A Little More about our Zoe

I thought I would tell you a little about Zoe. I know most of you know the basics, but maybe I can tell you a little bit more of what we are learning about her.

Zoe has a ready smile. She smiles often at us, especially when she is playing.  She has the cutest little giggle and will giggle at different things we do. She started giggling today when I was throwing kisses to her across the counter at the pearl market. (Noah was holding her at the time).

Zoe is an easy child.  She rarely demands your attention and will entertain herself. She will lie in her crib and hardly make a sound (unless she is awake and doesn't want to go to sleep, then she will get up and play in the crib). She is totally different from Kayleigh. Kayleigh is extremely high maintenance, and although she has adjusted well, she is still clingy to me and wants me to do a lot of things for her.  Zoe will let any of us hold her or play with her, although we are very careful that only Jeff and I do the personal things - feed her, change her, bathe her, etc.

 

She is beginning to reach for me specifically a little more often. I think she is beginning to recognize that we are her parents. Her only grieving came in the form of emotional shut down the first couple of days, but since then, she has not really looked back. I was prepared for a child who was going to grieve deeply over leaving her foster mother, but the foster mother grieved more than Zoe did.

She can take little steps if we hold her hands and help her a little. Today, that little stinker stood up in her crib while I was lying next to Kayleigh trying to get her down for nap.  Zoe did not want to take a nap, and so she got up and played. We still have a loooooonnnnnnggggg way to go before she is mobile, but it's a start. She is still very shaky in standing up and walking, so we will have to do some things to strengthen her little leg muscles.

Sorry! Don't have any pictures of her trying to walk, but I do have this one of the two cutest little girls wearing their Christmas shirts. :)

I think I have already told you that she refuses to take solid food.  We keep trying, but she is usually successful in spitting it out, although I keep putting it back in. She also will not drink anything but her bottle of formula. She will not let me hold the bottle for her. She keeps a firm grip on it the entire time. Until just a day or so ago, she guzzled the thing in about 3 minutes flat. She has slowed down and sometimes won't even finish the entire bottle. We are having to give her water with a medicine syringe, and she cries and fights us the entire time.

She still hates the bath, although we have seen a teeny tiny improvement since the first and second time.  We keep giving them to her and she keeps crying, but we know it will get better eventually. She doesn't like to be naked, either. She does not like it when you take her bottoms off to change her diaper... probably because she thinks she is about to get a bath.


She does not like to be put in the baby carrier on my chest. Why? Because she wants to SEE what is going on and be able to look around. She is very interested in what is going on around her. She will watch and follow things, especially when we are out and about.

As I said earlier, she entertains herself easily and plays easily, but we have a long way to go in that area as well. Her version of entertaining herself and playing is to rub things with her two little fingers on her bad hand. We have taught her how to press the buttons on the little phone, and she will do that some of the time. We are working on stacking the cups and rolling the cars and other simple tasks.

Although I have no way of knowing for certain and I know there are major issues we will have to deal with when we get home, I have a sense that perhaps the foster mother spoiled her. There was apparently another toddler in the home with Zoe. I think when Zoe didn't want to do something, the foster mother didn't force the issue. If Zoe didn't want to eat solid food, then the foster mother didn't give it to her. If she didn't want to take a bath, the foster mother didn't give her one.  So, I believe that some of what we are dealing with is Zoe getting her way (she is so darn cute, it is hard not to give in :) ). Fortunately for her, we aren't going to give in so easily. We have months and months of catching up to do, and we hope we have already started that for her here in China.

I am sure we will continue to learn more and more about her in the coming days, weeks, and months, but I know one thing for sure.... we love her!