It's Official!

Tuesday January 14

It’s official!  I finished signing all the legal paperwork and paid the bulk of our fees.  Teagen is now officially our child.  We need to stay in Wuhan until Friday when we’ll get he passport.   Since we have no commitments tomorrow, I’ll likely try some sightseeing.  There are 4 other adoptive families at our hotel, so I think I’ll talk with some of them tomorrow at breakfast and see if I can tag along if they are doing an outing.  One or 2 of the families with younger children were considering going to visit the orphanage.  Since Teagen was only in the orphanage for a few months over 4 years ago, I decided not to request a visit. 

During the past 24 hours I’ve started to see Teagen’s personality.  Here are some things I’ve learned:

1.  She is very talkative.  Even though I don’t know what she is saying, she just keeps talking.

2.  She is smart.  I’m pretty sure she can read Chinese as she points to characters and tells me what they mean (or so I assume).

3. Her foster sister, who is 20, also began teaching her some English.  She knows the beginning of the ABC’s and can count to 5 (then skips to 11).  She points to English words and wants me to tell her the letters.

4.  She likes to be in charge.  For example, when coloring she is quick to point out if I missed a spot and tell me what color to use where.

5.  She loves the iPad.  Jigsaw puzzle apps are her favorite so far.

6.  She likes to play ball, and can throw pretty well.  Good news for Wyatt!

7.  Her foster mother had packed a bag full of some of her favorite snacks.  This included Cheetos, Chip-A-Hoy cookies. And MANY packages of dry cellophane thin sea weed.

8.  She is a great sleeper. She is taking her afternoon nap as I type this.  Even after her 2 hour nap yesterday, she easily was in bed around 8:30.

9.  She is active.  Even at dinner she didn’t sit still.  She would shove a spoonful of rice in her mouth and then get up to re-arrange all the silverware on the table.

10.  She is very brave.  I am amazed at how well she is handling this change so far.