Times They are a Changin' - China Day 8

today was a welcome reprieve from being jostled around to and fro, hither and yon as there was absolutely nothing scheduled for us today and it was nice to settle into a much needed routine. and whilst I was whiling away the hours conferrin with my flower (Poppi, for those of you who didn't catch that) I had time to reflect on the last eight topsy turvy days.

A little about my girls:

• It occurred to me that I never formally introduced my girls by name to my legions of loyal followers. in the picture in the previous post Poppi is on the left and Zoe is on the right.
• When they were placed in our arms neither of them made a sound and were very quiet the entire time we were at the civil affairs office.
• When we arrived back at the hotel clearly they were in shock but slowly little bits of their personalities began to emerge.
• Zoe has the attention span of a rocket scientist. she will sit for quite a long time and study a toy, a shoe, a partially painted red toenail, whatever catches her eye; she fascinates me. she is so tiny; some call babies peanuts, she's more like a pistachio. it took her all of 1 second to capture our hearts; she is easy going and is happy laughing at her goofy, helicopter parents. She likes to fold herself in half and fall asleep. She also likes to have her face caressed. everyday we see her gaining strength and hitting milestone after milestone. she is beautiful.
  
• Poppi likes to hold our hands when she plays she is very sensitive and mild mannered. She was the first to show us her skills as a crawler and has improved mightily from the first time she wobbled her way to Daddy crying all the while. she loves her Daddy and mommy is an added bonus for now. She is very quiet but loves a good belly laugh. she is most likely to be affected if our schedule is off; she is the Queen and we are her subjects. her eyes are even more beautiful in person.
  
• both girls were given washcloths as security blankets (a debt of gratitude to Shannon for letting me in on this very important factor as i am sure the transition would have been much more traumatic without them). The second they were placed in their tiny little frightened grip their angst was eased and the trust began. sometimes they share their lovies and sometimes they steal them from one another and other times they hold the same one at both ends they are tender with each other.
• Daddy is a cirque du soleil for their senses. He teaches them songs from his repertoire which includes Stayin Alive, Chittibang Bang, and the very popular Rock Me I'm a Danish (sung to the tune of rock me ammadeus) he makes them giggles, gives them warm baths and makes sure the poop patrol is always on duty.
• Mommy is their soother of scared awakenings, caresser and wiper of drool.
  

We both know we have miles to go before we sleep, but that's ok. We are grateful for the chance to be in the presence of such priceless gifts.