Copied from Tuesday, December 7, 2010 Travel Blog

Our first full day with Lyric

Friday, December 3^rd – Our first full day with Lyric

Lyric slept through the night for her first night with us.  I heard her say something one time but other than that, not a peep out of her.  In the morning we discovered that it takes her a little while to wake up and be happy – but all she needs is a few minutes and then she is ready to go!

Playing with the toys.

It felt a little strange going down to the breakfast buffet with her.  We are watched EVERY WHERE we go.  Someone is always staring at us and now that we are carrying a Chinese baby, we get even more stares.  A lot of people just don’t know about adoption so have no idea why we would be holding a Chinese baby – they are very curious!

At breakfast we discovered that Lyric knew how to eat on her own – she is very good at using a fork!  One of the staff members gave us a booster seat for Lyric, and I gathered up a small plate of a variety of food for her; cheese, egg, yogurt, a turkey sausage, squash, watermelon and some other items.  She picked up a fork and started right in on all of it.  I had to have her wait while I cut it all up into bite size pieces.  When she isn’t able to get the food on her fork she bends her face down to the plate and scoops the food into her mouth!  I can imagine that this is how she ate a lot of her food at the orphanage, but someone taught her how to use a fork, and I am grateful for that :)

After our hurried breakfast we went out to meet Vicki and our driver.  We needed to go back to the office where we got Lyric the day before.  Everything has gone really well with Lyric so far.  She has a really good temperament and loves to play and tease.   

At the office a lot more paperwork was done while the children played with Lyric.  We signed a lot of papers and had to make our thumb mark in red ink over all of our signatures.  Lyric needed to make her hand print in red ink also.  We had our picture taken with the American flag, the Chinese flag, our family and some of the officials.   

Were just given some gifts and the adoption decree!

At one point the head of the department that we were in asked to speak with us.  It was all very official like and Vicki translated for her.  The head of the department was talking to us about where the money would go that we had “donated” for Lyric’s adoption.  Now, we had no idea where the money would go or what it would be used for.  We had hoped that it would be used for the orphanage where Lyric is from and for the children – but you never know for sure just where the money goes.  If we understood everything correctly, the orphanage was not in need of any clothes or food because they had recently been granted some money.  What was needed was some equipment to help make the adoption process smoother and easier all around.  The head of the department was asking if our “donation” could go to these types of items.  What are you supposed to say to this?  If we said “no,” we want it to go directly to the children, then how would they react?  Well, based on the way it was explained to us, the orphanage was not in direct need of the money and the equipment that the money would buy would be used to aid in the adoption process – which is a good thing – so we said to use it for what they needed.   

The way I see it, they never had to tell us anything about where the money went.  We never would have known.  Kevin and I were both really surprised that they asked us this.  Oh – they seemed very grateful when we agreed to it also.  All the staff in the office was very friendly and good with Lyric.  They were good people.  There was one guy though who was always “stone-faced”.  I don’t know who he was, and I never saw him smile.  He didn’t seem too happy to me at all.

We were given a gift for Lyric of a minority doll from the Adoption Office and from the orphanage we were given a little bracelet and necklace for her.  One thing we have learned is that Lyric loves "dangles" like necklaces, bracelets, fancy buttons and rings.  She is very curious about them and loves to touch them.  I know she will enjoy these gifts.

We were also very grateful to receive back the photo album we had sent her.  It was well used and quite dirty!  I have a feeling she got to look at it a lot - which is wonderful!  The orphanage staff gave us the disposable camera we had sent as well - I can't wait to see the pictures!  

The last gift we received was the most precious of all - it was a small photo album of Lyric at the orphanage.  From some of the photos we were able to determine more about her life there - like, she slept in a crib and took baths in a baby bathtub.  Also, if we hadn't already figured it out, that she ate with a fork and a spoon!

Lyric being silly.

When it was time to go, we gathered up our things and headed back down the elevator.  Lyric started to cry a little.  The people she knew were in the room still – and she knew it.  Down by the street we decided to have Kevin and Vicki run back up and give the gifts that we had forgotten to give.  Lyric was crying and people were staring.  I had to do the distraction technique – I got out the animal crackers and started giving them to her.  Guess what?  It worked and she stopped crying.  So glad!

We spent the rest of the day in our hotel, playing with and getting to know Lyric better.  At one point we made our way to a bakery just down the street from our hotel.  We bought a variety of baked goods and had those as a part of our dinner.  We also had some nuts and raisins and a few other items as well.

Lyric cried when I put her down for the night in her crib.  She rocks her head back and forth in order to calm herself down, but doesn’t cry for very long and falls asleep soon.

The rest of our children take turns sleeping on two blow-up mattresses and one of them sleeps with us in the king-sized bed.  I’m afraid the children are getting used to going to bed at a late hour and I’ll have to work on getting them back into a routine once we get back home!

Karen