Mumbo/Jumbo...just getting it out there

So many thoughts to get down so I won't forget. I keep jotting them down on a piece of paper....until I have the time to document.

Words/Signs...


So far, Faith's language is coming right along. She certainly understands SO much more than she can speak, but she is trying so hard to make the sounds by repeating us. That said, I think she may be tongue tied (where the skin under your tongue comes up too far, preventing her from making proper sounds by forming her tongue in the way it needs to be). Some of the words we've heard her say, repeat or use on her own:
MaMa
BaBa
Noah (sounds more like 'O-ah')
Faith (sounds more like 'F-AI')
No, no, no, no
Gao (dog in Chinese, we saw a little dog on the way to the restaurant last night, she went CRAZY running towards this little dog, with screams and giggles of delight. She was very gentle, but the dog still didn't know what to do. OH MIMI, you are in for a treat with Faith)
Thank you (sounds more like 'Ank-Ou')
A,
B,
C, - while singing the ABC's...but she can't do 'D'
One
Two (sounds more like 'Oooo')
Three (sounds more like 'R-eeee')
Four (sounds more like 'Oooor')
Some words that are very understood by Faith now are:
Garbage - when I ask her to take anything to the garbage, she happily complies with much gusto and umpph in her attitude!!!
More - when I ask her if she wants 'more' she excitingly does the sign language for 'more' and nods her head and dances while doing the sign...whether it's for more food, more ticking or more playing)
Airplane - when we tell her we are going on an airplane tonight, she does the sign language for airplane with a big smile (hopefully going through security this time will be less traumatic on her).
NO....we've started using a FIRM 'no' with Faith to start correcting some of the behaviours. Along with our firm 'NO', we give her a straight, very serious face and she is starting to 'get it'. A few times now, when saying no I keep looking at her with a very serious STERN look on my face...her sweet little, drooling smile quickly turns into a serious look back at me now.
High Pain Threshold - something I've learned is normal over this trip, is our children having a VERY high pain threshold...for example, they do not show emotion when hurting themselves (because they've had to learn to 'suck it up' for so much or soothe themselves when hurt or sad). In the first week, Faith bumped her head twice or fell and hurt herself (not badly, but enough that most kids would cry). We noticed that she would just laugh it off or 'bump her head with her hand and make a joke of it'. After talking to some other parents and finding out this was normal....I took their advice and 'over-did-it' the next few times she was hurt, so she would hopefully learn that crying is an 'ok and safe' reaction when hurt or sad. Low and behold in the past 2 days a few times when she fell, or bumped her leg on the pull out bed....I would go over and 'kiss her boo-boo's' and tell her over and over that it was 'okay'....I over reacted and dramatized the whole event (for what it really was)....and IT WORKED!!! The first time I noticed it worked, she banged her leg and elbows (which I didn't notice) on the pull out bed....I went over, swooped her up and started kissing her knees, telling her over and over (in an ever so caring and empathetic tone) - 'it's okay, Mama's here, Mama's going to kiss your boo-boos'....sure enough, she didn't laugh it off, or 'snuff it off' but held out her elbows and wanted me to kiss them too!!! I was brought to tears at just how smart these little peanuts are and how quickly they learn where the love is!!! Then the next time, she slipped when running down the hall in our suite and bumped her head (not THAT hard, but hard enough that Mama needed to kiss it all better). I went over to her, picked her up and she leaned her head towards my lips for me to 'kiss her boo-boo all better'. She was serious, rubbing her head and allowing me to kiss it better. Then she got down and played with a little less 'gusto' as when she bumped her head! I LOVE seeing progress!!!

Fun shopping adventure without our guide....

Another family, with 2 children and Noah & I decided to take another shopping trip to the Pearl Market by TAXI. We all met, went to the taxi (small car) all piled in...then we looked at the driver, realized he didn't speak a word of English AND that we didn't have an address or know how to say 'Pearl Market' in Chinese.....OMGoodness...we were laughing SO hard.

The driver, hollered for one of the Bell Boys....then another....finally, after 4 different hotel staff...we realized that none of them knew where we were talking about....so out of the cab we got....continued to giggle and laugh.

Tim realized that he forgot the stroller, so he had to go back upstairs too....laughing with tears.

So we are trying to explain to anyone that spoke a little bit of English what the Pearl Market was...we spelled it, I tried to draw a photo of the big pearl in the shell in the front of the mall....etc. Nothing was working.....still laughing.

I called Jacques in our room, to get Yulin's cell number for them to call so she could explain to them where we want to go. So one of the staff called her, then handed the phone to me. She asked, 'where are you going and how are you getting there'...I told her where and by Taxi....so she got back on the phone with the staff and explained to her....laughing with tears at this point!

The staff member guided us to another taxi (even smaller car)....we all piled into this one, then the driver started speaking to us in Chinese...yikes, so another staff came over to the car and explained we couldn't ALL go in one taxi. So Tim got out with Jackson, climbed into another taxi and we all stayed in this one....off we went....with Tim's taxi following behind us....all giggling so much.

We got there (all in one piece and still giggling) and Tim's taxi showed up a few minutes behind us...both of us spending 30 Yuan each (total of 60 yuan).

We went shopping, I got some more shoes for me and my girl. Noah haggled by himself for a set of really cool earphones...got what he wanted. I was SO proud of him and what he had learned the day before!!!

Time went by so quickly....I could have spent another 3 hours there for sure...but we had to get back.

Off we go to try and find another Taxi.....this time, the driver said we could all squeeze in one car. THEN, we saw a VAN....it was one mishap after another. We start to climb in the one car, then saw the van, so we get out. Start to climb in the van when he tells us it will be 250 yuan to get us back to the hotel (on a piece of paper we got from the hotel, it basically said 'if lost, please return me to the Presidential Hotel'...laugh in itself)....then we said 'WOOOOAH....no way, too high...so we climb BACK out and start to get back in the car....then we haggle with the van driver and got him down to 150 yuan...so we said, 'whatever, it'll be much more comfortable in the van...worth the extra money' so we finally get in the van....continuing to giggle the whole way home.

All in all...it was quite the experience, but I'd do it all over again for the deals I got and all the laughs I had with our new friends, Tim and Sandy. Too bad, they live in BC....hope we can connect again one day...they are so awesome and fun to hang around! Well...that could be because he is originally a Maritimer too!!!

When we got back to the hotel room, she came running to me yelling 'mamamamama over and over'...I swooped her up and was so happy that she missed me....

I had to go meet our Agency Director a few minutes after I got back to pick up Faith's passport/VISA. I left quietly (like when we went shopping)....and was gone for about 10 minutes. I had to come back to the room to get something to take back to her. When i got back in the room, Faith's eyes were all red and puffy....I guess she was crying the whole time I was gone. For those of you NOT having experiencing adoption, or really thinking about attachment or bonding...you may think this is silly....BUT IN FACT....this is HUGE!!! This is MAJOR progress and shows that she is attaching and bonding well!!!

Naturally, I took her with me when I went back!!!

So this morning, we are relaxing and doing our final packing, checking out and meeting at the bus at 2:00pm to be on our way to the airport for our trek home! Looking forward to being home, having our family and friends meet Faith and seeing just how awesome Noah is at his BIG BROTHER role.