The words from yesterday, plus a video

I hope I can find the right words for the miracles that have been happening here. Yesterday was such an unbelievable day. We were anxiously awaiting 9:30am—as you can see from the pictures. Because RunYi was coming to our hotel room, we were able to get sk*ype going and Grant, Anna, Garrett, Graycen &my mom were able to witness everything via the web—isn’t technology amazing? I don’t know if they could hear anything, but they could see.

RunYi was very shy at first, which they told us was her personality. Her main trainer (physical therapist) was carried her to the room. She is very close with him, and calls him Shu Shu (uncle). The orphanage assistant director and the person that handles the paperwork also came with her. She came readily to me—no crying. She was just very quiet and observing everything. We sat with her for a long time, bribing her with snacks and toys. Fang was there talking to her, as well as our guide Jane. After awhile, I handed her to Kevin, and she was fine with him. Gavin was also close by, and she warmed up to him after some time. Jane handled all the paperwork and also asked my questions about RunYi. When it came time for them to leave, I knew I would lose it, and I did. She is so close to her Shu Shu, and I almost feel guilty for taking him away from her. He told her goodbye, and after I took the pictures of their embrace, she really started crying. Not a loud wailing cry, but a soft, moaning cry—so sad. Even though this was hard, it is a very good sign for us as far as attachment goes. She has attached to someone, and will hopefully be able to trust and attach to us eventually. After the orphanage staff left, she kept telling Jane that she wanted to go outside, and pointing to the stroller. We knew this meant she wanted to leave, and go back to her Shu Shu. Jane kept reassuring her, that mama and baba were there to take care of her.

Jane ordered some rice and custard with meat in it. This is her customary meal, and it was almost 11:30am. Jane and Fang left and we just fed snacks and gave water to drink—this is what she is used to. There we were all alone with VERY limited Chinese and our sweet girl. She goes potty for us very well—actually went twice before everyone left. She tells me right away and when she is done she says hway le, which means finished. She is modest and only wants me to take her—no boys allowed. When her food arrived, we mixed the rice and custard and she at a whole bowl. Along with her sippy cup of water, which she loves. We got one of the bumbo seats out that we had brought for the orphanage and she loves it! We decided we will keep one of the 3 we brought for the rest of our trip. It is just what she (and we) need.

Then we were supposed to have her lay down for a nap. Well, I told her in my awful Chinese that it was time for sleep, and laid her down in her bed. It took about 20 seconds and she started to cry, the same deep cry as before. Of course I couldn’t have that and held her and comforted her for about an hour and a half, trying to get her to sleep. I finally decided that a nap was not that important and brought Gavin in to help me entertain her. He was able to really get the laughs out of her with his silly antics while I finally ate our room service lunch. I thoroughly enjoyed my ham and cheese sandwich and cold fries. I love the food in China, but after this stressful morning, I needed some comfort food, even though I rarely eat ham & cheese, it was just what I needed. I didn’t take the time to eat breakfast, my stomach was doing flip flops, so I was starving.

Then around 3pm, Fang, Jane and Linda came back to the room to check on us. Jane is beyond amazing! Her experience with adoption has been invaluable. All her suggestions yesterday were perfect, and worked magic with RunYi’s bonding with us. They stayed until we finished our paperwork with Jane, during which the whole time RunYi was saying she wanted to go outside and play—different than before, but still wanting out. They promised her that when mama was done with paperwork, we would take her out. So, when we were done, Jane, Fang and Linda left. She was waiting in the stroller, and we couldn’t decide if we should go out or not. I finally said that we had been promising her, so we should do what we said. We took our first stroll out. To say we attracted attention would be an understatement. We walked about 3 blocks to the market and back. RunYi really did enjoy it. She was singing or talking the whole way, enjoying her snacks and water. We got some more snacks, water and juice at the market and we headed back to the hotel. Many people took double takes, triple or quadruple takes. I think they just couldn’t figure out why we had RunYi, and although her CP isn’t that obvious, her legs are very weak and she can’t really hold them up on the stroller. We had many smiles and no bad reactions, just curiosity.

While we were waiting for the time for supper, Gavin and I sat her on the couch and were giving her more snacks and water. I told her, “Wo ai ni” which means I love you in Chinese. Get ready…she said “Wo ai ni” back to me! I couldn’t believe it. I had said it to her many times throughout the day, but this time she said it back. She is starting to trust, and that is huge! Especially in such a few hours. We know that the pra*ers are working. Keep it up. Then the even bigger thing was that Gavin said the same thing to her, and she also said it to him! We called Kevin in, and he said it to her…and she even said it to Baba! Earlier when Fang was in the room, she asked RunYi if she loved her baba, and she said she liked him but didn’t love him because he was too silly. If you know Kevin personally, you will think this is hilarious, and true—he is too silly most of the time.

Then came bedtime. I tried laying her into her bed, but she wasn’t going to sleep. She wasn’t upset, but not sleeping. She had to have been exhausted because she didn’t have a nap and had a very emotional day. Finally I just called Kevin and Gavin into the room and let them play with her some more so I could get the pictures uploaded. Then when I went into the room, she kept saying the same thing over and over, “Mama, _______” I finally gave in and called Jane to see what she was saying. SHE WAS HUNGRY! Of course. I think I need to learn a few more phrases in Chinese. So we just fed her some snacks and more water, went potty a few more times and then just had her lay by Kevin and me in bed. She went to sleep pretty quickly and then I moved her into her bed. She slept soundly until 5:30am, when she said, “Mama”. I went to her and she told me she needed to potty. I took her and laid her back on our bed and she is still sleeping an hour later. I put a pullup on her last night, just in case, but I think that it is dry.
We are very thankful for the wonderful day of progress we had yesterday! We will continue to hope for that much more progress today. It truly is going better than I could have imagined. I tried not to have any expectations, and I am glad because they would have been much less than our experience so far.

Today is adoption day. We will see the orphanage assistant director again today, but her Shu Shu is staying at the orphanage on the advice of Jane—I agree. She will see him tomorrow when we visit the orphanage, to say goodbye to him and all her little friends. Jane told me about the 2 friends that she is closest to. One is a boy with spina bifida. He is 7 and her nickname for him is Da Tou “big head”. The other is a little boy with albinism that is 2. She calls him Xiao Bai “little white”. He will hopefully be adopted, but Da Tou does not have that chance. I know it will be a very, very hard day tomorrow, but very important for RunYi to have the closure she will need to fully trust us and become part of our family forever. We are also happy to be able to take pictures for 3 families that are waiting to travel to bring their children home and deliver LOTS of socks from one family who have adopted a daughter from Hefei. We are also bringing a letter from an adoptee and pictures from both families. I will find out for sure today, but I think we will donate formula and diapers along with the (now 2) bumbo seats.

Well, I better get this posted so I can get ready in time to eat breakfast today.Love from Hefei…