Today, I think we may have worn her out - finally!!
We had our appointment at AIT this morning and after fighting the crowd to get in the door, found our way to Window #4. It really didn't take long for us to get to the interview part. And then get our appointment sheet. They told us to call back today to see if the visa would be ready today. It was, so we have all our paperwork a day early!!
We met another new family there from Boston (Medford, to be exact) who had 2 little ones, about 3 and 1, I believe. I hope they have an easy time at AIT. I think their transition will be a little rougher than ours. But every child has to go through that at some point.
Speaking of which, we did have a meltdown last night. Joy started to bed okay, but then got scared. I was pretty sure she was asking for her caregivers, but she couldn't be comforted and was hyperventilating. So after about 30 minutes, we called the desk downstairs and asked if she could translate for us. She told us that Joy was missing the children and was scared. After a little bit of talking, she told Joy to stop crying and go to sleep. If she needed to talk again in the morning, she could do that.
It was like magic - she crawled down in the bed and was asleep in about 10 minutes.
And woke up happy!
I'm just amazed at her resiliency! She fell a few times at the zoo, but not one tear or frown! The only demand we got was for ice cream, and since it was lunch time, it was easy to fulfil that one! ;)
She and Tim definitely have the same sweet tooth!
Joy - that's really what we are calling her now. She has forgotten that she wanted to be called Alex, at least for now. So, since she responds to Joy, we're calling her that (as well as Xi le, which is her nickname if we need it).
She is so very trusting - it's just amazing! The Zoo was great because there were places where we could test the limits of how far she could run ahead of us. Both what we were comfortable with and what she was comfortable with. You could just feel her relax as we spent time together there. And her little "ooouuuu" when she saw the animal we pointed at was just adorable! And guess what, she knew it!
I had to not laugh when she crossed a line and heard the tone of my voice change and she looked at me and said, ever so sweetly "wo ai ni" which means, I love you. HAHAHA! They must be born with that ability!
So now, after a few snacks upstairs in the Lounge, we are trying to take a nap. Tim is being successful! Joy is at least curled up in the bed, watching Max and Ruby. I think she'll be speaking English in no time!
We're going to try swimming after the nap. Wasn't successful in getting the bathing suit on for long. Went on, but came right back off. We'll try again tonight. Maybe we'll go watch Tim swim and see if that makes it more interesting.
I am expecting another meltdown tonight. I think night time is scary for her anyway, and everything about her routine is different. Maybe it won't be quite as scary, but as all the btdt adoptive mothers have said, it's hard to just hold them and not be able to explain that it will be okay. The new mother we met at AIT today told us her 3 year old cried, inconsolably for about 8 hours last night. Makes our 30 minutes feel like a blessing! But still hard to know how distressed she was, even for a minute....
More pictures next post!
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