Second Day

Ellie slept through her first night beautifully. she is sleeping beautifully now (as is Karen.) We did not take very many pictures yesterday; it was a runaround day. We started at the registration office, completing Ellie's adoption paperwork, making her officially ours in the records of the PRC. Then we went to the provincial capitol to have some documents notarized; then, to what I suppose was a federal building to have Ellie's passport photo taken. Our CCAI rep, Evelyn, got us through all this with amazing efficiency. It didn't hurt to have such a small adoption group - five families - and the Chinese civil servants were efficient, too.

After a brief rest at the hotel we went to Walmart, for "baby supplies." In our case these included juice, crackers, water, medicine (for me - I have a cold,) diapers, various toys, and a stroller.

Ellie was a trouper all day. I would not say she has bonded to us yet, but she has certainly become attached. Once or twice over the course of the day either Karen or I drifted out of sight for a moment and she became upset. So far she is a very shy and quiet child. She doesn't cry, but we can't get her to smile. She notices everything but doesn't try to be noticed. She likes to eat: rice, fruit, eggs, Cheerios, goldfish, cookies. At first she only took food when we fed her but by the end of the day we had her feeding herself. She became pretty active during the bus ride to Walmart, singing and talking to herself, and she walked along with us in the store. So we are coming along.