Sunday and Monday July 29 and 30th

On Sunday we decided to take an early morning walk before it got too hot. We took Indigo in her stroller and the boys, Caleb and Egan. We had a great walk and Indigo loved seeing all the scenery. Indigo is wearing her oh so appropriate t-shirt from Auntie Elizabeth - it has a picture of an alarm clock on it! You can see she loves her boy dogs... We had a quiet rest of the day and then David and I worked on some house projects when she took her afternoon nap. David was tired so he took an afternoon nap as well while I played with Indigo. When he woke up I asked if we could go to my favorite sushi place as it had been months since we were last there. We drove out and it was about the longest drive Indigo has had in the car so far. She was very good until about the last 10 minutes when she got a bit fussy but could still be played with enough to keep happy. She was very funny on the ride out because I was sitting next to her and she had her snack trap with Cheerios. She had been putting some cheerios in my mouth but then later she would pretend she was going to put it in and then when I got closer she would pull it away and laugh like it was the funniest thing in the world - she definitely has a sense of humor. We had phoned some people last minute to see if they wanted to join us and so we were joined by Cindy, a friend from work and her boyfriend. Indigo was a treasure at the restaurant. She also devoured a whole bowl of miso soup with tofu. She was very smiley and was clapping a lot. She seemed to really enjoy her visit there. She was very good on the drive home.

On Monday (the weekend with Daddy was over so quickly) she and I hung out in the morning and she had a bath and wore this really pretty dress from her Aunty Amy. We met Ellen, Rick and Sarah for lunch at a great Cantonese place. The girls both ate very well - Indigo seemed so happy to have chicken congee again and she ate wide rice noodles and also Cantonese noodles and then really enjoyed a sesame ball from the dim sum menu - a little sweet. We went into Buy Buy Baby after that and then we left. I took Indigo to the pediatrician to have her arm checked from the TB test she had on Friday - it was negative so that was good. The blocks she is playing with are Eric Carle magic animal sound blocks from Kristi - as you can see - the box itself was a major hit! On Monday evening we very much enjoyed a visit from my cousin Marie Louise who was in town from Charleston, S.C. It was so nice to have a long period of time in which to catch up and Marie Louise was appropriately enamoured by Indigo (that makes anybody welcome back for another visit). Indigo was up much later than usual (about 10 p.m.) but was very good. She enjoyed looking at her photo album of photos with ML. David then drove ML back to the city where she was staying and I put Indigo to bed. ML did check to make sure that we're keeping track of things that Indigo is saying and doing and although we have been updating the blog we have not been noting a lot of things so we appreciate that tip. In addition to her repetoire of dadadada, babababa she has added na,na,na,na, la,la,la,la and now also ga,ga, ga, ga. She also says something that sounds like hi and is definitely trying to say dog or doggie. Noodles seem to be her favorite food and eggs - either steamed or scrambled. She also eats a yobaby yogurt every morning. Watermelon seems to be on and off and bananas, which were always a sure thing, seem to be out of favor right now. She extends her hand out in the direction of things she wants and she responds now when we call her name, i.e., she seems to recognize it as belonging to her and she responds when she feels like it. She loves to play with the packaging of any toy and loves to put things in containers and take them out - ML even had to empty out her bag because Indigo had shared some toys with her.

Saturday 28, 2007

We had a bit of a rough night overnight on Friday. Since Indigo had a couple of nights of sleeping through we had stayed up later ourselves as we were less exhausted than usual. However, around 2 in the morning Indigo started crying and even though I went into her room she cried on and off for about two hours. She finally did settle and slept until perhaps 7. When she took her morning nap around 9ish we both felt tired so we went back to bed - so it is nice that she took a morning nap. After she woke up, David and I decided to take her to our local favorite diner (she had already eaten breakfast but we had not). She was so good at the restaurant and the waitress called her "little sweetie". After that we went to try to find a Chinese grocery we had been told about but were not successful so we drove to Great Wall grocery and found some provisions. We came home after that and had lunch and played until her nap. She took a fairly short nap and then we got her all ready for the beach. At 4 p.m. we were joined by a family we met via the internet who have also just adopted a daughter from China. They came home about 1 week before us. Their beautiful daughter is Lilly and she just turned 12 months - she was a delight. These folks also had two lovely boys who are very proud of their new little sister. We had a great time down at the lake and Lilly is definitely a water enthusiast. We stayed in the water for ages. Indigo had a blast both "swimming" and then playing for a long time in the sand. We were also joined by Robyne, Stuart, twins and baby and everyone had a good time enjoying the fine weather and the water. We walked back to the house around 6:30 p.m. and bid farewell to our new friends.

We had supper and gave Indigo a bath. As you can see from the photos she really loves her bath and you can see also that David and I had a little fun playing with her shampooed hair! Then it was some books and off to bed.

We did have sad news on Saturday evening when we learned from David's mom that his Aunt Rita had died unexpectedly. Rita lived in NY and was a vivacious and unique character who was involved in interesting and new projects all the time. David has wonderful memories as a child spending time with her during a NY summer at her place on Fire Island which was one of her favorite places to be. Our condolences to her husband Wally, her daughter Veronica and her granddaughter Becky.

Thursday July 26 and Friday the 27th

We have had two really fun-filled days. On Thursday Indigo and I were just going to hang out at home until a playdate at the playground later in the afternoon. However, after her morning nap, while on the phone with our friend Ellen, we decided at the last minute to have lunch together. I took Indigo out to Woodbridge - first time with me taking her out in the car seat by myself and her not having someone sitting next to her. She was fantastic and seemed to enjoy looking out the window, while devouring a whole Snack Trap of Cheerios. We met Ellen and Sarah Fei Fei at an On the Border for lunch and had a wonderful time together. Both girls were angels. We did experience some rather intrusive questions which was my first real experience with this. The concern is not so much now while she can't really understand what people are saying but later the way people put things could be hurtful. The worst of the questions was posed to both of us and was "do you have any of your own children" well, as everyone who knows and loves me, I am not really one to always hold my tongue so I did tell the lady that these were our own children and that I would not advise her to ask adoptive parents if they have their "own" children. I was asked how much it cost and tried to be vague by saying, it's not inexpensive but was pressed further on this - quite rude. Apart from this, we had a super time and the girls were so good and everybody said how adorable they were etc. We stopped at a store for a short while and then Indigo and I got back on the road. She fell asleep by the time we hit the highway and slept in the carseat for an hour before we got to our friend Robyne's house to go with her to the playground. Robyne, her twins and new baby took us to the their local playground and we had a very nice time - especially the parts where Robyne and I got to chat. Indigo went on the swing for a little while and then I held her going down the slide which really got her laughing but quite frankly she had the most fun playing in the mulch and putting mulch in her shoes. I guess everything is something to explore and she had years to play on the playground equipment not to mention the fact that playing with the mulch seems less nerve-wracking. We got home around 6 p.m. and Daddy was home so we went for a walk with Indigo and the dogs. She ate a good dinner, had a bath and went to bed around 8:30 p.m. It was a fun day!

On Friday, our friend Mary came over around 8:30 a.m. Indigo had a super night and slept until nearly 8 a.m! Mary bought her a fabulous block train toy that Indigo has really taken to. After we fed Indigo the rest of her breakfast, Daddy went to work and Mary and I took Indigo to Starbucks. She was very good there. It was funny because we were in the couches and there was a police officer in a chair near us - she was manoevering her way around the table and going past the police office and she grabbed his thigh to aid herself in getting around - already has a thing for men in uniform! Mary and I had a wonderful visit and catch-up at Starbucks and Indigo warmed up to her very quickly and gave her kisses. We then went to the grocery store to pick up lunch stuff for the playdate I was hosting and arrived back just in time to greet the first of the guests, Kristi and her new daughter Zoe who they have had home in the States for six weeks and we were meeting for the first time - they were arriving home just as David and I were getting ready to leave for China. Zoe is adorable and was so great playing and did not mind the dogs at all. Mary was excited to meet all the people who she has been reading about and whose blogs she has kept up with. Indigo was very good with Mary and let her pick her up. Ellen arrived with Sarah Fei Fei and it's evident that the girls have a strong recognition for each other - probably because they saw each on Thursday but they are comfortable together right away. We were also joined by our friend Toni, who with her husband, are the final couple in our group waiting for their referral. I think it was very enjoyable for her to see all the girls - they are all thriving. Last, but not least, we were joined by Pam with her new daughter Catherine and her daughter Elizabeth. The girls all played marvelously well together and ate a great lunch. Folks left around 2 p.m. and Indigo took a nap. I had to wake her up at 3:45 because she had a 4 p.m. pediatrician follow-up visit. We had a wait but the visit went really well. The doctor said she is better from being sick and her lungs sound clear. She was very generous with her positive comments about Indigo's attachment to us and that she considers her to have very normal development - she sees no sign of anything we should worry about. However, she still said that we should follow through with all recommended developmental testing for an adopted child because we have obviously not had all the marker appointments one would ordinarily have so we have lists of prescriptions for tests of all types - developmental, hearing, sight, we have to collect stool samples for the lab and then all kinds of blood work which is going to be hard on us. She did have a TB test at the office today and I have to take her back on Monday morning for them to check the results. They also recommended restarting all her vaccinations because they feel some were not given at the right times apart and then there can also be some risk that the vaccines were not good because of improper storage/refrigeration etc. Next scheduled appointment with the pediatrian is for her 15 month check up but we'll have all the other stuff to follow up with. She has been playing all evening, had a good dinner, played some more and will hopefully have another good night. Mommy is tired from the activities of today!

Tuesday and Wednesday July 24 and 25

Not a whole lot of news here so consider it a light reading day. Mostly posting so that folks can get a fix of seeing the precious girl. Will say that Monday overnight was our best night since being home. She woke up once with a brief cry but before we could even get to her she fell back asleep and slept all night. On Tuesday night it seems that she did not wake up but slept all the way until morning. She is going to bed between 8:30 and 9 and did not wake up on Wednesday morning until about 7ish which was great. She is doing really great every day. She revels in opening a few of the "safe" kitchen drawers and playing with the contents therein as you can see in the one picture. On Tuesday afternoon David came home a bit early so that I could go the office to participate in a meeting for a committee that I am on. After the meeting I ran some errands and then returned home to find her and daddy doing very well. On Wednesday she and I had a really fun day together. She is wearing a beautiful dress from her Aunty Sherri - blue seersucker with pink strawberry pockets. We danced to a Chinese folk music cd that she received from her Aunty Alisa. Daddy came home around 4:30 so that I could go to the monthly cheetah volunteer meeting and catch up with those people and on the animal updates. I met before the meeting with a bunch of the Cheetah Conservation Station folks at the zoo bar. Her Aunty Liz gave us this beautiful personalized frame and her Aunty Tanja gave her a really cute zebra pull toy and some cute panda socks and little panda slippers. Since her favorite book right now is Zaza the Zebra from her Aunty Becky - we are sure she'll love the pull toy. By the time the meeting was over and I returned home Daddy already had her in bed. After an intial minute of crying now when you put her down, she is starting to play again before falling asleep, like she did in China. She'll stand up and laugh - ha, ha, ha, ha - it's so cute and funny. She turns around and changes position constantly and turns on her music in the aquarium machine attached to the crib and she cooos and is just generally adorable. When I got home I talked to Mom & Dad, aka Granny and Granddad and they were ecstatic because they had a whole conversation on the phone with her earlier - full of laughing, bababababa, dadadadada etc. so they were very happy.

Sunday and Monday July 22 & 23

Sunday was our first trip to the zoo! Probably the first of many. Indigo's Auntie Tanja met us at the house to join us for her first zoo trip. Auntie Tanja wanted to make sure that Indigo had the appropriate outfit for the zoo and had bought Indigo the most lovely onesie with a photo of one of our zoo cheetahs on it that Tanja had taken. I was also the recipient of a lovely tote bag with the same cheetah photo on it and Tanja had knitted for Indigo a lovely cardigan hoodie with elephant buttons - so special. The four of us took off and Indigo fell asleep in the car seat - she was overdue for a nap. I thought that she might stay asleep from the transition from car seat to stroller but everything was much too exciting for that. Of course we first went to check out the cheetahs which meant stopping to chat with the volunteers on the cheetah exhibit. We could only see one cheetah and Indigo was far too enthralled with watching people and children to really notice. We were looking for Kate, one of the keepers, so Tanja and I went into the back area and just happened to see the two new Grevys zebras! They have been in quarantine since arriving and had just come down to the keeping area from the hospital and are adapting and meeting each other before they go out on exhibit. They looked so tiny compared to our huge boy Nathan who has left to join his harem in Florida. The other keeper told us that Kate was with the wallabies so we went over there and saw her through the fence so she came out to meet the newest little future cheetah volunteer/zoo employee. It was cool because while we were all chatting with Kate, Andrew, another cheetah volunteer, showed up with his new little girl - affectionately called "Ellie" as her mother is an elephant volunteer. So far the first animal to catch Indigo's attention had been one of our scimitar horned oryx because it had come up close enough for her to focus on it. As we walked through Asia trail she also noticed the big sloth bear who was moving around and came to perch right in front of us on a rock. From the Asia trail we went to lunch at the zoo bar which is where the cheetah volunteers meet for happy hour before our monthly meetings. Indigo was very good there. Then we went back to the zoo and back down through Asia trail. This time she saw the asian small clawed otters playing and also locked in on the red pandas. By the time we reached the elephants Indigo had fallen asleep in her stroller which was a good thing because she needed a nap. She did however miss the hippo keeper doing enrichment with the hippo and having it open its massive mouth! David and Tanja did a tour through small mammal house while I sat out in the shade with sleeping Indigo. We also saw the whole Golden Lion Tamarin (GLT) family which is are out on free range for the summer. Guess how many GLTs you are seeing in this photo... it's actually six! The mother, father, the twins from last year and the new twins just born in May. Then we went down to big cats and saw the three Sumatran tiger cubs born last year and their mother. The cubs are now huge but they were so cute and very playful with two stalking and leaping upon one another. After big cats we headed back up the hill at a rapid pace, passed the cheetahs again and this time saw the three Potter boys out in the yard and headed home. It was a great day.

Indigo did pretty well through the night - probably the best so far. She woke up sometime around 3ish or so and I just went into her room, gave her a kiss and hug and then laid down on the bed in her room while she stayed in the crib. She fell back to sleep and I stayed in her room until she woke up in the morning - around 6ish so it was a good night. Daddy went to work early in the morning and she and I played until she took her nap around 10 a.m. She had lunch and we played some more and then she took an afternoon nap from about 3-4:30. Daddy came home just before 6 and we all took a nice walk together with the dogs. During her supper our dear friends Steve & Gabi came over with their girls, Chloe and Isa. Steve & Gabi have just moved back to the States from the Domican Republic where Steve had been stationed with the State Department. We are so excited that they will be living in this area for the next couple of years. Chloe and Isa LOVED the dogs. They were so cute with them and the dogs were very accommodating with all that affection. The girls were also lovely playing with Indigo and after some initial shyness she was very excited to be playing with her toys with the big girls. Chloe spent a lot of time helping her put her shapes into the container. It was a lovely visit and we look forward to spending a lot of time together. We have known Steve & Gabi since college where I knew Stephen from playing polo (horse variety) and then met Gabi when they started dating. We all went to California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly) and so it's appropriate that Indigo have a Mustang sweatshirt.