I was inspired to update today after reading a fellow blogger comment on how the blog is a special way to document the life of her child. Even though I cannot post pictures, I can still tell stories.
Yesterday, February 11th, Vera began saying “DADADADADA.” Of course Shannon believes she is clearly telling the world she loves him the most. Hmmm… I just wish the darn “M” sound weren’t so difficult! Her favorite words are “Baaaaaaaaaaaaa” and now “Dadadada”. She also loves “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh” and “Abba” so I guess she is already praising the Lord. Obviously smart and devoted already. 
I posted today on our agency’s loop about her not napping and yet what is she doing right now? Napping in the morning! And it’s been over an hour. I guess I can’t expect her to be perfectly trained already. She is still figuring out how things work around here.
Our “Ayi” (nanny/cleaner) started this week. While I’m off work she is only coming twice a week to clean and do laundry (I am so lucky!) and little by little I’ll start letting her take care of V. But not yet. The first day she picked her up unprompted twice before I couldn’t take it anymore. Every part of me cringes when someone else holds her (besides Shannon, of course). Those who have not adopted cannot be expected to understand, but she has only known us coming up on four weeks. Before that, lots and lots of people held her and of course she was just fine. She is still learning who we are, and I want her to trust us and know us as fully as possible before the whole world gets to. I make no apologies for that, and it is my fault that I did not make that clear to the Ayi when we had our first meeting with the translator. Oh yeah, she speaks pretty much zero English, which is a challenge. So, upon the second pick-up I called friend J to explain to her in Chinese the situation. I asked J to make it clear that I am happy she is so loving towards Vera, but Mommy has to be the one to hold her for a few more weeks. J said that BZ (the Ayi) understood perfectly, so that was a relief. So the second day she came (yesterday) they did some playing on the floor but no holding. I was okay with that. I still have 5+ weeks left, and I am not ready to relinquish her yet!
Yesterday when Shannon came home we took a walk through the park. On the way home Shannon was holding Vera and she was looking at me and laughing almost the whole way–at least 15 minutes. So cute! She has a great belly laugh and we’re starting to see more of her personality each day. We’re pretty sure she is a social butterfly. Tomorrow she has a baby play date with about 5 other babies and we’re going to do footprints. I’ll try to update on how that turns out.
At the care center Vera ate only formula. She has now expanded her repertoire to: cereal, bananas, sweet potatoes, apples, taro, and carrots. Taro is her favorite–I guess she likes China already! Today we will try squash. I’d like to do something green, but am afraid of the pesticides…perhaps I will try to find the organic store I’ve heard about but have not searched out yet.
That’s the latest! As you can tell, she is pretty much brilliant and destined for greatness. We are so lucky!
ps. Still sleeping!
