Okay, I'm sure there's a way to turn these pictures around, but they were saved as Read Only, and I can't figure it out.
That said, here are the photos we received last week! I esp love the second one, where you can see her reflection. She seems so calm. A calm toddler? I love, too, that you get more of a sense of her face than the mug shot.
I'm going to post about attachment. As w/Josie, we're going to do attachment parenting. This means that only John or I (and sometimes Josie) will hold and care for Gemma YingLian during her first few months w/us. This includes feeding, changing, rocking, and all the other wonderful bonding activities that parents and children do.
We will be somewhat hermetic in our home at times. It is winter, of course, so that's not unnatural. But we're also going to avoid too much stimulation for Gemma YingLian and focus on becoming a family of four. We won't take her to places that are esp. loud or crowded or might be disorienting (WalMart...).
We're taking this approach because Gemma YingLian will not understand the idea of parents. She will be familiar w/caretakers who are interchangeable, who make sure she has what she needs then move on to other children. When we care for her initially, she may think we're her newest set of caretakers.
Families, though, are quite different than institutional caretakers, even the finest institutional caretakers. We'll be her forever family. It will take her a while to understand that. By being the people who consistently meet her needs, we will help her see what a family is.
I know that for some people, not being affectionate or offering treats to a cute little toddler is antithetical; we experienced this w/Josie, and sometimes had to back off for a bit bc our priority was Josie. One of the most important elements of our new family is to help Gemma YingLian to bond to us AS parents, as a sister.
As time goes on and our new daughter understands what parents are, we can be more open about letting others hold her or feed her.
The six-yr old next door has apparently been drilled on this topic by Josie, and she gives a great, abbreviated explanation.
We may get one more set of pix before we go.
