Home for 3 Weeks

The first week or two home seemed really long thanks to jet lag, but now time is picking up again. Harper is still busy and in almost constant motion when at home. She can also be calm and stay in one place for quite a while when I need her to be (e.g., meeting at work that lasted 1.5 hours, hair appointment). I am back at work part-time, sans Harper except for visits, and teaching my three classes at the gym. She seems to be doing well with this additional major adjustment and accepts and enjoys her caregivers. I have been able to leave Jaden with her in some cases and that is the best. She will start in full-time daycare at the end of July - for now she has a wonderful manny two days/week and an occasional favorite babysitter, Maddison, or good friend and sitter, Diane.

Jaden continues to impress me with her increasing maturity and sweet, helpful nature towards her sister. And it is definitely a "monkey see, monkey do" relationship that has been very helpful in many cases, mostly getting Harper comfortable in water. This last week was big - Harper stripping down and standing by the bathtub whenever the mood strikes her (often), "swimming" in the pool, and joining me or Jaden in the shower. Water on her head still gives her some momentary panic, but that is getting better. There are lots of pictures to document this major transformation.

Harper still loves noodles over all else (she just cried when I told her she ate all of them at lunch), and yogurt has become a favorite. She is finicky about most other foods and some days gives a "yes", other days a "no". I try to have a lot of choices on hand, and keep trying new things. I have not really found one meal we all like yet outside of noodles...

The only tough part now is the communication. As she has become more comfortable with me, she will say something in Mandarin (or baby talk Mandarin - who knows?) and be totally annoyed because I have no idea what she means. Usually the context is known and I can figure it out, but not always. Her comprehension of English is increasing daily, and she will readily mimic us. And uses words that she knows spontaneously. Cute today I handed her some watermelon and she said "tat yu"!

The sisters having fun together.

Harper enjoying a yogurt popsicle.

Harper and Jaden in pool with friend, Grant (Diane's brother-in-law).

Harper at our association's kiddie pool (nice as it is 1 foot water height throughout).

Competing water interests - Mickey for a drink, Harper for hand washing.
Jaden helping out.

Pictures from the Week

Some more from last Sunday, and additional ones through today.  Thanks to the friends that shot some goodies, too.

(credit: VI Photos)

Add with picture above to see "sister" shirts! (I assured Jaden
I would Photoshop the man out before pic went into the scrapbook!)
(credit: VI Photos - Kim!)

Mellow Miss Harper (credit: Lina)

At today's end-of-year party at Jaden's school. Harper enjoying
her first smoothie.

Such nice smiles, and at the same time!

Adjustments

So many things for Harper to adjust to, as well as Jaden, me, and the cats!  I think we are progressing towards a new set of routines, but still a ways to go. Harper is for the most part sleeping through the night, although she had some reason to be up at 3 am the night before last, which led to a few cat naps yesterday, and then a bed time after her sister last night. I hope to get the bedtime routine sorted out this week.

I am still finding things that Harper likes to eat. Maybe she is more finicky than I originally thought in that one day she will eat lots of something (e.g., egg) and the next day turns up her nose. Cheerios and other "favorite" snacks get the same response. But she likes a lot bananas, apples, and melon. I am still giving her a bottle with toddler formula since she will not yet drink milk from a sippy cup (or she is messing with me - she does like to tease), but will have to wean her off in the coming weeks and get her ready for drinking from an open cup as will be done at daycare.

Jaden and Harper for the most part get along wonderfully. Harper LOVES watching and imitating her sister, and often hands something to Jaden for her to do and not me (e.g., toothbrush, shoe to put on). And Jaden is mostly patient and kind to her, with some sporadic periods of exasperation as it is hard to turn Harper "off" once she is wound up. They both love the playground/park and we are checking out different ones in our area. Jaden has accomplished the monkey bars this year and it is her challenge to traverse all that she finds multiple times. This delights Harper who I just need to make sure is out of the way of swinging feet. And Harper's favorite is the slide; the swing is fun for a minute and then her face clouds over and she wants off.

Jaden can also be credited with turning Harper from a bath hater to a bath lover. Part of the success I also found was giving her the washcloth as she was taught exactly how to use it. She scrubs and will even put it on her head, which if I did would elicit shrieks. And she will let me put lotion on her dry skin without protest as I got before, so big progress. And she will imitate Jaden brushing her teeth and let Jaden do her back molars. Good progress here, too!

I have taken Harper into the office a few times as I have started back at work, in a  part-time capacity mostly working at home. It is my biggest adjustment to start the juggle of kids (like that plural!), work, cats, and house stuff. And I started back at the gym last night with my usual babysitter for Harper and Jaden (I have three 1-hour classes/week; yoga and cardio). Aunt Lisa had visited at the end of last week and was the best first babysitter for Harper who is so much more aware than Jaden who was younger. This is all good preparation for daycare which starts with a nanny (er, manny) next week for 2 days/week and then full-time daycare the third week of July.

I will post more pictures soon. I definitely need to take more!

Beginning of last week. You never knew when jet lag would hit!

Aunt Lisa enjoying the girls.

Harper finding out the chair vibrates - lots of giggles!

Harper at work with mama. Still lovin' those stickers!

At grocery store. Harper intent on watching her sister's every move.

One of Jaden's favorite activities is to visit the pet store. Harper liked it, too!

Another Jaden activity shown to Harper was feeding the birds
at the mall when we have coffee time with the gals after the gym. I am not
back to weekend teaching yet, but we still partook in the social part!

Jet Lag

I can get over jet lag expertly, sans a toddler. So Harper finally fell asleep last night a little before 8 pm, but was up at midnight. We had a snack, did some puzzles, read some books, watched some Bernstain Bears on TV, and finally I declared at 3:30 am that it must be time to go back to bed (the cats agreed). She slept well until we woke her up mid-morning to go out into the sunshine. We were off with Harper in her I-do-not-like-this-so-much-its-confining carseat to "coffee" with the gals from the gym where we sit outside. Then after a late afternoon nap, we headed to a nearby park with grandma in tow. Harper really thought this was great fun.

All in all, a pretty good first full day at home for Harper. Jaden is adjusting, too, and a wonderful big sister wanting to push the stroller, feed her, and running all over the park yelling "Harper, follow me!". I can already tell that Harper is going to do some things for her sister that she will not do for me (e.g., give Jaden that battery that I have been trying to wrestle out of her tight fist). The cats are also figuring things out. Minnie is meowing her head off if Harper is crying (she did this as well with Jaden as a baby), and Mickey is enjoying checking out the toys and otherwise observing everything from a safe distance. Harper acknowledges them, saying "meow meow". She has not really touched either of them yet, but her air swipes are coming ever closer.

Both girls in bed tonight by 10:30 pm. Let's hope Harper makes it a chunk of hours, because I find jet lag makes me very loopy. And I have no idea what I did with the TV remote.... I even checked the trash! It would be nice to make Harper the scape goat, but I don't think she had anything to do with its disappearance.

Thanks to everyone who has followed along and supported my adoption adventure. The blog posts, emails, texts, and Words with Friends messages were all much appreciated and made me feel like I was sharing her before we even got home. I will post again in a week or so. Until then, pictures from the day including one from friend, Kim!

"I think I am going to like all these coffee gals." (credit: VI Photos)

"Yes, share with me jie jie!" (held by friend, Nora)

"No grandma, I don't want to hold your hand OR give you a kiss!"

"This is fun and I don't even need to hold on."

"Whoa, we are comin' down fast!"

"The park is for me!!!"

Home!

We are home! It is 6:45 pm and Harper is still on her feet. It was a long travel day, in which she did quite good on the flights. Not a cry out of her the first 8 hours of the 12 hour flight to San Francisco, but after falling asleep and never getting comfortable, she was not a happy camper. So I walked her around the plane and except for a 10 min cat nap in the car after arriving in San Diego, she has not shown an interest in sleeping since we have come home. But she is fading, I think - how can a kid with less than 2 hours of quality sleep go for 24 hours!!! Her tenacity is amazing.

And today had a first.  She was entertaining herself nicely in her seat (I owe this trip to stickers) and I kind of closed my eyes, a mini doze. I got a slug on my arm and "mama"! That was so nice; up until now she has said "mama" when prompted with a picture or looking in the mirror. And she has said it a few more times today. If she would just say "night night mama" I could get some sleep!

Jaden and Diane met us at the airport, which was great. Jaden and Harper are interacting well, and Jaden is quickly learning not to leave things she does not want Harper to have in her reach.

I will keep the blog going a tad longer as Harper explores her new life. For now, welcome home, Harper! We have waited a long time for you.

At Hong Kong airport ready to check in. And for the record,
I was able to transport all of it WITHOUT the cart.

At SFO awaiting luggage in customs. I should have known I was
in trouble as she was showing no signs of sleepiness.

Family reunion at San Diego airport. I am HAPPY to be home with
both my girls!

Sisters. Harper had all sorts of smiles and giggles for her sister's
antics. I think they will get along together just fine.

Jaden showing Harper the collection of toys awaiting her at home.

Jaden really wanted to feed Harper, and Harper, the social eater
that she is, went along with it.

Hong Kong

We had our last "usual" morning routine in Guangzhou, which after Starbucks has included the little grocery store that I remember shopping at during Jaden's adoption. The man who runs the store has given Harper a lollipop every time we go in and so today we told him goodbye and she was bestowed another tasty, sticky treat. I have a few for the airplane if all else fails! We received Harper's passport with US visa this morning and after checking out of the hotel, we went with another family to the train station. I was planning on taking the train from Guangzhou to Hong Kong by myself, but after just experiencing it, let me say how thankful I am for the help of this family and the nice man who helped drag one of my suitcases on the train since Harper was kicking to be let down (have I mentioned a sufficient amount of times that she is truly a 2 year old?!?). It was a scenic 2 hour train ride followed by 40 min van ride, but we arrived about 9 pm at a beautiful Marriott located at the airport (I wanted convenience at the end of this trip). Harper arrived asleep after no nap and I hope she gets good sleep tonight since she definitely has a cold and tomorrow is a long, long day.

I am pretty much packed, just have to rearrange some of the stuff in the carry-ons so she does not get into all the new stuff (toys, books, snacks) at once. Our flight is at 11:30 am so we will get up and go to the what-I-hear is a wonderful breakfast buffet; expensive, but I don't plan on eating the plane food! I also exchanged our RMB for HK$ so I have money to buy us some additional snacks. I think I have mentioned that she can eat a lot and her cold does not seem to have slowed her down. And on that note, I am going to go suck on another zinc lozenge!

Jaden, we will be home SOON and we can't wait!!!!!!!!!

Morning lollipop. She is going to miss this quite a bit! Notice her hair - we
did not sleep so well last night as her cold worsened.

On the way to train station in Guangzhou; Canton Tower - tallest building
in Guangzhou at 600 meters.

Having a late lunch while waiting for train. I ordered her a fried rice dish
that had some really interesting seafood; I had hot chocolate.

Tenley (12; adopted this trip), Michael (our guide this week), Maryn (10; Tenley's sister adopted
3 years ago), and Harper. The girls were EXCELLENT at entertaining Harper.

First train ride. Refused to wear her shoes and often ignored me when I
indicated she should be sitting in her seat. But a better experience than the first plane ride!

Play Date

It was a day without purpose other than hanging out while the visa is processed. We did the breakfast buffet (which I am going to miss), Starbucks (in the opposite order!), talked with Jaden on Skype until she wanted to watch TV :), did a little souvenir shopping, and then called our friends from the first week in China - the single mom adopting the 3 year old, "Gong Gong" (again, I do all this phonetically), who will be having bilateral cleft and palate surgery this summer. His mom is a nurse and she met him when he was 15 mo old and she traveled with a group of US doctors and nurses to do cleft repairs. Gong Gong's was too severe for the team, and for anyone else in China. She fell in love with the little guy and worked for a year towards a medical visa and found US surgeons to provide what was needed, gratis. But then, China opened up again to singles for the adoption of special focus kids (older, severe special needs) and she decided with her 9 year old daughter that they would like to add him to their family. So that is how it came to be they were in China and on that elevator the first day when I arrived and I asked "are you adopting, too?" I even saw Gong Gong before they did as he was in the lobby when I went down to wait for Yin Yin. We enjoyed our week together as the kids played and us single moms swapped stories. Jaden would have had fun that week (but still no regrets she did not come, the traveling is tough!). So back to today - Harper and I got in a taxi and went to their hotel about 20 min away to hang out for a couple hours before they had to get in their naps and pack before flying home tonight. We plan to stay in touch. I hope so as they are a very cool family.

Harper is resistant to falling asleep in any way, shape, or form the last few days. And she has sneezed all day and a slight runny nose, so I was not going to let her get away with no nap if I could help it. So it took her an hour and a half in her crib while I sat nearby to finally settle down after periodic protesting, but the cool part was that she was singing little songs, saying nursery rhymes (based on the repetitiveness), and otherwise jabbering away. I didn't dare move from my chair to get my phone for a video, but I should try to capture it. Very cute and she was singing some parts with such emphasis as I am sure she was taught. Also while packing she came across the rubber shoes she was wearing on Gotcha Day, and she insisted on wearing them to bed. Not sure if I can get them off her feet without waking her, and not sure if I want to.

Tomorrow, the train to Hong Kong, which would give me an anxiety attack but one of the other families here under Michael is on the same train and going to the same airport hotel, so that is huge help to me since I have added a stroller and seem to need one arm more to move all my "stuff". So for now, I can continue to focus my anxiety and dread on the flight home!!

Tai chi every morning around 8 am. We are on our way to Starbucks.

The stick-out-tongue phase appears to have been short lived. Gong Gong and his mom, also
little peek of big sister.

Gong Gong and Harper. She's a tad flirtatious don't you think?

Partners in crime.