This & That

The last couple of weeks have been anti-climactic. But here are the small things of interest that have occurred since we got our progress report:

The Doctor is In
We contacted Dr. Mink who is a pediatrician (and adoptive parent) to look over the info we got on Tenley and give us her professional opinion. I spoke with her this morning, and she tells me that based on the paperwork (without the benefit of being able to examine her in person) she looks healthy and developmentally good! She confirms that Tenley will likely be quite small, and that she ranges from the 5th-25th percentile on height/weight/head circumference charts. She says that she was pleased to read that Ten could recognize her caretakers voice at 3 months- apparently that is a positive indicator of language development. She was also pleased to note that in her 5 month pictures she is lifting her head and chest off the ground so she's on target with muscle development. Dr. Mink also tells me that I am not biased: Tenley is beautiful- her face and features are symetrical and that there is even spacing throughout her face, so technically she is beautiful (and shows no signs of FAS, Downs, etc)!

Megan Knows Chinese
While riding the crew bus from LAX back to her car, Megan found herself seated across from some older Chinese flight attendants who were discussing the flight loads to China. As this topic is of vital interest to us right now, she politely butted in. As they were wrapping up the load discussion, one of them noticed the bracelet Meg was wearing with the Chinese symbol for "maternal aunt". She pointed at it and asked Megan if she knew what that meant. Meg smiled and said "Oh, yes!" The Chinese flight attendant, clearly thinking Meg ahd been duped into purchasing something that said "strength" or "peace" or "beauty" pressed her and said, "What does it say??" Proudly Meg answered, "Maternal aunt!" They were shocked and pleased and informed her that that was indeed what it said. Realizing that she must be wearing this item intentionally, they inquired as whether there was someone Chinese in her family. "Actually, yes!" Meg said as she whipped out Tenley's pictures like the good YiYi she is. The Chinese flight attendants have also pronounced my daughter "beautiful", said that all Chinese babies have chubby cheeks and that shows they're healthy, and have said Tenley will be very dainty (they don't need medical forms, apparently they can tell just from the pictures).

In Good Company
Just when we thought they were out of time & it wasn't possible, Group 104 got their 1st Call last Thursday and found out they will be traveling with us! The more the merrier! Jeff & I popped over to USAA last Friday to drop off our passports & visa forms, and Yazmine confirmed that 104 will be going with us, and we are still on target for a "late June/ early July" travel date. Our travel is somewhat complicated by the fact that the US Consulate in China is moving, so we have to secure appts. either before or after they move. Looking forward to seeing 104's Baby Faces later this week!

Fun & Games
I attended a fun little event with the LA FwCC last weekend and got to see lots of faces that are becoming familliar and met some great people who are also with USAA and were able to give me great advice for the upcoming trip. There were too many cute kids to mention!! Jeri put in her 12 Girls Band CD, and they are great and I think I might need to buy a copy! It was Asian Heritage Week at UCLA and a bunch of the college kids came over to help out and play with the FwCC kids- they were all really great and I was excited to see our kids getting to interact with good role models. Also Asians for Miracle Marrow Matches ( www.asianmarrow.org ) was there, and I saw them pricking some fingers, so I hope that maybe one of those people will be the answer to a cancer stricken Asian child's prayers.

The Internet is Your Friend
Mom has found a company (right in Murrieta) that can make a new mattress for the antique bassinet for a very reasonable price!! Yea! She was also bidding on E-Bay on some quilted white eyelet to re-line the massive thing with...I hope she won so I don't have to go back to the Textile District in LA to continue my fruitless search for quilted satin!

I think that's most of it. Tenleys' room is still not finished, but her furniture has finally come in and Jeff has begun painting the Disney Princesses (and Mulan) on the closet doors. More breaking news as it happens!!

Progress Report

On Saturday a nice surprise arrived in our mailbox. A translated progress report for Tenley that showed her growth from birth to 5 months. More importantly it told us where she was found.

On September 14, 2004 Tenley was found by a security guard just outside of the orphanage in Yangxi. She was left at the place that would be her home for the next 9 months or so. She was dressed in cotton baby clothes and was checked out by the doctor at the orphanage. She weighed 7.2 lbs and was about 18 inches long. Given her size and development they put her at just born. Therefore her birthday was selected as September 13, 2004.

In the next few months she grew at a normal rate gaining weight every month and increasing in size. At the time of her referral in April she was 14.1 lbs and just over 2 ft. tall. They said in the first month that she cried out loudly and slept well. She could stare at and follow light with moving eyes. In the 2nd month she stared at adults' faces, lifts her head while laying on her stomach and can graps objects in her hands.

In the 3rd month, she becomes very excited when hearing her caretakers' voices, likes to be hugged and likes musical toys. When played with, she will move her limbs excitedly, and babbles often. In the 4th month she kicks her feet with much strength, giggles when happy, plays with her hands and feet while lying on her back.

In the 5th month, she looks for dropped toys, can roll over agilely and can lift her head when sitting up.

In addition to the translated document, we also got the original Chinese language document. Really interesting to look at. All of this information is great but it makes me want to go now! I want to hear her giggle at me and give her lots of hugs. I guess June is not all that far away.

More details soon....