Official

Today we completed our paperwork for Alaina's adoption. We had our "family" photo taken for her adoption decree and she had her photo taken for her passport.

She slept well last night, on sofa cushions next to our bed. Lauren also slept well. Ally, on the other hand, fell asleep at dinner and woke up at 11:30. Wide awake and happy, but awake until about 4 AM. Sara tried to help her and so did Doug and I. She was a little itchy, and had a hard time settling down. It was one of those nights when you feel like you look at the clock every 30 minutes or so, but the morning finally came.

Alaina woke a little concerned, but OK. She told our guide that she wants to go back to her house. She was a little sad when I asked some questions to the orphanage nannies this morning. I asked about her foster family, if her foster brother was older or younger than she was. SInce the nanny didn't know how old he was, she asked Alaina. Immediately Alaina started to tear up and didn't answer. That was the only real time we saw her sad today.

Overall, she is a little hyper and bouncy! It could just be her way of dealing with things being so new and uncertain. She jumps around and chatters away. It certainly doesn't seem to bother her that we have no idea what she is saying. She is still wearing the clothes from yesterday. She did take her purple fur jacket off to sleep, but put it on immediately upon waking up. We are going to try to get her into the tub with Ally a little later today! Who knows how that will work.

I just couldn't believe what she did last night. She began showing me pictures and would write the Chinese symbol on a piece of paper. She just glanced at the picture and wrote the symbol. I sat there in amazement. She got everyone exactly right. She was very precise with her strokes and lines. She even got up this morning and wrote some more, but I don't know what those things were! Susan (our guide) said that the nannies all said how smart she was. Then she surprised us even more and wrote "14+1=15" and "17+3=20" on the water doodle. Then she did a lot of math problems on the magna doodle with Lauren. They said she had not been to school, but her foster family must have really worked with her a lot. I can't help but wonder if she has been in school. She seems way ahead of what I would expect a kingergartener to be able to do.

We have had a few squatty potty experiences for Ally and Alaina. They both did just fine, but Ally said "the potty is broken"! Funny!

More later....