is a breakthrough. She’s still not too impressed with stuffed animals or soft blankets, ect.
• Is going to the zoo tomorrow!! There will be pics.

…of the Sophie Sweet.

All about the bouncy.

I’m cute…and I know it.

Nine and one half months is late to be introducing Sophie to solid foods and she is VERY resistant to it. First we did rice cereal, which she hated. Then we did green beans mixed with rice cereal (ped’s advice), which she hated. Green beans everywhere. Today we’re starting carrots. This solid food thing is the only real “issue” that Sophie has thus far.

I think her problem is with the texure of the food in her mouth. That and she’s simply used to her bottle. But we’ll keep it at it. I had one parent tell me it took her three months to get her baby used to taking solid foods.

In all other aspects she seems to be adjusting very well. Her development is steady. She’s much, much stronger than day one and getting stronger every day. It’s been amazing to watch her go from infant-like to sitting up on her own. She’s picked up roughly a month of development for every week she’s been with us. She’s still not caught up, but we have time. No rush.

Sophie in her high chair waiting for the carrots to steam….

….in the “Babycook”. My MIL brought this wonderful appliance from Belgium. It steams and then blends veggies, fruit, meat to make homemade baby food. I could find NOTHING like this in the United States. It’s awesome.

Sophie and the carrots. She didn’t think they were TOOOOO bad.

I meant to do this before we left China for home.

If you have so kindly followed Sophie’s story, please leave her a message now. It can be anything you want — a prayer, a song, good wishes for her future, just a simple hello. I plan to put these in a scrapbook for her.

Thank you for sharing our joy with us!

But we don’t mind.

Get aload of Sophie’s schedule. I don’t know if it will stay this way, buuuut….. she sleeps for ten to twelve hours a night. She doesn’t wake up for bottles or anything. Sleeps straight through. At first I kept going in to make sure she was all right. Apparently she’s just got great crib skills (no big surprise there) and is a deep sleeper. She also takes two naps a day, once in the mid-morning and once in the afternoon.

Three times a day I get her down on the floor and we work on sitting up and standing, ect. Today she stood with her legs locked and feet flat on the floor for the longest time ever. It tires her out, though, so we do this in short frequent spans. She’s really getting the sitting on her own thing down.

Look at me! I can sit up all by myself. And I love linkadoos. They’re my favorite toy.

I love the bouncy too, esp when mom and dad play music to dance to.

Dad went back to work today. We miss him.

Sorry I haven’t posted since we got home on Saturday. We’ve been ded with the jet lag, though I think we’ve managed to get Sophie more or less adjusted (and us too). She’s doing really well despite having a little cold and being generally overwhelmed by new faces, places, smells and pets. She’s adjusting fast, however. She’s very adaptable, our little Sophie.

She was a bit afraid of the cats at first, but now she thinks they rock. Same with our dog, Sedna. Sedna looooves Sophie and has since the first day. Things are working out really well in the fur baby/baby department. Hopefully that will continue.

Sophie is sleeping in her crib every night. Last night was the first night she slept all the way through, which makes me hope we’re adjusting to the time change. She’s had her first pediatric appointment on Tuesday and we’re starting to introduce solid foods now. The faces and sounds she makes when she’s introduced to a new food are hilarious. I’ll try and get some video of it.

I would post a pic but James has hidden the cord I need to download pictures. More soon! Just wanted to post that we’re home and all is well.

Today we swear our oath at the US Consulate and tomorrow we leave for home. Yaaaaaahooo! I enjoyed this trip and it went much smoother than I ever thought it would. I was braced for the worst (That’s what I do. Expect the worst and then be pleasantly surprised when things aren’t as bad as I expected). We’ve really only had one hard day (that was yesterday because Sophie kept us awake most of the night and I’m still kinda sickish on top of it) and we’re still adjusting to life as parents and that’s a trick, but so far things in general are pretty good.

But I can’t wait to get home and get into a routine with Sophie. Can’t wait to sleep in my own bed, cuddle my cats and play with the dog. I know James and the grandmas feel the same way. We all just miss home.

A few notes aboutGuangzhou…. It is cold and rainy here, but Shamian Island itself is very nice. It reminds me a lot of Europe, in fact. Small streets, colonial looking architecture, lots of foliage. There are LOTS of families with adopted babies here and it’s nice to not be stared at and followed around by the locals.

We’re staying at the Victory Hotel. To all families coming over here, I would recommend this hotel simply for the pleasure of having purified water at the bathroom taps. There’s also a machine that dispenses purified hot water. Not having to boil water and drink and brush your teeth from bottles is very, very nice. The walk to the White Swan isn’t bad, although it’s not fun in cold and rain I must say. Still, the extra room (we’re in a suite, which costs the same as a regular room at the White Swan) and the purified water makes the short walk worth it…even in the cold.

I would not do my shopping here in Guangzhou, by the way. If you’re coming here soon, I would recommend buying most things you want to take back while you’re in your baby’s province. There are lots of stores here, but it’s a little more expensive because they’re targeting us, adoptive parents, basically. And the shopkeepers are pretty pushy. They follow you around the store and try really hard to sell you things.

Oh, we to a very old Buddhist temple yesterday. That was the highlight of our time here. So interesting. We got to see the Buddhists (this particular branch of Buddhism is pronounced “Jen” but I’m not sure how to spell it) in a ceremony. Apparently, the Buddhist believe that when you adopt a baby you’re saving a life. To save a life you get all 7 karmic “credits” that you need for the next life. So, I guess we’re good now. Ha. I really wanted to have Sophie Fu Duo blessed by a monk while we were there, but they were all busy doing the ceremony, unfortunately. Sophie will be raised Buddhist, but with some twists. Buddhism with flavoring. We got some pictures and I’ll post them soon.

Our guides also talked a lot about the abandonment of babies. They have all said the same thing — the people here know that the one child policy isn’t moral, but it’s necessary. They don’t like it but they accept it because there are so many people here in China that to allow everyone to have as many children as they want would destroy their economy and push people into poverty and suffering. They are resigned to it, in other words. I asked how the Chinese view domestic adoption and our guide here said that the Buddhists are most likely to adopt domestically. He really didn’t say much more than that.

Our guide also said that most parents who abandon travel about 100 miles from their home to do it. Since Yunyang county in Chongqing is near three different provinces, it’s hard to know where Sophie might be from.

So, this is my last post from China. I’ll try and update when we get home, but I might not for a few days. We’re going to be pretty wrecked once we get in and after that we’ll be fighting jet lag.