Royce's Random Thoughts

I love my daughter, that's why I'm not killing her over this...

Georgia is, if not genetically related to me, at the very least close in attitude. We're both packrats. I hate getting rid of stuff. It wasn't until my parents started talking about moving out of their old house that I finally got rid of papers I'd had since kindergarten up in boxes in their attic. I still have comics I collected in my teens, from Marvel's New Universe which aren't even worth the paper they're printed on.

Georgia, if she has a box, a bag, or a purse, will put things in it to store. Toys, books, Legos, interesting rocks. Even she has no intention of playing with it. Even if it's something we nearly threaten her with bodily harm over for grabbing without permission (ie: cheeze from the fridge, or a stack of Sims 2 discs.).

This time around however, she managed to grab five coupon books that came home from Tom's school for a fundraising drive. Admittedly it's our fault for leaving them in reach, but she can't remember where she put them and if we can't find them in a week we're going to be out $100 because we'll have to pay for them ourselves.

Argh.

Over the past few days Georgia has taken to pulling her t-shirt over her head when we get home while she's watching Disney's Robin Hood, leaving the collar stuck around the top of her head like a headband and the rest hanging down the back.

Today I finally realized what she was doing. She's pretending to be Maid Marian. :)

Today we finalized Georgia's adoption in the United States, a necessary step since I didn't go with her to pick her up in China. moonshadowed has posted some pictures in her blog.

The actual event, as Tracy notes, was pretty anti-climactic. We went in, raised our palms and swore to the Master of the Court we were who we said we were and that we hadn't bought Georgia (as opposed to paying a mandatory bribe donation to her orphanage). She agreed to her name change and the rest was history. We were in and out of the coutroom in less than ten minutes. The sherrif's deputy that escorted us noted that it was nice to have a happy family in the courtroom, as opposed to what he usually sees. :)

From here we've got one more visit from the social worker the adoption agency hired, who will write up a report to send back to the Chinese government, confirming Georgia is well cared for. Then we just have to get her citizenship finalized, which ought to be routine (no silly citizenship tests for a 2 1/2 year-old to take!)

Whew!

Life with Georgia has been an exercise in accomidation the past week. Raising Thomas has proven helpful preperation in some ways, but not so much in others. On the plus side, having experience with a (until relatively recently) a largely non-verbal child has prepared us for interpeting Georgia's needs. Right now she only speaks baby-talk Mandrian and sometimes "Mama!" Though Tracy has managed teach her how to sign "Want more!" for when we're feeding her. Otherwise it's all guess work and pointing, but having gone through the same thing with Thomas has been good preperation.

On the other hand, this is our first experience in raising a normal active two-year old. Two year old Thomas tended to... well, bluntly, sit a lot, lost in his own little world. Georgia by comparison is almost constantly in motion, unless she's getting fed in her high chair or sleeping. She's also becoming quite fearless, going from being frightened by the cats to actually chasing them down. She hasn't quite gotten the hang of petting them properly, but hopefully that skill will come before one of them starts nipping at her.

On a personal front, I seem to have become drained creatively. I've hit a wall with The Ship that I can't seem to push myself past. Just the idea of starting on it again seems like trying to shovel molassas. I know it's all head games I'm playing with myself, but I just can't work up the enthusiasm to start again, and I'm afraid if I switch over to writing fanfic again the motivation to finally finish something original will dissapear.

Bah.

moonshadowed and her mom picked little Georgia Grace Qian Ya Day today at 10am Nanjing time and about 10pm Sunday EST. This is the email she just managed to send me.

We have her. she seems to be having some stomach upset (diarhea) and has been pretty miserable because of it. (at least we think that is most of the problem...) we did get a few smiles and laughs out of her at one point....but then she will screw up her face and bawl...then she will be calm...and play..then bawl... a few times she has reached for me to be held. Right now Mom is holding her and she is mostly calm.

and shes like Thom in that she prefers to be walking outside. Her next favorite thing seems to be looking at the picture book I sent in the care package...and the doll baby.

Wierd Factoid: Talking to my mom last night she mentioned little Georgia was found by the police on the same day that her namesake, my grandmother Georgia Easton, was born. By the orphanage's best estimate she was actually born on March 23rd, which just happens to be my birthday. I'm not sure I believe in destiny but WOW.

Edit: Here's a link to Tracy's adoption blog with pictures of her trip. No pics of Georgia up yet, they've had a very tiring day.