Gotcha Day

Each Gotcha Day has been different. I remember with our first she cried for a few minuets fell asleep for a nap and woke up happy and has been (with a few exceptions) ever since. Our second didn't cry at all, she got fussy that night, and after we found out that she loves terry cloth she too has been pretty happy. In fact it was still at the civil affairs off that I got my first smile and giggle. Our little one today has been quite different, I wonder if it's because she has a different personality... or if it's because she is older. Im sure that both of theses are true to a certain extent, but I think the majority of it is that she is just mourning and scared. If you think about it, theses kids are never taken out of the orphanage let alone a 5 hour journey in a car to a place they've never seen. New sights, new smells, a room filled with crying children and strange light haired, blue eyed pale people. That's a lot to take in!
I was a little nervous before but not to bad maybe because I have done this a couple of times. When they called our names, we went over and they handed her to me. She was in 3 layers of clothes, the last of which was a heavy winter coat (it was jacket weather) and so she was sweating before we ever got her. When I took her form the nannies she started crying. She cried the majority of the time. Dan was good to go and do paper work while I held her. Her crying didn't bother me at all, it's funny, her nanny kept coming up to Catherine who works for our agency trying to get reassurance that we still wanted her because she was upset. I just held her and let her cry, because if I was in her shoes I'd cry too!
We had a conversation with Catherine while Janyie was crying, Catherine suspects that she has been spoiled because of they way she handled the nanny handing her over. Its hard for us to imagine that that is a sign of being spoiled but in orphanages where there are a lot of children most kids have to learn to self sooth. It kind of makes my heart feel good knowing that she got that kind of attention, and love.
Since coming back to the Hotel she has been held the whole time, we are happy to let her take the lead on the timing of things. I'm kind of grateful that she is our 3rd and not the first, I would have been much more anxious about her because I wouldn't have realized that all of this is normal. I'm excited to see this flower bloom and see who is hiding behind the scared, reserved little face. A note to the Jie Jie's I caught her sucking her thumb tonight, Beccamei, I think she got that from you ;) And Hannali she know's mandarin so I hope you will keep up your practicing! We were told that in Shanwei they speak a dialect that is neither mandarin or cantonese, but the nannies that work there speak mandarin so Hannali and her can have conversations about how awesome your mom is (HA ha). Love you my treasures, looking forward to skyping you!
I'm sure that Dan will have something up soon about our gotcha day, pictures might be a little sparse, she cries when we bring out the camera...