Day 3: It Gets Harder Before it Gets Easier

Mas feeds Tong Tong on the second day.

Adoption Day!  Getting her footprint!

First official family photo -- right after the signing of adoption papers.

Adoption Day with Frunkle Mark

Day 3.  The hardest day so far.

Tong Tong woke up in tears and had a tantrum while getting dressed, shaking off her fleecy polka dot pants with such vehemence that Mason started crying, too.  She didn't cheer up until she was straddled against me in the baby carrier, this being an indicator of travel outside the confines of our claustrophobic hotel room.  And as always, she perked up considerably at the breakfast buffet and let Mason feed her canned apricot slices.  We all enjoyed the morning's tour of the Hunan Province Museum and the local "Martyr's Park" but her contentment dissipated the moment we returned to the hotel.  We walked laps around the floor of the hotel for an hour; she had a bowl of noodles, and cried herself to sleep on top of my chest for a 3 hour nap.

I am of course, already emotionally fragile.  Those who know me well that it doesn't take life-altering transitions to cry at a moment's notice anyway.  Now we just bundle in sleep deprivation, jet lag, anxieties over her long overdue bowel movement (okay, I get it -- she's stressed and all -- but the way she eats, shouldn't she have pooped within the last 48 hours??), home sickness, and concern over Mason's well-being and you can basically figure that I'm looking a little haggard.

This has been a hard trip for Mason on many levels and I cannot be more thankful to have my brother here with us for his support, companionship, and for being such a great "Frunkle" (Mas's term for an uncle who is a great friend).  Despite our location, this is not a vacation and there are long afternoons in this unpleasant city (please don't tell our tour guide Shirley) with nothing for him to do.  He's also struggling with the image he had of what it would mean to be an older brother and he's hurt that many of his advances are rebuffed.  His attitude has been fantastic overall and I am heartbroken when I see how hard this has been for him.

Update:  11:12 pm Changsha time.  She pooped!  I think we flushed that bad mood out right along with the dirty diaper!  Let's hope so, anyway....... 

Now it is time to try and smooth out her sleeping practices.  The orphanage told me that they she was easy to put to bed -- all they did was take off her clothes, lay her down in the crib, and she would go to sleep.  That is definitely NOT what is happening here.  She won't let me lay her down at all -- even if I am laying next to her.  Before napping, she is usually dozing sitting up and then I push her over to lay her down.  So hard.  Mason says she's this way because she's afraid that she'll be left again when she lays down to sleep.  He's probably right.