Gotcha Day For Tess

We finished up the adoption paperwork for Piper on Tuesday morning. Piper was still in very high spirits -- code for very wild. She literally was running from one thing to another just grabbing and banging. But, she did seem to want to please me. She would look at me and smile and run and hug me then go back to running around the room. She couldn't seem to calm herself down enough to color in the coloring book I brought or play with any of the toys. But, she went everywhere we had to go very cheerfully and willing.

As soon as the paperwork was done we flew out of Piper's province for Tess's. We got to our hotel around 6:30 pm and we were told Tess would be there at  6:45. We were quite surprised. We had been told we would meet her on Wednesday morning. She arrived on time with several women. They gave us a photo book of her and her orphanage which was very nice. They also gave us a book about her orphanage and a small photo book that had some money in it that Tess had earned from making crafts and selling them. I thought that very nice and unusual that she had done that. She was very quiet when she arrived and sat in the bed looking at books and opening a toy they had sent with her. She actually seemed to calm Piper down a little. Tess was so very quiet it was a shock after Piper.

She never cried and when they left she quietly said goodbye. Then she and Piper played a little which was so very nice as Piper had not sat still since we got her. They colored and looked at a few books and then got ready for bed. Tess had actually come with her pj's under her clothes so she just took off her pants and shirt and was ready for bed. She went to bed fine, but within a few minutes we could hear her sniffing and we realized she had hidden her face and was crying. She would not let us see her cry. I got in bed next to her and held her and she softly cried and never looked at me. She fell asleep in about 10 to 15 minutes and slept all night.

The next morning there was a different child here. She was no longer that quiet little girl. Nope. She was up and chasing Piper and running around the room with her and yelling and laughing. Where did that quiet little girl go? The good thing is that now that Piper has Tess she has actually calmed down a little and will color for ten or fifteen minutes. She will sit and watch a little TV and have her snack. It is nice. They seem to like each other quite a bit.