The Drinkwater Family

Home for One Week…

We survived our trip home with Air Canada, however, 27 hours of travelling (if we count when we woke up the day before – and I DO!) without sleep has a tendency to make one a little squirrely. I think this is one of the few times I have broken down in public sobbing - when I realized we weren’t going to go home Friday night. By that point, exhaustion had finally taken its toll. I am lucky my husband still was calm and collected and thus able to talk to the Air Canada customer service staff about securing us a hotel room for the night. However, we needed to wait until the next flight left in order for them to obtain our luggage that was already checked for our flight home. Apparently they couldn’t just keep it overnight and load it the next morning. Sigh… so finally, finally, finally, we were able to take the airport shuttle to the Delta for the night.

We arrived home Saturday morning at 8:30 am in Kelowna. Jet lag however, had the family awake at 1:00 am, with Sylvie fortunately going back to sleep from 3:00 – 5:00 before heading back out to the Vancouver airport. Our flight was nice and short, and the airport gate was relatively empty so early in the morning so lots of room for Sylvie to walk around and explore in. Upon arriving home, we were met at the airport by Cory’s Aunt, Uncle and our friends. It was so nice to be greeted and warmly welcomed home. Kudos to our welcoming committee for showing up Saturday morning after spending a couple of hours waiting for us to arrive the night before. (And yes, we did try calling to let them know, but only had some phone numbers in our memory so left messages at home voice mail as the cell phones did not have voicemail).

Our first nights home have been both easy and challenging. Sylvie adapted to BC time remarkably well, and we suppose not having a proper sleep for two days helped her over the adjustment. She slept 13 hours Saturday night, after going down peacefully at 7:00 pm. Her parents however, continued to struggle with jet lag for most of the week which was challenging with Cory returning to work Tuesday, and Joyanne trying to stay awake and take care of Sylvie during the day.

Sylvie has been doing amazingly well during these past few weeks. We feel she has definitely bonded to both Cory and I, and we are working to making her feel secure and loved. She now comes to one of us, but mostly Mama, when she is upset and will put her hands up to be picked up. The first time she sought us out for comfort was so memorable. During the day when we are out and about or playing at home she is regularly putting her arms up to be picked up and hugged. When I (Joyanne) was giving her the bedtime bottle tonight, I leaned my head back and closed my eyes while rocking her, the next I knew, a little hand was stroking my cheek to get my attention to look at her again!

Cory and I are amazed at all the different things Sylvie can do. When we first met her in Nanning, we were unsure if she knew how to walk or crawl – when we sat her on the bed or floor she would stay in one spot. We did not think she could hold her own bottle for feeding or feed herself finger foods. Over the first week with us, she slowly trusted us enough to show us she can walk, in fact she is working on running, and she can hold the bottle to feed herself. Once home, she showed us she is quite adept at feeding herself cheerios, cheese, peas, and Gerber puffs with her fingers – still not sure if she will be a lefty or a righty she is adept at both. When we feed her foods that that stick to the spoon (mashed potatoes and/or bananas) she helps guide the spoon into her mouth quite willingly. She has also shown us she knows how to cry! At first she would only whimper quietly to herself (heart breaking to hear) but know we know she has a set of lungs and knows how to use them when she wants something! She is still vocalizing baby talk, mostly one syllable words repeated over (ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma, or ba-ba-ba-ba-ba, or da-da-da-da-da). She is able to make many sounds with her tongue (clicking noises) and can smack her lips and blow bubbles. If we start, she copies us in response. When in the car seat, if she is seeking our attention, she will start the lip smacking and we response. We have been trying to teach some baby sign language (more, bottle, all done) but have not been very consistent with it and will probably need to focus more on it in the next few weeks so she can show us what her needs are and we can meet them quickly.

One of the best advancements Sylvie has made in the last few days is her willingness to try new foods. If you remember previously, her diet was limited to rice congee, steamed or fried rice, rice cereal, cheerios, and Baby Mmm Mmm’s (rice cracker), and bananas. She is now accepting new foods we are introducing to her and shows immense interest in what we have on our plates. If Mama takes a bit first, she is all ready to try it herself. We are pleased with her curiosity in food, and hope this will continue.

Foods Sylvie eats now:
· Cheese
· Mashed potatoes
· Apple sauce
· Strawberries
· Toast
· Yogurt
· Gerber Sweet Potato Puffs
· Peas, corn, carrots
· Scrambled Eggs
· Arrowroot cookies

We have received so many emails, phone calls, and cards this week – they are all welcomed and appreciated. We will need a bit of time before responding to each one, but please know how much of an impact each act has had on us.

We would like to sign off by acknowledging the tremendous support we have received this last week. Our families have been wonderful, offering to help in numerous ways, cooking a month’s worth of meals (a necessity during the jet lagged week), filling our fridge with groceries, and providing support and encouragement. Our friends who made our home tidy, clean and welcoming (thanks for all the balloons and champagne – might be awhile before enjoying the latter), and also filling our fridge with groceries! You have made the last week home easier and allowed us to focus on Sylvie and helping her to feel secure during this transition. THANK YOU!

I have added some pictures taken this week and a short video of Sylvie walking around the hotel lobby when we were in Beijing. It seems weird posting our own pictures with the blog entry – Thanks to Kim for adding our pictures for us while we were in China!