The Petals Unfold

We have now known Lucy a little over a week and every day we start to see a little bit more of her sweet little personality. While she has always been smiley and responsive, we have watched her slowly begin to trust us and truly interact with us as her family. What a joy and and honor it is to love this little bundle of pure sweetness and watch her little petals unfold! God has blessed us beyond imagination.

When we first met Lu we noticed right away that she didn't have much muscle strength in her legs. At 7 mo. we would have expected her to be pushing up on those little legs to stand with help (and all the other Fu babies were) but Lu's little legs would just fold up like lo mein noodles. Sissi told us that there is a cultural difference in thinking about baby exercise. The Chinese haven't seen a need to exercise a baby's legs - they carry babies around without putting much effort into standing and floor time. Sissi said that recently that has been changing with the younger generation, however the foster care nannies are typically a little older and follow the ways they are used to. We have been getting Lu to stand several times a day while we're in the bus or in a restaurant and after one short week she is already standing up on those little noodles! She has gotten that little tummy scoot down pat and is all over the place on the floor. What a curious little girl we have! She loves playing with her toys and exploring everything around her. Just yesterday she went up into a kneel on all fours - we were so proud of her! She will be crawling in no time! She has also started reaching out for us when she wakes up or even when someone else is holding her.  She's super active, wiggling and flailing all 4 limbs as we carry her. Pray for that 15 hour flight home with a lap ticket for Lu - she is not one to sit still and I'm afraid it's going to be rough going! We're thinking that her nanny put her in the crib to fall asleep because that's where she falls asleep the easiest. She does not like falling asleep in our arms and only does so when she's incredibly over tired. This does not come in handy when we're out and about! I have to tell you that it's difficult keeping ahold of this 14 pound wiggly little peanut. But when she finally does give up the fight it's just about the sweetest thing ever - love, love, love!

Is there anything better?

Our little girl is very vocal. She babbles and chats and coos all the time. She also loves to scream happy little screams when she's excited. It's a riot! The first couple of days I spent time teaching her to say "Mama" - we worked on it and worked on it and I am proud to say she has it down! Of course, it's mamamamamama, but I'll take that! When we got to the hotel here in Guangzhou after a long day of travel Bryan was playing with Lu on the bed and she started to laugh. He had her in stitches for the longest time! She has giggled before, but it was the first time she was belly laughing and fully engaged. Last night as she fell asleep she made so much noise trying to keep herself awake. The three of us just laid in the dark and listened to her, giggling at how sweet it is to finally know our little Lu!

Saying goodbye to Sissi at the airport in Nanchang.

Lu's first airplane ride!