We have YuHe!

We began our 2 hour trip to the edge of Beijing where the New Hope Foster Home is located.  When we walked in the door YuHe came running to greet us, grabbed our maple button cookies and then off she went to give each child and nanny one.  She knows the cookie routine!

Sharing cookies with me and Adrian!

She never really directly acknowledged me though and every question I asked was an emphatic shake of the head "no" response. She was not happy standing next to me for a picture here, as you can see... :-)

Her nannies told her why I was there and when I asked if she understood they told me that she routinely went on rides with the visitors so she was excited to go for a ride. Just be prepared, because she does get car sick. Ah yes, another one with car sickness.  So glad for the heads up on that one! But I was sad because I knew that we weren't just going for a ride. I was taking her from this place that she obviously loves and from the people who have loved her for all but 4 months of her life. I know it is all part of the process, that she couldn't stay there forever, but it was very sad for me.

I got to meet her preschool teacher who gave me a lovely alphabet book she had been working on with little YuHe feet and hand stamps. It is so beautiful and you can tell they worked very hard on it. She told me she did know both English and Mandarin and she knows some basic signs. She knows her ABCs and loves to sing "If you're happy and you know it" and especially loves to shout out the "hooray". We met some of the other children and gave beautiful Jenny her care package from her mom. New Hope is an amazing home and I felt so welcome and a general feeling of happiness there. YuHe is so lucky to have lived there.

And YuHe was the star. Showing off, being a ham and flashing a big grin to all of her caregivers.

When we headed out the door YuHe grabbed my hand and we walked down the walkway together to the car. I was so pleased that things seemed to be going so smoothly. No kicking or screaming. We got in the car and she sat in my lap, crossed her little feet and laid back comfortably. But again, she thinks she's going for a ride and she will be back...

We drove back into the city and she yelled hello out the window to people, waving happily. Yet, every time I talked to her or asked her a question she shook her head no :-)  

We stopped for lunch and she insisted on having a little bit of everything and then soaking it in water on her plate. Angela thinks that she may have added water to her rice and other foods. I'm not going to push her but I tell ya, I really hope she grows out of this habit soon. Ugh, her plate was disgusting and ultimately she didn't eat all that much so it just ended up grossing me out the whole meal. While waiting for the food she kept herself busy folding napkins and...

get this.. when we first got in the car she saw me tuck a plastic bag (umm, you know, the just in case of car sickness bag) under my thigh so it wouldn't fly out of the car. So look at where she was tucking her napkins!

I know, right?! A small victory for this mama- she DOES see me! She's even copying me! Yayy!

She ended up on Adrian's lap back in the car, not sure how that happened..., I'm trying to be her primary caregiver so we can bond... but I lost focus and it really was so cute how she asked to sit on his lap and he put his hands out and she climbed right in. He put his hands around her feet and she laid back and promptly fell right asleep. It was such a precious sight.

When we got back to the room she was all smiles- mostly with Adrian- but continued with shaking her head no every time I spoke to her. 

Then bed time came and yes friends, it was total and complete meltdown. She grieved. And hard. She cried for an hour and a half. Deep sobs from the center of her. She cried "mama" over and over. Her nannies are her "mamas". Right now, I am the imposter. Ugh. I had heard about this kind of grief but I hadn't experienced it before. Ava had a couple of quick cries after we picked her up from the orphanage but nothing like this. This is the difference between an orphanage and a foster home. And while New Hope is sort of a mixture of both she definitely bonded with her nannies and they were like her foster mamas. So I held her and eventually got her ready for bed and Adrian distracted her enough to stop crying. She watched me from the bed as I typed this. Quiet and thoughtful as she drifted off peacefully into sleep.

So while she doesn't particularly like me right now I'm going to dig deep, try not to let it show that I'm really, really bothered by it and fake it until I make it. Let's hope it is a quick process and she determines that I'm not all that bad...because I think she is pretty amazing! Just wait until you meet this kid- when they said she was a pistol they were not joking! She is going to keep us on our toes, that's for sure! And she had Adrian and I at ni hao!

Tomorrow is the Great Wall and the train to Hefei!!