The morning started off with us driving over an hour to the outskirts of Beijing to the Children's Welfare Institute #1. As we got nearer to the orphanage we noticed it seemed more inner city housing. The streets were very narrow and our van had a hard time getting down the streets because of the cars coming our way and all of the people on bikes. When we pulled into the orphanage I could not believe the front of the building. It had this gold structure at the front and this big playground to the left of it. In the midst of this run-down area of the city it was like a gold beacon. As we walked into the lobby we were ushered really quickly inside so that I could not take a lot of pictures. I tried to take some pictures of the beautiful lobby quickly though. It did not seem like an orphanage and there was no children to be seen. We were ushered into a room full of chairs and little tables and the paperwork began. One thing we did notice was that it was Freezing in the building. Our guide was telling us that this meeting building was brand new, and I all I could think about was why was it not heated. Even the staff were in winter heavy coats, scarves and hats.
While we were signing papers our guide was trying to ask the director all of my questions I had typed up ahead of time. Suddenly over the talking I heard a squeaking sound. In walked our little Cherry Blossom with these squeaky shoes. As she walked in the director handed her the pillow that had our picture screen printed on it and a big panda bear holding a baby panda bear. These were actually purchased by us back in December and sent to her through a third party. I could tell that this was the first time our daughter had seen these items. Also part of this package was a cake for her to share with the other children sent there by a bakery and a thumb drive for them to put pictures of her eating the cake. I asked for the thumb drive and they said they had it, but it was not in the bag of stuff they gave us so I have a feeling no pictures were taken. That's ok though because I can make up for that now. I am constantly taking pictures.
As we finished all of the formalities Cherry Blossom was showered with love and attention from us. She loved the puffs and lollipop that I had brought for her. She was wary of the little light up toys that I had brought, but was all about the panda. We noticed that she had scrape on her forehead under her hair and we were told she had fallen a couple days ago. Poor thing!
We were asked to call her by her Chinese Name for a few days until she got used to us so The Rock kept telling her in Mandarin that he loved her and then would call her by her Chinese Name. It was so sweet! We got a few smiles out of her during this time but she was still looking back at the director.
We were then ushered out of the orphanage really quickly. I had asked to see her crib or the room where she played but apparently that was not going to happen. As we walked out to the van Cherry Blossom held onto one of my fingers and the finger of the director. As we got closer to the van she tried to make a run for it towards the playground. I picked her up and went to put her in the van and she had a meltdown. She was so scared and just screamed and cried. Our guide was speaking to her in Mandarin, I was trying to give her puffs while asking The Rock to fix her a cup of water. She calmed down after 5-10 minutes, but the drive was over an hour long and we had a few more meltdowns. She was still checking us out and would not let go of that panda for anything.
Halfway through the ride, that seemed to take forever, we noticed that she was sweating profusely. Her hair was sticking to her head and in China they dress their children in several layers. After being in her orphanage I could see why, but in the van she didn't need that many layers. I took off the plaid jacket and that began another meltdown. How do you explain to an upset child that I'm taking it off because she is sweating, not because I'm trying to take it from her? Our guide told her in Mandarin that it was ok and it was still hers. I took it from The Rock, put it in her lap and she calmed down a lot. I worried about how she would do back at the hotel when I had to change her, but we would see.
After the long and crazy ride to the registration office we finally got to a photography store where they would take a quick family picture for the registration paperwork. We stood in this tiny shop and waited for our picture to be developed. During this time is when Cherry Blossom discovered the mirror I had put in her bag and we got to see the "Many Faces of Cherry Blossom" from my previous post. She seemed to accept us more at this point and was getting upset less. We then walked to the registration building where we would wait over an hour for the orphanage director to get there to do her part of the paperwork. Waiting with an almost three year old with a very wet diaper in a strange building for over an hour seemed daunting to me, but she did Amazing! We entertained her by throwing the panda bear in the air, playing music on the Iphone and playing with the rest of the toys I had brought her in her backpack. Apparently she had seen something similar to an Iphone before because she knew to touch the screen and swipe it. She just kept hitting it really fast and hard :) She would smile and laugh when her panda would fly up into the air and then fall on the floor. Every time the phone rang in the office she would lean forward look for the sound with this curious look on her face and then sit back when it was answered. It was so cute! We couldn't take pictures in the registration office, so I took her outside in the lobby to take some pictures and videos of her discovering her squeaker shoes. This was probably else something she had just been given that day.
When the director finally got there Cherry Blossom did not pay her one bit of attention which made this momma very happy! I wanted to say to the director; "See she is happy and she likes us!", but was quiet. We did have another small meltdown when they wanted her to do a handprint for the official paperwork. I pulled her up on my lap, which she was not happy about, they grabbed her hand and put it on this big red ink pad. She screamed and cried and then it was over. I grabbed a wipe out of our backpack, tried to get the red off of her and she calmed down. She was upset that they had gotten ink on the same jacket I had taken off of her in the van, but this time she was mad at the director and not me :). She held onto that wipe and made sure all of the red was off of her hand. We then were able to leave and got back into the dreaded van. She cried a little this time, but we were ready with the water and the panda this time. Our guide left us to go get formula for Cherry Blossom and we went back to the hotel with the driver.
On a side note, let me just say that the traffic/driving in Beijing is crazy. I could not live here, or if I did I would definitely not drive. They do not use their blinkers, they cut in front of each other all of the time, pedestrians do not have the right of way so as you turn a corner and there are people walking they scatter and have to move around the van. Cherry Blossom was on my lap holding onto the handle on the seat in front of me for dear life. I tend to use the same handle in The Rock's truck, so she is just like her momma already :)
When we got to the hotel our Cherry Blossom was doing a lot better. We only had a small meltdown when I changed her diaper. She helped me take her out of her clothes, which was really big after the earlier incident with the jacket but cried a little when I finally got to change her diaper. I put her in her princess pjs (12 months size) that were a little small at the bottom but fit her up top. I fed her lunch: noodles, apple and goldfish. She ate everything but the goldfish, but could/would not use the fork to eat the noodles. She let me feed them to her but used her fingers to eat the apple. Play time began and she had a fun time with her "Baba".
We tried to put her down for a nap with me, but she wanted her Baba. Even though I had fed her, he had played with her and that was who she wanted. They took a small nap where she sweated all over his arm, but it was so sweet to see her curled up next to him! She would cry every time he would move so he ended up taking a nap.
The rest of the night went really well. We had less crying and more smiling. She even took a bath! She had a lot of fun splashing around and playing with her toys. She did not like me washing the shampoo out of her hair. However, we are now getting little cries when she does not like something instead of meltdowns.
Before she went to bed, I fixed her formula for her and held her in my arms. This was the first time all day she actually let me cuddle with her without crying out or trying to get down. This made this momma so happy! Baby steps! She went down to bed so well and is now still sleeping.
We love our little girl and we are getting a lot more smiles then tears. We will see what today brings! Time to go wake her up so that we can Skype with the grandparents! Sorry if there are punctuation mistakes or misspellings in this post. Don't judge this English teacher, I didn't have time to go back and edit :)
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