Baby S and I were totally low energy this morning, and I know P was no better because I kept him up all night hacking. Although we thought about keeping Baby S in bed with us, P moved her to her crib due to my coughing. Good move on his part.
Although my handy dandy iPh0ne informed me that it would be raining all day, the sun was out and calling our names. I asked Baby S if she wanted to meet Baba for lunch and boy did she perk up right away. Her happy dance was something else. When I showed her the Y0 G@bba G@bba shirt (her current favorite) she squealed and did another happy dance. Off we went to meet Baba for lunch and pick up a few items, like orange juice. Baby S has been drinking a lot of it lately, it is her favorite juice by far. We gave up on apple juice, it is just not her thing.
By the time we left the store our friend the sun was gone. Although I had planned to go to a few stores I decided to come home and allow Baby S some free range time. Funny thing is that when I commented on how beautiful it was outside P told me to enjoy it for the short time it would last. I hate it when Weather Man is right. Today Baby S was fascinated with plain old gravel, picking through the stones and gleefully showing them to me, while saying "ohhhhh." She also spent time chasing bubbles.
Baby S was was on exploring mode, just walking all over the place. I finally tried out the macro lens that came with our camera. That explains the close up pictures. I wish we had used it in China, but the reality is that when you are parenting on the go, picture taking is not a priority.
Remember when I posted recently about how scared Baby S is of cars, or rather the noise cars make? Leave it up to our daughter to change gears on us when we least expect it. Baby S has had the week from he** due to being ill and as expected, has been really hypersensitive about everything. Totally understandable and expected. Of course she chooses today to find cars amusing. Every car that passed by was carefully looked at and waved bye to, while saying "car." A tow truck drove by and I rushed to get close to her due to the noise. Baby S inspected the large vehicle and seemed rather taken by the fact that it was towing a car. She turned to me and with exaggerated moves and in a deep voice stated, "CAR, CAAAAAAAAR." Yes Baby S that was a big car.
Two hours of playing and running amok took a toll on Baby S and she threw up. I took that as our cue to go inside and settle down for a while. Baby S strongly disagreed with my assessment and tried to negotiate more outside time. Her negotiation tactic came in the form of a royal tantrum. Sadly for her, P and I have a strict rule of not negotiating with terrorists, something we say to Baby S often. Of course it helps that she is small and all it takes is picking her up and bringing her inside.
Baby S wanted to play in her room and I decided to download the pictures and choose some for today's post. That is when our golden moment in parenting came to my attention. I looked at the date (how I file pictures) and realized that today is Baby S's seventh month at home. DUH! Usually one of us remembers, and this is the first time that neither one of us had a clue. Bad, bad parents. :( This past week has really kicked our butts.
With JJ we basically keep track of one date, March 21, his birthday. It's neat and simple. There is nothing simple about IA, including those milestones we hang on to, perhaps to make up for missing on our children's birth and firsts. Here are a few of the dates we keep in mind:
Dossier to China (DTC) : Date our completed dossier is sent to the CCAA.
Logged in Date (LID): Date the CCA officially logs in the dossier.
Referral Day: AKA as The Call, when the agency representative calls to inform that our referral has arrived.
Letter of Intent (LOI): Our agency does not do this, but other agencies have the parents sign a document expressing their intent to adopt the child referred. This one cracks us up because we could not imagine not following through with Baby S's adoption. We did not care if she had an extra head or several extra limbs, she was our baby.
Travel Approval (TA): When the Chinese government grants permission to travel.
Family Day, Metcha Day, Gotcha Day (some find this term offensive): The most amazing day, the day we get to meet and hold our child.
Medical Exam: Very basic (thank G-d) medical examination to comply with US immigration requirements.
Consulate Appointment (CA): Where we swear that the information we provided is true and that we will take care of our child. For us this was a bit different. Due to the child with chicken pox in our travel group, the US consulate did not want any of our children possibly contaminating the other children there. So they came to our hotel for the ceremony. Since 9/11 security is very tight and no pictures are allowed. The upside of our situation is that we have pictures of our swearing in and when the US liaison handed us the infamous brown envelope. The one to be turned in at our port of entry. I am absolutely unimpressed by ceremonies of any type, but if Baby S cares in the future, we have that little bonus moment for her.
Arrival Home: Finally!
*** There's also the date your child is found, frequently different than their DOB.***
As you can see, there are a lot of dates swirling around these old brains, so it was only a matter of time before we forgot one of those milestones. I might move those dates into another post because this one is awfully long already. I'm trying to write things down as I remember them to hopefully give Baby S as accurate an account as possible of her time with us.
Once we reach the one year Family Day anniversary we will only celebrate yearly. But for now, Family Day and coming home day are very important to us.
I'm not sure what had her bending over in laughter.
Try it Mama, it's really comfortable.
Soulful eyes. Reminds me of the song Yo Vendo Unos Ojos Negros.
Her mischievous face.
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