Day 8 of 15 Day Bonding Period

We are now officially past the halfway point of the bonding period. So what does that mean - we still have a long long way to go before we are home.

As you see, it did snow some last night, and it continued to flurry off and on for much of the day. While the total amount of snow has not been much, because it rained first yesterday, the roads were at first slushy, and now most paved surfaces are compact sheets of ice/snow. Traffic was very slow going and we saw numerous cars slipping, sliding, and even a few spinning.

As you can see in the photos today, little Aitugan loves to make faces and if you could hear them, most have correspondingly funny sounds associated with them. She is still sniffly and congested in her chest, and has a cute little cough, though we are learning that cute or not, a cough is a cough.

KJ has already begun her cold cycle and as of today I am beginning to feel it coming on in my head and the back of my eyes. Hopefully it will pass quickly.

After our visit today we went with our coordinator Dina to get some more clothes for Aitugan, for as you can see in the photo above, the pants we bought for her were a little long.

The Baby House of course has lots of clothes for the children, but adoptive families are encouraged to bring clothes for their child. Aitugan now has a bag of outfits we have brought for her. They are kept with her things, and when we go in to pick her up for our visits, one of her caregivers changes her diaper and puts her into one of her outfits.

We have also had several requests from the Baby House for care items such as diapers, rash cream, and most recently a medicated throat spray. In talking with the other families in our play group, we hear that the requests continue to come in quite steadily, though this certainly seems understandable and does not feel in any way outrageous.

Hard to believe that it was just a week ago that we first held Aitugan. Harder still to believe that it was 14 months ago that we began this process. We always knew that there would come a time when we the months of waiting would begin to fade, but never imagined how quickly everything could be forgotten. It really is as quick as that first smile.

Hang in there families who are now awaiting their first smile. It will come soon enough, and the feelings and emotions will both validate and alleviate the hardship that came before. Take Care.