We have poop! I forgot to mention that yesterday. She’s been doing pretty good in that department since we started plying her with prunes (hates), apple juice (hates) and water (hates). She likes her bottle. We’re lucky on that score.
Sophie changes every day…. It’s amazing to watch the transformation. The first couple days she didn’t cry at all and, while she did laugh and smile, I realize now that she was employing some kind of baby survival tactic. She is still the joyous, laughing, cuddly child she was in the beginning but she’s also crying and fussing more. This is a good thing. Now she’s expressing the full range of emotions and that’s healthy. I think more of the real Sophie is starting to shine through. Either that or she’s grieving a bit. I’m not sure.
Sophie Fu Duo sleeping on me the first day.
She’s getting a lot clingier too. She doesn’t like to be put down. In the beginning she could lie on a blanket and amuse herself for hours without fussing. Now she wants our attention all the time. And we have to cuddle with her until she falls asleep for naps or at night, otherwise she fights it and fights it and then cries because she’s so tired. Sophie is like a sponge, soaking up all the one-on-one attention she never received in the first 9 months of her life. Luckily she takes lots of naps! She’s also a great sleeper at night.
Developmentally she’s made leaps and bounds just in the last few days. We’ve been exercising her, trying to help her learn to sit up on her own, reach out and take toys. At first she was like an infant, all floppy noodle like. As of today she’s trying to sit up on her own and holds her head up a lot better. She’s not too crazy about touching things other than herself, us, or her bottle. She likes to scratch things with her little fingers, but she pulls her hands away from toys for the most part. But this morning she reached out, grabbed her ball and rolled it. So she’s making steady progress. I think it will be pretty fast.
Pretty, good luck baby… One reason (according to our guides) people want to touch Sophie Fu Duo is that they think she’s “good luck”. She’s going to the
U.S. to live in a “rich” family (we’re not rich by American standards, but we are by Chinese standards). So people touch her for luck. It’s true most people touch her cheek or chin when they notice her (which is like all the time. Damn, we’re a walking freak show around here). They also all say “beautiful” or “pretty baby” when they see Sophie. We think she’s gorgeous, of course, but I think Sophie has some characteristics that the Chinese find especially attractive. I know her ears and her very fair complexion are two things. She has gorgeous eyes! She has big doe eyes, our little Sophie, and gorgeous long dark lashes.
Sophie is the biggest baby in our group. She actually does fit into 9 month clothes, but it won’t be long at all until she’s out of them. James and I feel very fortunate to have been matched with Sophie Fu Duo. I can’t imagine having any other daughter (I’m sure all the families are saying that). The CCAA matching department did well. Thank you CCAA matching department! You found our daughter for us, the perfect fit for James and I. She’s like a puzzle piece we didn’t know was missing and now that she’s here it’s like she was never absent from our lives. James…I’ve never seen James like this. He’s well and thoroughly in love with her, just like I am.
My back hurts! Dude, I’m using muscles never before exercised. Tomorrow we’re taking shifts with Sophie. First my mom and I are going down to soak in the sauna and have a massage. Then I’ll take care of Sophie Fu Duo and James and his mom will go do the same. The beds are hard here to boot. It’s like sleeping on a box spring. My arms keep falling asleep at night. Mostly we’re so tired we don’t notice it much, though.
Yesterday James and Colette went to the zoo. I stayed behind for fear it would be depressing, but apparently it’s a large, nice zoo. Very clean and with large enclosures. Not depressing. (Well, *all* zoos are kind of depressing, but apparently this one isn’t any worse than most. Never take me to the circus, man, I cry it’s so sad.)
Panda at the zoo (I don’t know why I title these. They’re pretty self-explanatory, aren’t they? Where else would the panda be?)
James at the zoo.
One of the famous “squatty potties”. I didn’t encounter this one, Colette (my MIL) did. Lucky her!
Last night we ate the best meal we’ve had so far at a hibachi restaurant (and it’s all been good…er, except for the chicken leg swimming in the viscous unidentifiable yellow fluid). Dinner here? Very cheap, like most things. Last night’s delicious, plentiful dinner cooked right in front of us (dinner and entertainment!) was only $7 per person. Today I bought baby shoes for three bucks a pair.
At the hibachi restaurant. Sophie was sacked out and sleeping in the Ergo. Riding in the Ergo usually puts her to sleep.
We have one more day to kill here in
Chongqing. There’s a tour, but we’re not taking it, opting to stay here, rest and have massages instead. Sophie is still a little ill with congestion in her chest. We have her on antibiotics and cough meds. Once we get home we’ll be taking her to the ped pretty much right away.
I am a little homesick for my family and for my furbabies and all the people here (people, people, people EVERYWHERE, all staring at us) are a little wearing on my nerves. Plus, it’s very polluted here and I can feel it a bit in my lungs when we’re outside. All that said, it will be sad to leave
Chongqing.
Chongqing will remain forever a very special place for us because it’s Sophie Fu Duo’s original home and it’s where she first came to us. I might shed a tear or two when the plane takes off on Monday. Uhm…that is if I’m not busy dealing with a screaming baby.
