Day 3 Update

Its Wednesday, February 23rd here: and day 3 with Kimi. Yesterday was the official "Adoption Day". So, as of yesterday, she is officially our daughter, Kimberly Michelle Perry! The director of the orphanage was there and provided more information about Kimi, answering all of our questions.

She is still sad most of the time and is still having eating issues. She is still just taking a baby bottle of baby formula at meal times, no matter what we offer her. She has pushed away everything: goldfish crackers, her favorite Chinese candy (per the orphanage), Cheerios, watermelon, rolls, apple juice, fruit snacks, McD's fries and McNuggets, the rice "powder" cereal the orphanage said she likes so much...it is getting discouraging. Then, another adoptive mom here (she just adopted #6 from China) told me she had one that didn't eat for two weeks! She said, as long as she is peeing plenty, not to worry about it - that she didn't get this big by fasting. I'm sure she is right. She IS sleeping well, though - just not in her crib. Actually, I think that is another good sign - that she wants to stay close to us.

Kimi is playing and interacting with us more, though. Today, I was playing patty-cake with her and each time I stopped, I said, "More?" and made the ASL sign for more. At first she just nodded her head that she wanted to play again. But one time, she made the sign for "more" herself and said what sounded like "mo"! Another step in the right direction!

We then went on a private tour of old Nanjing with our guide. It was really interesting. She told us a lot of Nanjing's history. I didn't realize Nanjing (formerly Nanking) was the capital of China until 1949 when it was changed to Peking (now Beijing). She told us about the Japanese invasions and how the whole area we toured today was burned by the Japanese. I am posting some photos. Many Chinese people stopped and told her how beautiful Kimi is! One said she looked just like a doll because of her beautiful face. The people here also stop and stare at us Americans, which is a little annoying, but understandable, I guess. But all have been very friendly! It is nice to have a personal guide to explain why we have a Chinese child.

Tomorrow will be spent traveling up to Huai'an City, where we will visit Kimi's "finding spot". We are also going to the orphanage, but not actually visiting. We are going to take photos from the outside and our guide is going to pick up the items we sent Kimi in her care package. I don't know what kind of shape they will be in, because the director said something about them being used by others at the orphanage. But he said he would do his best to collect them. I said I especially wanted the photo album and the little blanket we made for her. They were surprised that we decided not to visit the orphanage. I asked him (through our guide) if he thought it would upset Kimi to visit so soon after our adopting her, and he said, "yes". So, I'm glad we made the decision we did. We are also going to pick up a rock on the orphanage grounds for Kimi to keep a "piece" of her homeland.

I may have to add photos after posting this message. I keep getting disconnected from my VPN which knocks me out of blogger.