One Week Home

The Tanner Family!

Haiyan & Elizabeth in their play kitchen. They love to cook!

James playing with Elizabeth & Haiyan. They love to play with balloons, and to climb all over James.

It's been a week now that James, Haiyan, and Elizabeth have been home. Jet lag seems to be over, and all have been sleeping through the night the past few nights. Elizabeth was really sick with digestive problems when they first arrived home, but that was gone by Monday. James was home from work all week, which has helped Haiyan as she gets used to being with me and living at our house. She still cries when he leaves the house and is with me only, but it usually only lasts about 15 minutes. She cried the first couple nights when we put her to bed, but now she really seems to like our bedtime ritual. She shares a room with Elizabeth, which Elizabeth was really happy about. For the past few months, Elizabeth had been wanting "a real person" to sleep in her room with her. They have fun waking up in the morning together and coloring or looking at books.

So far, we've been really surprised at how Haiyan has adjusted so well to our home and seems to be bonding with us. She has a really fun personality and she loves to laugh, sing, and dance. She has a good appetite and has eaten everything we've given her (Mexican, Italian, Chinese, American). She has a huge Chinese vocabulary, which James understands some of. And she's picking up English words quickly. She copies a lot of what we say, and it can be pretty funny. Like yesterday when Elizabeth was getting a time-out, Haiyan followed her to the chair saying "obey! time-out!".

She had her appointment at the International Adoption Clinic at Children's of WI today and it went really well. We met with doctors, a social worker, a psychologist, etc. and they said that she seems to be right on track developmentally. And her weight/height is even a little above average. We thought that she was doing fine, but it was good to have it confirmed by professionals. We also got her new shoes today that fit better, and they have already really improved her walking. She loved them and kept saying "pretty" and "thank you" in Chinese.

So, we think things are going really well. We've been able to stay home a lot this week, and I think that has helped her feel more settled and comfortable. Hopefully next week, we can have some friends over and let her start meeting people.