The Open Window

I’m up early before the girls.  The sound of Chinese music woke me up.  Someone is outside doing exercises to music and it’s quite lovely.  We have to keep the window open because they’re cranking the heat.  Both of our guides have said that the heat is government controlled, so once it’s on, it’s on and you just deal with what you get.  So the window stays open and the cool air outside helps the temperature stay bearable at night.  They brought in a fan too, but Jia doesn’t like it blowing on her, so she gets up and turns it off, even if I sneakily turn it back on after she’s sleeping. 

The open window has been a trigger for Jia.  It only slides open about five inches, enough to put her hand out and wave it around in the breeze.  She has somehow made the connection that her other mama is out there.  (tissue alert…)  When she goes and stands by the window for a while, she starts getting tears in her eyes and she reaches her hand out and says, “mama”.  She looks at me and points and says mama.  She lets me pick her up and comfort her.  She lays her head on my shoulder and cries for her other mama.  Then I nod my head, yes, and say, “She is a good mama, she is a good mama.  It’s OK, Bing-Bing.”   Heartwrenching.

Last night was better.  I decided to put away the baby with the mamas and daddies book and pull out the Barney’s Colors book.  The other book was making her even more sad at bedtime.  I might be partial here, I mean, this is only our first adoption and I’m not sure what to expect, but I think she might be some kind of genius!  We were going through all the colors and not only would she say them back to me, she would say them when I didn’t prompt her.  She’s also saying a lot of the words from “Ni Hao, Kia-Lan”, which she absolutely loves (even more than Chinese cartoons).  She’s becoming familiar with the Kai-Lan videos because she’s watched them again and again and she’s starting to participate with Kai-Lan.  I can see her mouthing the words and then she says some of them.  Wow.   

Last night, she was missing Mike, and she didn’t want to go to bed until she saw Baba.  We waited and waiting for him to wake up, but no one was answering our Skype call.  I finally had to call the house (way too early for a person with jet lag), but it was important.  He groggily answered the phone and I let him know that Jia was missing him.  He Skyped with us and she was happy and reassured. 

We’re heading out for breakfast and then shopping with our guide.  I’ll post pictures in a few hours.