Lap Feeding Not Encouraged and Other Tid-Bits

Ate lunch at the BNH Hospital yesterday. It took 3 long hours to get Ruby's medical visa done. We were so hungry (and cranky) we just ate in their cafeteria. The hospitals in Bkk are very nice, actually - like a hotel lobby -although a bit slow. Thankfully, we are an I-600 family so she needed no vaccinations. Only a check up and this woman telling me that she is near deaf according to all her records. We tried to convince her that she could hear fine and we were quite certain, but she didn't believe us. She said she can probably make out sounds, but has no comprehension. Okay, how about the fact that she turns around when we call her name? Or that she will repeat us when we say a word? She turns around when she hears a bird or a boat or someone talking loudly behind us? Or dances every time there is music? She is also startled when someone rings the hotel room door bell or when phone rings. After a few days, she figured out the phone will hold an empty box of crackers to her ear and say HEL-LO. I wanted to say, hey, we are her parents and we KNOW her and she can hear! I didn't but it does feel really good to know that we know her so well.  The woman wasn't convinced, and of course, Ruby was scared and completely clammed up. It was only after being there a while that I said Ruby and she turned and then repeated the words I said to her - Mom-my, Dad-dy, Hi, bye-bye. The Dr. looked at us, and was like, oh, okay, she's not deaf. No kidding, lady!

So back to yesterday's lunch. It was not pretty. We have pretty much been spoiling her, but now I am setting some boundries. She is rather possessive about her spoon and fork, but also mine if she can get to them first. It wouldn't be a big deal if she didn't pound, throw them, or use as a weapon! They didn't have a high chair for her and the booth was big so I decided to just sit her on my lap and feed her at the same time. I do not recommend this! She grabbed my big spoon before I could get it and started pounding and flailing her arms around. I tried to nicely take it from her and give her the little one, which resulted in her tugging back and smacking me right in the eye. It was an accident, of course, but I still took the big spoon from her, therefore causing intense screaming the whole way out of the restaurant. It's great to have Thai strangers looking at you like "what are you doing to that poor child?". Uggh. Well, anyway, minutes later it was over and she was a happy child again without a care in the world.  Mommy had won this battle...or did I? By the evening my eye was really hurting and I woke up this morning to find it swollen shut. Ouch. Luckily, you can go to a pharmacy here and just tell them what you need. I got steroid eye drops and the swelling is finally going down. Lesson learned: no lap feeding and clear the big utensils BEFORE sitting down!

Now for the big news...WE HAD OUR BOARD MEETING! It was swelteringly hot in the waiting area, but other than that it was a breeze. We got to meet some fellow adoptive parents and blogging buddies, Nicole & Craig, Liz & Matt, and Kam & Jase with their kiddos. So great to finally meet them and have all of us be there with our little ones! The board itself consisted on 3 ladies who were very nice and had a table full of toys to preoccupy the kids. Ruby immediately worked her charm and picked up every toy one by one and handed it to Daddy all the while snuggling on my lap and giving me kisses. She was really cute in there and on her best behavior. The oldest woman spoke the most. She asked our plan for schooling, if we were happy, how she was doing, and a few other things I don't remember. At the end she thanked us for our kind hearts. She was very dear and we assured her that the thanks was all ours! That our hearts were most grateful to be this little girls parents! As far as Thailand is concerned, she is ours - pending our finalization after home 6 months. Now we just have to clear things with the US Embassy.

Although I love Thailand, I have to admit, I am eager to get home. We bagged the idea of going to Phuket and are thinking of changing our ticket if the paperwork gets done early. It's just too much. We are longing for our own home, our steady routine, and the conveniences we have there. I must say, though, that this experience is a rich one. And for all of us, life at home will be somewhat easy now after the busy schedule and hectic pace. As I told Kam and Nicole out in the hall way...we are gonna be super-parents by the time we get back! I changed Ruby's diaper in a 90 degree bathroom (at least) with no changing area or counter space. I was in high heels, and we both were in our nice dresses for the meeting.  I had to stand her on the sink, gather her ruffles up, and change her while standing...juggling the diaper bag, her, and the diaper while trying not to get either of us dirty. Thank God it wasn't poopy! We came out unscathed with a clean diaper, clean hands and a Mommy that felt (hot) but ready to take on anything!

Mornings and night time are Ruby's best. Probably because the poor kid gets some consistency there. Days are sometimes at the pool and follow a routine and then others (like the last few) are filled with running around Bangkok to office buildings. It's got to be so hard on her not to mention boring! She doesn't miss a trick and now digs in my bag of tricks to see what is in there to her liking. LOL. We've blown through the mum-mum crackers and had to stock up on some local snacks to fill her voracious appetite and for the plane ride home. I have no idea how that is gonna go. Could be a LONG one! Wish us luck!

We went to the USCIS (immigration) office today. They were very nice, but said we needed the birth certificate re-sent because her birth year was not on it. We also needed something fixed with the translation. We were able to call Nuanthip and between her and the woman at Zenith, it was all taken care of today. Yay! Now we just wait for them to call us and say it's done. Ruby was over-tired and acting up a bit this afternoon when we went to the translation place. The woman at Zenith is great. We love her! She saw Ruby acting up and she gave us some good advice and told Ruby something in Thai about being a good girl. Ruby pouted and ran to me, but didn't cry. I asked her what she said and she said, "I just told her to be good for you." So I asked her to teach me a few Thai phrases and right them down phonetically for me. She taught me how to say: be a good girl, if you throw your toys you can not play with them right now, let Mommy show you/teach you, be careful (so she doesn't fall trip or hurt herself or me), etc. You should have seen the wide eyed look on her face as we were discussing it - looking from her to me as I was repeating the phrases. So funny. I swear she knew her jig was up! Like uh-oh, Mommy knows Thai and how to say that now! She also taught me how to say "naughty" and Ruby giggled. Oh my. But I'll tell you what, she was a changed little girl this evening. I would give her a stern face when acting up and she'd stop right away. At one point I ran and grabbed the paper and repeated it. She tried to take the paper and I laughed and said, oh no, this is MOMMY'S!!! She laughed and that was it. Ate like and angel. Would start to protest if I wanted to help, then she' stop and think about it and hand me the spoon. I need to go hang out at the translation place more often! Or just study more Thai! Maybe she has been so frustrated by the language barrier. Or maybe she just needed a little bit more guidance. Or naps. God knows, the child has not had enough naps the last 2 days. Either way, I feel we had a little breakthrough. The last couple days were a bit rough. The heat and running got to us all. 

It was good to have a nice, enjoyable evening together at the hotel. We ordered room service and ate out on the patio. It was a nice evening and Ruby loved her pasta. We tried some spaghetti last night and she really liked it so we got it again tonight. I had a ravioli stufffed with spinach in a sage butter sauce. She looked at it curiously so I gave her a bite. LOVED it! I gave her lots of little spinach bites and she kept asking for more! She says "mum!" which means MORE! Then Jeff had a vegetable lasagna and she ate some veggies from that too. Was not a fan of the cheese though. Spit it out. The girl likes healthy food! Can't knock that! Anyway, it was such a nice night. She was so silly and cute and we love her dearly. Really, when you see that face light up it really makes the melt down moments seem like nothing. She's a toddler. A toddler that has dealt with a whole lot of change this last week. And she is so lovey and sweet it just melts my heart. She's picking up more of the dance moves on the Thai video we bought. It was adorable!!! You should have seen her and Jeff dancing. LOL. I wish I could have grabbed the video camera fast enough. Really cute moments. She is bonding with him more and more and he even got to hold her and give her the bottle last night. This is MAJOR as it usually can only be me. I was so happy for him to be able to experience her night time snuggleness!

Our angel is now back (thank God) and sleeping peacefully. Tomorrow we don't have any running around so that will be a relief for all of us. 

Love from Thailand!!!

Jen, Jeff, & Ruby