The Homecoming

Poor Gracie Mei had never been in a car seat and was pretty traumatized to be strapped in. Aunt Linda picked us up from the airport and heard a lot of crying on the way home! She slept though until we pulled into our drive. I was a complete mess by that point. Rob held Grace and the kids tackled us on the front porch. We all sat there hugging and sobbing. Never again will I be away from them for that long (15 days) until they leave me! Grace came inside and pretty quickly got down and ran around the fireplace to play peek-a-boo. She was laughing with the kids and playing with toys. My parents gave her space which I am sure was hard for the to do! The kids were so excited about her and Cole kept asking when she could come to his school to meet his class. Julia was super ready to have a little sister and Cody kept saying "Hi Gracie Mei". It was all going so much better than I had anticipated.
Sleep would be tough for the next several days. We were trying to get over a 12 hour time difference. Rob continues to be amazing with Grace. She goes to sleep for him much better than she does for me. We had grandparents only visiting which helped Grace not feel anxious. She was not comfortable with commotion other than kid commotion=) She did not quite know how to interact with people she did not know. She wanted to play with them but would throw a toy at them so she would not have to get to close. Or she would just start kind of "acting out" throwing things or flopping herself on the ground when new people were around. She still struggled a great deal with nap time and bed time the first week home although it was improving quite a bit thanks to Rob's hard work. We have a Chinese friend who came over and talked to her again about what was going on. We gave Grace a photo album of all of us and her new home. She loves it. We put a picture of Grace and her foster mother and father in the album then a picture of Rob and I and Grace with her foster mother the day we adopted her and finally a picture of just Rob and I and Grace. This 3 photo story so to speak was an idea I got from a book I had read before we left. I think it is really helping Grace with her grief. She at times takes the adoption day picture out of the book and pretends to rip it up. She never does though but keeps putting it in and out. I am sure that day was so tough for her. She absolutely loves the picture of Rob and I with her in her new house. She kisses it and gets so excited about it. We are surely making a lot of progress in a short time. It is amazing the way kids adapt.