Yesterday we had the opportunity to visit the Zhengzhou Social Welfare Institute where Gemma lived. She was in the Lily Orphan Care Center room sponsored by our agency. The Zhengzhou SWI was HUGE, many buildings with school rooms, and onsite foster care for older children. Our guide said over 800 children lived in this SWI. We were visiting with another family whose daughter was in one of these foster homes, and another family who just wanted to the opportunity to visit.
I was nervous for Gemma. She is very afraid of new situations, and I felt she and I had finally built a level of trust, now what would she think? I put her in the baby carrier, a gift from my friend Colleen :) , which Gemma LOVES, and in we went. Her nannies greeted her immediately, and when the first reached out to hold her, Gemma snuggled into me instead. Success!!!! My heart felt like it would burst. Nanny after nanny came and tried to hold her, finally there was one she smiled and reached to. This made me happy too :)
One of the nannies wanted to feed her a typical lunch meal, and I thought Gemma might like the familiar taste, so I said OK. I watched as the nanny who loved her so tilted her semi lying down and quickly spooned in a thick soup of minced vegetables, meat, fish and noodles. When there are a lot of mouths to feed, efficiency is important to make sure everyone eats. It also made sense as to why our girl is still working on learning to chew food.
Tom took tons of photo and video, and after about 30 minutes it was time to move on as the babies there were getting ready for their nap. As we were leaving, one nanny took Gemma one last time for a hug. Gemma looked at me with big, sober eyes, saying, "Don't you leave me here." My heart broke and I took her back from her nanny and put her back in the carrier. You're mine forever little girl!!
We then went to visit the foster family that a little girl in our group lived with. It was incredible to watch the new mom thank the foster foster mom, there were tears all around.
In further Gemma news, she is glued to me 24/7, even at night, which is awesome and hard for the rest of our family. She will smile and play with Tom and the boys but no one can hold her, and I cannot leave the room. She is still very shy but our guides and the other families have finally also seen her smile. She angers easily and will throw her 18 pounds on the ground in a mighty tantrum when upset, which is kind of adorable. She is now eating more than boys and is learning more about how to feed herself and chew more complicated food. She took her first bite out of a banana today and got a giant smile on her face, it was precious.
Last night Tom picked up dumplings from a local place, and Ben, our dumpling man, was in heaven. I looked at Tom like he was crazy when we opened the bag, but all these dumplings were about $6.
Today was a free day while we wait for documents to be completed, so we went to a local park and the boys swam in the pool with Tom. Gemma,like the boys at first, is TERRIFIED of water. She screamed through a quick sink bath, and clawed at me screaming when we just went to the pool area to visit the swimmers. I am sure we can conquer that fear soon enough!
Tomorrow is our last day in Zhengzhou before we fly on Saturday to Guangzhou to complete the US side of the adoption, then we will be on our way home- we love China but the boys are starting to get homesick and stir crazy. Nine more days!
This is from Tom's birthday on Tuesday- this is the face people saw quite often the past few days - but more smiles are coming every day :)
I was nervous for Gemma. She is very afraid of new situations, and I felt she and I had finally built a level of trust, now what would she think? I put her in the baby carrier, a gift from my friend Colleen :) , which Gemma LOVES, and in we went. Her nannies greeted her immediately, and when the first reached out to hold her, Gemma snuggled into me instead. Success!!!! My heart felt like it would burst. Nanny after nanny came and tried to hold her, finally there was one she smiled and reached to. This made me happy too :)
One of the nannies wanted to feed her a typical lunch meal, and I thought Gemma might like the familiar taste, so I said OK. I watched as the nanny who loved her so tilted her semi lying down and quickly spooned in a thick soup of minced vegetables, meat, fish and noodles. When there are a lot of mouths to feed, efficiency is important to make sure everyone eats. It also made sense as to why our girl is still working on learning to chew food.
Tom took tons of photo and video, and after about 30 minutes it was time to move on as the babies there were getting ready for their nap. As we were leaving, one nanny took Gemma one last time for a hug. Gemma looked at me with big, sober eyes, saying, "Don't you leave me here." My heart broke and I took her back from her nanny and put her back in the carrier. You're mine forever little girl!!
Little ones waiting to eat. Seeing their sweet faces makes you just want to adopt all over again :)
In further Gemma news, she is glued to me 24/7, even at night, which is awesome and hard for the rest of our family. She will smile and play with Tom and the boys but no one can hold her, and I cannot leave the room. She is still very shy but our guides and the other families have finally also seen her smile. She angers easily and will throw her 18 pounds on the ground in a mighty tantrum when upset, which is kind of adorable. She is now eating more than boys and is learning more about how to feed herself and chew more complicated food. She took her first bite out of a banana today and got a giant smile on her face, it was precious.
Last night Tom picked up dumplings from a local place, and Ben, our dumpling man, was in heaven. I looked at Tom like he was crazy when we opened the bag, but all these dumplings were about $6.
Today was a free day while we wait for documents to be completed, so we went to a local park and the boys swam in the pool with Tom. Gemma,like the boys at first, is TERRIFIED of water. She screamed through a quick sink bath, and clawed at me screaming when we just went to the pool area to visit the swimmers. I am sure we can conquer that fear soon enough!
Tomorrow is our last day in Zhengzhou before we fly on Saturday to Guangzhou to complete the US side of the adoption, then we will be on our way home- we love China but the boys are starting to get homesick and stir crazy. Nine more days!
This is from Tom's birthday on Tuesday- this is the face people saw quite often the past few days - but more smiles are coming every day :)
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