Thursday, July 30, 2009

A New Day

On Thursday morning, it was as if someone flipped a switch and our shy and timid little girl came out of her shell.  We started the day with about 15 minutes of constant smiles, giggles and babbling.  By the afternoon, she was clapping her hands, giving us kisses and waving and saying 'bye bye.'  In the days before, she would rather sleep than look at us and would cry if we changed her position on our lap or looked at her wrong.  Now she likes to rip our glasses off of our faces and thinks it's the funniest thing ever.  She had a preference for snuggling up on our shoulders under our chin, but it was more of a way to avoid eye contact with us than anything else.  What a relief to see her little personality start to emerge.  I hate to say it but her lack of interaction with us combined with the assortment of self soothing behaviors that she exhibited in her first few days with us had institutional autism on my mind.  What we were really looking at was one frightened and grieving little girl who was coping in the only way she knew how.  What I see when I look at her now is how brave she is to trust us a little more each day and allow us the privilege of being her parents.

7 comments:

Kim said...

Glad to hear that things are going better..
Love that smile..
Have a great day..
Enjoy every minute and soak it all up..

Lisa said...

Awwww~ I LOVE IT!!! Such a CUTIE!
xo
Lisa

Shannon said...

Yeah! So happy to hear that Meili is getting more and more comfortable and letting her personality shine through! She is such a cutie...love that smile!

Dana said...

Nothing like a smile to "make the world a better place" eh. What a sweet baby. It is so amazing to watch them slowly emerge. Scary and unnerving at times but amazing. Every day is a new discovery. Hope your trip to Guanzhou goes well. Have fun! You are in our prayers. Dana

Luna said...

WHOO-HOO!!! :)

Sherrie said...

Beautiful Girl! Glad she is coming out of her shell.

thinking of you said...

I love that smile, it must have been so amazing to see her finally start to open up to you! Wonderful little cutie!