Happy 3 months Yao Yao!

We interupt our summer vacation for a Yao Yao update and celebration!

It is hard to believe that it has been 3 months today since we've been home from China!! I am absolutely floored by the person Miss Yao Yao has become already....sooooo different than the little girl we first met.
Yao Yao was able to celebrate her 1st 4th of July as an American Citizen. What a special day!

I know it's been a long time since I really communicated on how she is really doing.

In all honesty, she is doing absolutely amazing. Amazing!

Without a doubt, Yao Yao received excellent care at Wuxi. Yes, it was still an orphanage, but all the kids I've seen come home from there have done amazing. She does not have much post-institutional stuff going on. There is some, but it is very mild and really, only Baba and I see it.

Her language astounds me. She no longer responds to Chinese. In fact, when I talk about Baba, she calls him Daddy. She refuses to call him Baba anymore.

Her new thing is Princesses. She absolutely adores them. She thinks any princess is HER princess.

Just this morning we had this conversation...

"Yao Yao, are you a monkey or a princess?"

"Mommy, I PRINTESS!!" (said with great emphasis)

I said, "well where is your princess dress?"

She said, "it down downstairs mommy."

She is right...it is downstairs:)


She is now an officially awesome sleeper. Of course, I'm loving summer schedule because I can create a sleep schedule that I approve of. All the kiddos are sleeping well past 8am now. Her and Lil'Rocker still take naps too. We've come along way with sleeping.

Yao Yao used to only barely nap an hour. She would also get up way earlier than I thought she should. How did I know this? Well, she was soooo grouchy and tired after awaking. Now, she sleeps the amount of time she should and wakes up happy. I believe it's because she knows we are not going anywhere. I believe before when her eyelids would flicker at 6:40 am she would wake up to come and find us. Her favorite time of the day is still bedtime and even naptime. She never complains about going.

She adapts to change so incredibly well. At the same time, routine is VERY important to her. She views it as security. She has now adjusted to no daily routine. But the bedtime routine must still happen.

If I were to tell her that we were not going to brush her teeth before bed, she would go into hysterics. It is not the kind of tantrum that says, "hey, I want to do this and you won't let me"...it's the kind of tantrum that is "all my goodness!!! what is going to happen next now? "

HOWEVER, we can get past it. We did this with the bath. We took it out of the evening routine one time. She freaked out. However, I held firm and told her that we were not getting a bath. I told her we would brush teeth next. Being able to move to the next part of the routine, calmed her down. She has been fine ever since, when we skip a bath. She knows now that her world will not change with skipping a bath.

Yao Yao fits into our family because she has a great sense of humor. She loves to laugh! She also knows when Baba is "picking" on her. She loves it.

She loves her Baba and is fine with him for everything. She is fine with me leaving and she has left with Baba to go run errands. As long as I prepare her for my leaving she is ok. If I forget to prepare her, she freaks out.

She loves church! It took a couple of weeks, but she now adores going to her class without me! I think it makes her feel so proud of herself. She says, "I a big girl mommy!"

There is so much I could say about her, but in the essence of time, I need to stop. If there is something you want to know about our transition...please ask away! I will try and answer your questions.

On March 30, 2009 we met our daughter. She was a zombie for the 1st few hours. We see that now.

It's amazing what 3 months can do!! Same little girl....but now a smiling face! ;)