Penelope’s adjustment is taking a while. It is hard for us because we have one experience to go on and Penelope has not had all the benefits that Violet was given. Penelope is much more cautious and reserved; she is not quick to smile or laugh, which is a big change for us. She is only content if she is directly attached to me, the carrier has been wonderful, and she is content to be in the carrier on my back which is wonderful, because I can then do other things. She wakes up and is fussy until she has two bowls of rice cereal. That seems to be the signal that she knows there is food and she can calm down and smile. She is at her most happiest after she has eaten and I wonder how much food she had, she is not thin so we know she was fed but when we give her food for her to feed herself it is almost as if she doesn’t know what to do with it. They were still waking her up to give her bottles and she was mostly on formula and rice cereal which blows us away because she has an entire mouth full of teeth. Every day we get a little more progress but it is very slow going. I pray that once we are home and settled in the same environment and routine each day, her progress will move a little more quickly.
Today is our last day in Changsha, we have nothing on the schedule except be packed and in the lobby by 3pm so we had a leisurely breakfast and decided to go in the pool one more time. It was nice and warm and both the girls love being in the water. Penelope loves splashing and is surprised each time she gets water on her face, it is so cute. Violet loves showing off her “scoops and kicks” at the same time and loves swimming around (with an inner tube) after the ball and after Todd and Pa. Grams and Gramma enjoyed watching and taking pictures and watching the entire ruckus. After changing we ate all our left-over pizza, snacks, and fruit for lunch then before we knew it, we needed to pack and get to the lobby. We all said bye to Mr. Dean, he was the head concierge that always had a smile a mile wide, would whip off that white glove to shake your hand and have that glove back on before you could blink and drew out his “Heeelloooo” in the cutest Chinese accent. Every time we got on and off the elevator or walked thru the lobby we looked for him.
At the airport, Vicky got us all checked in and we said good-bye and headed to our gate. She said that four of us were upgraded and she didn’t know why but we all sit together in the back or some of us could sit up front. Grams and Pa said they’d sit in back and we all laughed that this only happens on the shortest flights. Our flight was supposed to board at 4:40 but after delayed 15 minutes, delayed another 15, 15 more minutes; another 15… then the board read we’d board at 8:15, after a while it didn’t even say a time. Later, all of a sudden everyone jumped up and started showing their tickets to get on a bus just outside the gate door and a Chinese man Todd had been talking to said this was our flight. It was around 7:00 and the sign still said delayed with no boarding time, but we all jumped up, the flight attendant took our tickets, we got on the bus, and it whisked us to a plane on the runway, we all boarded in a rush as if the plane would take off without us and as quick as a wink we were in the air and they were passing around water bottles. After landing we were discussing the upgrade, we got two tomatoes with a piece of cantaloupe, rather than three tomatoes, we all got a bottle of water right away and since Todd sat in both seats, he said the seats up front were a little roomier. Since we were so late our guide Eva took us to the van outside and said she needed to pick up another family and the driver would take us to the hotel and her friend John would help us check in. Coming into the city, all our reaction was, Vegas has a lot to learn about REAL neon. Many streets looked like Time Square at midnight on New Year’s Eve! John helped us check in and we crashed!
Penelope’s adjustment is taking a while. It is hard for us because we have one experience to go on and Penelope has not had all the benefits that Violet was given. Penelope is much more cautious and reserved; she is not quick to smile or laugh, which is a big change for us. She is only content if she is directly attached to me, the carrier has been wonderful, and she is content to be in the carrier on my back which is wonderful, because I can then do other things. She wakes up and is fussy until she has two bowls of rice cereal. That seems to be the signal that she knows there is food and she can calm down and smile. She is at her most happiest after she has eaten and I wonder how much food she had, she is not thin so we know she was fed but when we give her food for her to feed herself it is almost as if she doesn’t know what to do with it. They were still waking her up to give her bottles and she was mostly on formula and rice cereal which blows us away because she has an entire mouth full of teeth. Every day we get a little more progress but it is very slow going. I pray that once we are home and settled in the same environment and routine each day, her progress will move a little more quickly.
Today is our last day in Changsha, we have nothing on the schedule except be packed and in the lobby by 3pm so we had a leisurely breakfast and decided to go in the pool one more time. It was nice and warm and both the girls love being in the water. Penelope loves splashing and is surprised each time she gets water on her face, it is so cute. Violet loves showing off her “scoops and kicks” at the same time and loves swimming around (with an inner tube) after the ball and after Todd and Pa. Grams and Gramma enjoyed watching and taking pictures and watching the entire ruckus. After changing we ate all our left-over pizza, snacks, and fruit for lunch then before we knew it, we needed to pack and get to the lobby. We all said bye to Mr. Dean, he was the head concierge that always had a smile a mile wide, would whip off that white glove to shake your hand and have that glove back on before you could blink and drew out his “Heeelloooo” in the cutest Chinese accent. Every time we got on and off the elevator or walked thru the lobby we looked for him.
At the airport, Vicky got us all checked in and we said good-bye and headed to our gate. She said that four of us were upgraded and she didn’t know why but we all sit together in the back or some of us could sit up front. Grams and Pa said they’d sit in back and we all laughed that this only happens on the shortest flights. Our flight was supposed to board at 4:40 but after delayed 15 minutes, delayed another 15, 15 more minutes; another 15… then the board read we’d board at 8:15, after a while it didn’t even say a time. Later, all of a sudden everyone jumped up and started showing their tickets to get on a bus just outside the gate door and a Chinese man Todd had been talking to said this was our flight. It was around 7:00 and the sign still said delayed with no boarding time, but we all jumped up, the flight attendant took our tickets, we got on the bus, and it whisked us to a plane on the runway, we all boarded in a rush as if the plane would take off without us and as quick as a wink we were in the air and they were passing around water bottles. After landing we were discussing the upgrade, we got two tomatoes with a piece of cantaloupe, rather than three tomatoes, we all got a bottle of water right away and since Todd sat in both seats, he said the seats up front were a little roomier. Since we were so late our guide Eva took us to the van outside and said she needed to pick up another family and the driver would take us to the hotel and her friend John would help us check in. Coming into the city, all our reaction was, Vegas has a lot to learn about REAL neon. Many streets looked like Time Square at midnight on New Year’s Eve! John helped us check in and we crashed!
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