1 Week Home

Tessa is always exploring.
She found the tape measure and measured everything.
She found this magnifying glass and played with it all afternoon.

More biking and more picture taking!

Tessa sleeping on her own now. She is very proud of this!!

Tessa has a fondness for Mocha

Sending Jinju a Birthday Gift. Tessa wrote her Jingju's name in Chinese!

Tessa loves puzzles. I was going to wait and do this later. But she loves this one!!

Snapping photos of our neighborhood wild peacocks and ibis this monning.

Tessa is doing very, very well!
This morning, I am appreciating these 4 phrases we both understand: Thank you, in a minute, later, and I love you. Tessa had one emotional moment 2 days ago, that I know believe was a real turning point for both of us. We were in the pool and she took a cardboard from a toy and wanted to play with it in the water. I shook my head no, but she insisted, almost challenging me. I took it from her hand. And that was it. She got quiet, got out of the pool, got dressed (and hung her towel ---hooray!) I thought she might have recovered, but I noticed she was still upset. I took her in my arms and she just let it all out. She cried hard for probably 15 minutes. I, obviously, felt very bad and my eyes watered too. I held her tight, told her I loved her and soothed her. Because she can't tell me what her thoughts were, I am guessing that she might have thought Mama was mad and didn't love her anymore. I am thankful that I finally got an opportunity to comfort and sooth her. Since meeting her, she had not cried. I very much look forward to helping her "talk out" her feelings. But ever since this incident, it is almost unspoken that she knows I love her no matter what. She has been incredibly loving and seems to be no longer "acting tough" but her true self is coming thru. She gets upset like a 5-6 y/o should when they feel pain. Now every little bump is a moment for Mama to comfort her. So altho, I feel bad about what happened over silly cardboard paper, I am also thankful, it was only cardboard that gave us this moment.....

She is talking more...in Chinese....and just loves it when Mama tries to talk to Chinese too. We had several Kodak moments and of course I will post them. I LOVE the Nikon camera. Tessa met dear friends, Tom and Cindy and had a good time eating out lastnight. She will meet more and more friends and family in the next coming days. She is enjoying her bicycle a lot. She started swimming lessons 2 days ago and is doing incredibly well. We come home and practice everything she has learned. She is awesome.

Tessa is sleeping alone now, with no music. She seems to already be outgrowing bathtime, and wanting showers now. I am so glad I got some bath time in while in China. I started the shower in the bath when in China, after discovering how much she loved going under the waterfall. She turns the shower on herself now.

Tessa continues to enjoy her camera and for families reading this who are adopting an older child, I strongly recommend an inexpensive ditigal camera esp on gotcha day. It really helped remove the stress of leaving her past life and meeting her new family; the camera gave her some control and she enjoyed taking photos; they are her story! I have saved her pictures and will put them on a CD for her. The pictures were great during the time in China, as she was able to see on the camera screen, her Nannies after they left and to see her Baba after he left. Soon, I will print some photos from her SWI and her time in China so she can have them. I will also create a collage of her and Jinju to put in her room.

Right now Tessa is drawing and writing. She has already drawn a family picture with Mama, Baba and Tessa with the house. She is already writing out her name!!!

I love being her Mama!!