Journey to Alana: Hibernating

We are getting out a little bit, but I still feel like we've been hibernating since we got home last week. It is a good thing though. We are feeling settled and Alana is getting more and more comfortable every day. She even gave me a couple of spontaneous kisses today (hasn't really done that since the early days in China). She's given Collin and Dylan kisses, but none to me and Victor until today.

I don't think I've mentioned how petrified she is of our dog, Katy. It doesn't help that Katy is very old and has no patience for kids. Xin Yi yells "xiao gou" (puppy) when she sees Katy and leaps into mommy or daddy's arms.

We went to our adoption agency's monthly meeting last night and introduced Xin Yi to the group. Then we went back to the daycare room to drop Collin off. Dylan ended up staying back there for the first time as well. There was a woman taking care of the kids who spoke Mandarin and she talked to Xin Yi for a little while. I was surprised that Xin Yi didn't jump at the chance to talk to someone, because she talked to everyone in China. However, she answered this woman quietly and seemed to be withdrawing a bit. The lady tried to get Xin Yi to stay and play with the other kids. Xin Yi said she wanted to play, but when she realized that meant saying goodbye to mama and baba she wasn't up for it. I didn't want to leave her anyway (way too soon for mommy), but I think this woman really wanted to play with and talk to Xin Yi. Alana ended up sitting with us during the meeting and did great.

Today we went to the park and I tried Alana in the swings again. This time I started swinging Dylan first and then put her in and pushed her very, very softly. She likes it now! She is also climbing stairs much better now. In China, she always wanted me to carry her up and down stairs, but I never made the connection that she had a hard time with them. She just liked to be carried a lot in China. When we got home last week, she really wanted to go upstairs, but clung to the rail and only made it up 4 or 5 stairs before coming back down. This surprised me because she lived on the second floor of her orphanage and there was a playground on the first floor. I'm wondering if the kids every used it and if so, how did they get down there?

Food hasn't been as much of an issue as I thought it might be. As picky as she was in China, I didn't think we had a chance with western food. She eats a pretty good breakfast every day though. She likes apples, oranges, bananas, grapes, cereal, oatmeal and yogurt. Lunch and dinner have been a bit more difficult. I found a box of Simply Asia noodles with peanut sauce that she really likes. She also ate a bunch of vegetarian spring rolls and sweet and sour sauce at dinner the other night. She even ate an entire piece of cheese pizza on Saturday. Other than that she hasn't eaten much. She tries things, but I've been keeping the noodles on hand in case she doesn't like what we are eating. She won't eat any vegetables other than peas, but hopefully that will change soon.

Here are some pictures of the kids eating lunch today.