4-8-10
Mia and I are buddies!
Matthew says: We went to the zoo today. On the way there, Mia fell asleep in my arms. During the animal show where lions rolled over, tigers balanced on big rolling balls, and monkeys rode bikes, she woke back up. Mia was a little scared by the wild animals, but then we went back to the beginning of the zoo and showed her the animals that she missed while staring at the inside of her eyelids. We saw elephants, camels, monkeys, wolves, snakes, alligators and crocodiles, and even a panda, the animal Michael is studying for his school P.I.Q. (a ‘personal interest quest’ ). When we got back to the hotel, and Mia had taken her second nap, we saw her in prime form. It all started when Mom was giving Mia kisses and she was smiling, so everybody tried it, and in the end, everybody was in a circle in the hotel room, taking turns giving Mia smooches, with me carrying her around while she was giggling and having a ball. I was a really happy night, and Lola, who came with us from the Philippines, had the honor of getting the first laugh, and now because Mia thinks she is so funny, Lola will probably also get the last laugh too. Unfortunately, as Mia got sleepier, her good mood wore off, and I had to walker her back and forth in the hotel room for over an hour to get her to fall asleep. And guess what, a little later, she was awake again and this time Papa took over so I could get some sleep. Now we know why God made babies so darn cute, because if they weren’t, they are so much work that it wouldn’t be worth keeping them. I’m just kidding of course.
Maria says:
Another wonderful day with Mia! Mia has been a part of our family for just over 48 hours now...it's hard to believe. We are certainly experiencing a lot of adjustment issues and are continually learning about Mia and she about us, but it truly has been wonderful. One of the things I noticed today: even though she is 15 months old now, when I hold her, she seems to have minimal leg strength. And we have not seen her make any attempts to crawl (that could be because we have not let her feet hit the ground since we took her from the arms of the orphanage director two days ago!) After asking our guide about this, she told us that this is very typical for Chinese babies. Chinese babies are not encouraged to crawl...they go from lying on their back to rolling over to walking! Part of the reason for this is that she said Chinese babies are carried a lot. My feeling is that Mia probably spent a lot of time on her back in her crib at the orpanage. After reporting my observation to Dale, he proceeded to take her out for a walk down to the river and reported that he had her standing on her own without support for about 10 minutes!
It is so fun to experince a whole litany of first experiences with Mia (I'm sure she has done all of these things before, but they are the first time we get to see her doing them): her first giggle, her first unsupported spell of standing, her first solid poop, the first good meal she's eaten with us, the first fairly uninterrupted night of sleep, etc. Every little thing feels like such a victory!
Maria says:
Another wonderful day with Mia! Mia has been a part of our family for just over 48 hours now...it's hard to believe. We are certainly experiencing a lot of adjustment issues and are continually learning about Mia and she about us, but it truly has been wonderful. One of the things I noticed today: even though she is 15 months old now, when I hold her, she seems to have minimal leg strength. And we have not seen her make any attempts to crawl (that could be because we have not let her feet hit the ground since we took her from the arms of the orphanage director two days ago!) After asking our guide about this, she told us that this is very typical for Chinese babies. Chinese babies are not encouraged to crawl...they go from lying on their back to rolling over to walking! Part of the reason for this is that she said Chinese babies are carried a lot. My feeling is that Mia probably spent a lot of time on her back in her crib at the orpanage. After reporting my observation to Dale, he proceeded to take her out for a walk down to the river and reported that he had her standing on her own without support for about 10 minutes!
It is so fun to experince a whole litany of first experiences with Mia (I'm sure she has done all of these things before, but they are the first time we get to see her doing them): her first giggle, her first unsupported spell of standing, her first solid poop, the first good meal she's eaten with us, the first fairly uninterrupted night of sleep, etc. Every little thing feels like such a victory!
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