Our First Days With Jianna

We are all exhausted so I haven't been keeping up the blog. I have a good report though. Things are improving much with Pei-Pei and she seems to be accepting us more and more.

We saw her smile for the first time yesterday when she spotted Vickey decorating the gift bags with stickers. When Vickey gave her stickers she was so excited. They are now friends for life. Who knew? I could have saved a bundle on clothes and gifts! :)

I, on the other hand am going to have a much tougher time winning her over. She gladly receives all the nice new clothes and presents I have for her so that helps but for most of the time she makes sure I know she is mad at me for being her new Mommy.

She likes her Daddy. When she is very upset, he is the only one who can pick her up and comfort her. They have had their moments as well. She hauled off and smacked him in the head during the adoption ceremony in a fit of temper much to the dismay of everyone in the room. Fortunately, that has been the only incident of violence. What a temper she has!

Since then it has been really sweet seeing Ron and his little girl. She has to sit by him in the van and at mealtime. I bring her little toys to play with and she turns her back and won't play with me then she takes them to Ron. I'm actually okay with this since she at least has someone she will let comfort her. I also think it has something to do with Nathan since I catch her watching us together and it seems to make her a little angry. I'm not sure why.

Nathan has been getting stressed the last couple of days. He wants to go home and he gets very sad sometimes. Then other times he is the silliest boy and seems to be having a great time. He and Jianna are slowly getting used to each other. He doesn't want her touching his toys and books but I brought special things just for her and he reluctantly accepts this. Today he is trying to be good to her and tried to hug her a couple of times although she wasn't having any of it.

Today has seen some great moments. This morning she smiled at me for the first time while I was giving her a bath and playing with her. I'm so glad she likes baths. She said, "Shih shih, Mama" when I gave her a new outfit this afternoon. We had a bit of a stressful day because we visited the orphanage. After the last two days of her crying so hard to go back, I was surprised to see how unhappy she looked to be visiting. Although she cried when we left, she perked up very quickly and was glad to go back to the hotel.

This evening I brought out a little swimsuit for her and she got so excited. We went to the pool and didn't stay long because the water was cold but it was a good experience. I don't think she has been swimming before. She voluntarily let me hold her and clung to me in the water and even let me kiss her head and she didn't seem to mind a bit. I really enjoyed it. She was silly and happy when we got out of the pool.

Tonight she has been chattering away while she plays with her toys and it is such a joy to see that she is relaxing around us. She's very cooperative with repeating words in English and seems eager to learn.

I am amazed at this little girl and how far she has come in such a short time. She is working through all her emotions. We are getting to see her personality emerge in unguarded moments. The first couple of hard days are over. We began as strangers and now we are becoming a family.




The first pictures of my kids. Nathan is leaning toward her saying, "CHEESE!"