Hello everyone! Hope you are all enjoying your summer. We are having a great summer so far. We just went to Pennsylvania for a week, on a camping trip. We stayed at a cute place, called Lake-in-Wood Camping Resort, right in the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch Country.

We weren't sure how Abby would respond to camping life in the popup, but she LOVED it. In fact, her favorite thing to do was to climb up onto the bunk wing and roll off onto the bed below, and crawl back up to do it again and again.....endless entertainment! Not to mention that her PT would have been proud to see all that climbing. We sure were! :)

And Emily had a great time, too. Her favorite things about the trip were visiting Dutch Wonderland Amusement Park, having campfires, eating s'mores, and OF COURSE whoopie pies (which you can only find in Pennsylvania)...yummmmm....She liked the whoopie pies so much that she even made up a song about them...an ode to the whoopie pie, as sung by a 4 year old. :)

We tied this trip into an informal reunion with some of my college friends. We met up at the college, with all of our kids in tow. It was so nice to introduce Abby to everyone. And it was great to see Elizabethtown again, and to see all that has changed (which is a lot) and all that has remained the same (which was, in it's own way, comforting). I sincerely love my college friends, and am so grateful that we have continued to keep in touch throughout the years, making a point of getting together at least once a year. I think we are even thinking about a group camping trip to Knoebel's for next year. Should be fun.

Anyway, here are some pictures from our camping trip. Our campground had a gnome theme, which explains a couple of the pictures. Anyway, enjoy! :)

The pictures in the last post were at my parent's house. Here is a bonus picture. It was taken at our house, in the playroom, with the girls at Emily's art desk. Emily is quite the artist, always working on something new. After she is done with her latest masterpiece, she tapes her work up on the wall. Then we have walk-through art exhibits, usually videotaped, where she interprets her art work for us, as some of it is definitely abstract. :)

Hello everyone! I know, I know, it's been too long! We've just been busy, enjoying our newly expanded family. Abby is doing GREAT! Physically, she has made so many new milestones and will be caught up to her peers before we know it. Her latest feat.....climbing the stairs! And quickly! Now that she has accomplished this, it is all she wants to do.

For the 4th of July weekend, we went up to my parents' summer place in Vermont. Their house is on a lake, and the girls had a fantastic time swimming and playing in the sand on the little beach. In fact, Emily enjoyed the water so much that we thought she was going to turn into a fish, sometimes staying in the water for 7 hours at a time, only coming out for the occasional meal or snack.

The following Tuesday, Mike, Abby and I came home and Emily stayed behind with her grandparents for a week of bonding with Grandma and Pop Pop. She was so excited, but it was hard for us, since we had never been separated from her for more than a day. Anyway, she had a wonderful time...something she will never forget. And it was good for us too, as we had never had time alone with just Abby. And the week of just the two of us with Abby really helped her bond even more closely with the her Mommy and Daddy.

Abby's therapies finally started this week, and she has been doing great! The PT is amazed by how quickly she is catching up, and says that Abby is very motivated to learn. She is also quite the daredevil, and likes to show off. (i.e. the PT will ask her to do something, and Abby will do it...only head first at top speed and with no hands! Aaaggghhh!) The speech therapist has been teaching her (and us) some baby sign language to help ease her transition into the English language, and Abby seems to be picking that up quickly. There's no doubt about it...she is VERY smart and the wheels are always turning. We call her our "Chinese firecracker". She is so funny, but definitely has a spitfire personality. Sounds like another little girl we know. :) :)

Anyway, I will be posting some pictures from the past couple of weeks.

Princess Abby....


Abby wears her sandwich well...



More Abby...



Artist Emily.....



Emily the Fish....



Emily and Pop Pop on the hammock...

Hello all! This week, Abby had some more medical tests. On Saturday, she needed to get bloodwork done, since she hadn't had any bloodwork done yet here in the states. OMG!!! It was HORRIBLE! She has teeny tiny little veins and any time she would squirm at all, they would lose the vein and have to start over! :(

Then today we had Abby's follow-up appointment with the neurologist. So the results are in and...............drumroll please....................Everthing is NORMAL. Abby has a good, healthy brain. She doesn't appear to have a seizure disorder. Apparently, the seizure was a one time fluke. The neurologist said that small children can have a seizure even when there is no seizure disorder...from a fever or from other "triggers". Hooray!

So Abby had her PT evaluation yesterday. It went pretty well, but he thinks (as do I) that she can definitely benefit from OT. He said she will probably totally catch up to her peers within a very short period of time. Sounds good. :)

The speech therapist and teacher that came on Wednesday were also really nice. The teacher was a native Chinese (Mandarin) speaker, which helped in getting a better picture of Abby's verbal skills. It turns out that she's been using quite a few Mandarin phrases/ requests that we did not understand, such as "Pick me up." and "I want to take this." The speech therapist said that Abby's receptive skills are good and she can follow verbal directions in English quite well, but speech therapy will help her to catch up to her peers with her speaking skills.

Emily's also doing great. She had her dance recital a couple of weeks ago and had a great time (though she has decided she would rather try a different activity next school year, instead of dance class). I was sort of sad about this, but for totally selfish reasons. She looked adorable up on that stage. But I won't force her into anything. Right now she seems interested in either karate or gymnastics, so we will likely try one of these out.

I am posting some recent pictures of the girls and Emily's recital (below).

Hello everyone! Sorry I’ve been such a slacker with this blog lately, but things have been really busy!!! The jet lag is long gone and we have definitely settled into our routine. I had no idea how much of an adjustment it would be going from a one child family to a two child family. Abby is on the move….ALL THE TIME! :) :) I think I forgot how energetic toddlers are! But things have been great! Emily’s been such a great sister and the sibling jealousy episodes have been few and far between. Emily loves to help with everything and one day pronounced to me “I am sooooo happy. I LOVE having a baby sister in the house!”

As for Abby, she is making incredible gains each day. Yesterday,Abby was evaluated by both a speech therapist and an EI teacher (to get an overall developmental assessment). This afternoon, the physical therapist comes to do his evaluation.

On Tuesday, Abby had her MRI- which went smoothly. She had to be put under general anesthesia, which wasn’t fun (as Abby HATED the I.V. and fought with everything she had), but we made it through. Last night, we got the results back (the neurologist called), and it turns out that her brain looks NORMAL!!!!! The only thing they saw is called benign external hydrocephalus. Basically, there is a little bit of extra fluid in her skull. The neurologist said that this usually resolves on its own by about 2-3 years of age....and that this is no cause for concern/ is fairly common. No intervention necessary. They will just do check ups on her, from time to time. Whew!!! Sometimes kids with this are prone to seizure, but it could be that once this fluid goes away, she will never have another seizure again. Well, I guess we'll have a better idea after the EEG.

As for her progress, I have to laugh…because since requesting her early intervention evaluations 3 weeks ago, Abby has met many of her developmental milestones on fast-forward. By the time the therapy is set up, she might not need it anymore. LOL!

Today Abby (at 21 months):
-Crawls by herself
-Independently moves from lying down to sitting AND sitting to standing
-Has good sitting balance
-Walks by herself (no support), forwards, backwards , side to side, in circles, etc
-multitasks (walks while doing something else…i.e. playing with toy, clapping hands, etc)
-Can bend over (from standing position) to pick up object from floor without losing balance
-Can drink from cup, bottle, straw, sippy cup etc.
-Can feed self finger foods
-Is trying to climb onto furniture
-And when she does fall (which is becoming rarer all the time), she knows how to fall on her butt or knees (appropriately), and can usually even catch herself and regain balance
-pushes rolling objects while standing (doll strollers or play shopping carts, etc)
-Is trying to walk up stairs

It is AMAZING. She has done met YEAR’S worth of milestones in the past few weeks. I am so excited to see what a few more weeks will bring…..maybe cartwheels or headstands? Heehee. :)

We are home (our flight came in at 10:30 pm on Wednesday, but by the time we got home and settled in, it was 2 am Thursday by the time we got to bed). Boy did it feel good to finally be on solid ground after 20 something hours in the air! I think it will be a while before we decide to get on another plane again, for anything.

We are soooooooooooooo jetlagged. It is unbelievable! I felt drugged all day...couldn't string a coherent sentence together.... and now here I am, at 1:30 am on Saturday, as wide awake and wired as can be. I figured that while I'm awake, I might as well add some more photos of the sights we saw it Guangzhou (our favorite locale during our adoption trip). We will definitely go back to Guangzhou (or "Canton", as we Westerners know it)....just no time soon...heehee. As mentioned above, it will probably take quite a while to get over such a long plane ride...or to even want to think about getting on a plane again.

Guangzhou has always been a popular home for artists. We saw art and sculptures all over Shamian Island in Guangzhou (where we were staying). Here are some examples:




There were beautiful gardens all around, like this one:



And beautiful buildings everwhere:





I hate to admit it, but after 10 plus days of withdrawal, we broke down and visited the local Starbucks. But it was a really nice Starbucks....unfortunately, just as expensive as in the States. Grrr...



But, staying in a 5 star hotel didn't hurt either. Here is a picture of the inside of our hotel...the White Swan Hotel. There was a beautiful waterfall inside with koi ponds below. Emily and Abby both loved looking at all the fish, and the sound of the waterfall was soooo peaceful:


Aaagghh. I miss Guangzhou!!!

Hello everyone! This will be our last post from China, as we are leaving for the U.S. early in the morning..............really early (leaving the hotel at 5:45 am China time)....yikes!

Anyway, on Monday I spent 3 hours in a meeting with our group (led by our guide, Connie), gathering, reviewing and filling out paperwork needed for our consulate appointment. By the time the meeting was over, we were STARVING. We, along with of our friends from the group- Kim, John and their kids Sebastian and Naomi (Emily's best friend here) decided to try out a local Thai restaurant for dinner. It was EXCELLENT and we really had a great time.

Yesterday, Tuesday, was a pretty low-key day. It was the day of our consulate appointment. Connie took all of our paperwork (completed on Monday) and went to the consulate interview/ appointment on our behalf...so we were not required to go. However, we needed to stay in the hotel room from 10-1:00, just in case the consulate had any questions and needed to call. We took that opportunity to start packing for our trip home Wednesday (although, admittedly, we were not that productive)...heehee. We spent most of the time watching Chinese VH1/MTV equivalents and Chinese soap operas. In the evening (at 5:45), we met up with some of the group and went for a dinner cruise on the Pearl River. The ride was AMAZING. All the buildings along the river are lit up beautifully at night and there are lights along either side of the river, leading the way. It really was a beautiful cruise and a beautiful night. We had a great time with all of our new friends. There was music playing inside the boat and Emily and Naomi spent a good part of the ride running around the boat doing their own interpretive dance. Abby seemed to enjoy herself too, although she had a few cranky moments, as she is teething (getting a couple of molars)...but overall, she had a great time and spent most of the ride practicing her walking....first holding on to one finger on each of my hands, then letting go and just standing by herself (but making sure that Mommy stayed nearby). There was a cooler filled with ice cream novelties, and Abby kept running over to it and staring at the big picture of an ice cream cone on the side of the cooler. After the cruise, since none of us really ate anything, we were starving and decided as a group to go out for ice cream. There is a little deli/ shop next door to our hotel that sells homemade ice cream....really smooth and DELICIOUS...like gelato. We ordered 3 cones, one each for Mike, Emily and me.....I really should have ordered an extra for Abby, as she ate three quarters of my ice cream. Did we mention that Abby has a ravenous appetite.....? This kid eats more than Emily and I do combined. When we first met her a week ago, she had obviously been taken care of, but was the first baby we ever saw with ZERO fat on her at all. Now, only 9 1/2 days later, after many good-sized meals, while she is still small, we have nicknamed her our "happy Buddha". The "happy Buddhas" are the ones with the cute round bellies. :)

Anyway, last night, we stayed out with the group til about 10:30 or so, before returning to our rooms. I don't know if it was the ice cream or what, but Abby was WIRED! She just kept cruising in circles, giggling and walking laps around our bed until she finally conked out after midnight.

Today, was our infamous "red couch photo" and a trip to the US consulate for our "swearing in ceremony". This was it. Our last adoption step. Abby has her visa to enter the US and we are all set to come home. While we are happy to return home, we do feel a bit sad about leaving Abby's homeland. We have had such an amazing journey here...a truly incredible experience....and it is a bit sad to leave. We know that this adoption is a happy thing...that we have gained so much and are so lucky to have this beautful new daughter, and that on the flip side, Abby has now been united with her "forever family". However, we do get sad when we think that she is leaving behind this country when we board that plane for the U.S....her culture and her native language which will leave her all too quickly.

Abby fits into our family so well. It's like she has always been with us. "Adopted" or "biological" doesn't matter. She is ours, plain and simple , and she has already brought so much joy to our lives. We look forward to watching her grow up.

We will be leaving for the US really early in the morning tomorrow (Wednesday), so this is our last travel posting. However, we will keep this blog going after we come home, with regular updates on the life and times of our family post-adoption. See you all soon!!!!!! :)

Pictures taken on the Pearl River dinner cruise:

Our "red couch photo". Some of the kiddos from our group are missing from the picture, as not everyone liked the red couch. It is a tradition of adoptive families staying at the White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou to have a photo taken of the groups' children on the red couch...for good luck, as red is a lucky color in China.

And here is a photo of our travel group:

We are fine! No effects from the earthquake at all here in Guangzhou. I will post more updates from our trip after breakfast. Thanks for all of your concern. It means a lot to us, but it seems as though our area of China was the only area NOT affected by the earthquake. We didn't even know about the earthquake until we watched the news. Our hearts really do go out to all those affected, though, and we count ourselves as very fortunate.

Like father, like daughter. We both spill things when we eat!

Reunited!




Sisters

Happy Mother's Day

Under an ancient Banyan tree

I'm having too much fun to go to sleep!

The last few days have been crazy. Our plane ride out of Nanchang was delayed for two hours due to storms AFTER we boarded the plane. Needless to say, Abby was very scared and cranky since she had never been on a plane before. Actually, I was quite cranky too since, as you know, I am not very good about sitting still. Arriving in Guangzhou brought a great sense of peace when we met up with our new guide Connie and the other families. The following day, after passing out in the hotel room, we had a long series of appointments with doctors who had to verify that our children were healthy enough to travel back to America with us. This was very stressful because the doctors were considering having Abby stay in China longer because she does not walk as much as the typical child her age. Luckily, Connie was able to explain to them that we understood this before we adopted her and were planning on making sure that she would have plenty of physical therapy when we returned home.


The rest of the day, after a great deal of sleep, was very peaceful, yet strange. No matter what city in China families meet up with their new children, all families must stay in Guangzhou before they can return home. As a result, out of the 28 floors in the White Swan Hotel, almost every room is filled with adoptive families from the U.S. So, here we are on the other side of the world, in a completely different culture, and yet I have heard English spoken more than Chinese. This city is 2,000 years old and yet is unbelievably clean, modern, and just plain beautiful, full of gardens. I'll take some pictures tonight or tomorrow. Nightime was fun as we had a little time to walk through the markets. We picked up a pair of "sqeaky shoes" for Abby--shoes that squeak whenever you step down. She loves them and is now stomping just to hear the sound when we practice walking with her. Afterwards, most of us met up at "Lucy's American Diner"--I have been very good at sampling as much local food as possible, but I must admit that it was quite refreshing to have a good old American cheeseburger.

Emily the Celebrity. There were a number of students learning English walking around the streets of Guangzhou with their teachers. They would walk up to us, practice their English, and ask us to write our names in their autograph books. Emily was their favorite. They then sang some really cute songs for us using the words they had learned.

This tower behind me had nine floors, symbolizing the nine levels of Buddhism.

Other than meeting Abby for the first time, our trip to a Buddhist temple was a highlight for us. It is a tradition for adoptive families to go to this temple and have their babies blessed by a Buddhist monk. Connie explained to us that about 80% of China practices a form of Buddhism. Even though our family is not Buddhist, I was very moved by the ceremony, and despite things looking so different from our own religion, I noticed many similarities in terms of the intentions of the people. As I listened to the monk's musical chant, I felt peace for the first time in a few days. Hopefully this peace will carry through to tomorrow. Right now Mrs. D is at a meeting filling out paperwork for Abby's visa (since no one can read my handwriting) and tomorrow is an interview with the American consulate. See you soon. . .

~Posted By Mike

Yesterday, Thursday 5/8/08 was a pretty low-key day. We had breakfast at the hotel's buffet and met our guide Monica in the lobby at 10 am. She hailed a cab for the five of us and it took us to the local Wal Mart. I needed to get new pants as I ruined several pairs. I tried hand washing some of my clothes and one of my pairs of capris (which was blue) had dye that bled all over my khaki pants and capris....grrr.... So I went to Walmart and got my "big fat American" pants...heeehheee. That's what I call them, because I am an American size 8 in pants, which is considered XLhere. Anything size 10 and up is "plus-sized". Not too good for the ego, but that's ok. We also picked up a couple of bibs for Abby. Anyway, the Walmart is fun and HUGE....3 floors....with some merchandise unique to here (i.e. plastic training "squatty potties" for toddlers, as opposed to western-style, different foods, a huge rice steamer/ wok section, etc, and an entire grocery floor. I know little things excite us, but they had an escalator that, instead of being like stairs, was more like a hill/ arch that you could take your cart on with you....with merchandise displays on either side of the escalator handrails, so you could add items to your cart on your descent.

After the Walmart, Monica led us (by foot) to a porcelain shop. Jiangxi province is famous world-wide for its porcelain. We bought two teasets (one for Abby and one for Emily). They were both handcrafted and BEAUTIFUL. Emily has expensive/ upper crust taste and chose the pattern which was a personal favorite of Chairman Mao. For Abby, we bought a teaset which is blue and white with all of this intricate detail which is made using a technique only found here. It was important to us that, since she is from this province, she should have a momento from here which can't be found anywhere else in the world.

After shopping, we took a cab back to the hotel, dropped our stuff off in the room and went out to lunch with Monica. She has been such a great guide, so we told her we would take her out to eat. She was very resistive at first (not wanting to impose), but we insisted. She took us to a popular local restaurant. The place was giant (3 huge floors in this restaurant) with something like a 60 page menu. Everything was served family style and the food was GREAT! So much better and so much more authentic than the food in the hotel. This province is known to be one of the three spicy provinces in China (the 3 are Jiangxi- here-, Hunan and Sichuan.) They use a lot of red chile peppers here. Monica ordered 5 dishes for us which were all great: Spicy beef (with a hot dipping sauce), pork (which was more of a sweet bacon)...came with a hot sauce to dip in, green beans with chiles and garlic, dumplings (which were a cross between wontons and potstickers....looked like wontons, but had more of a vegetable potsticker interior), and an egg dish, kind of like a big omelet with mushrooms (I swear Abby ate half of the pork and eggs....she has quite the healthy appetite). Yes, Abby likes to EAT and I can't feed her quickly enough. It was pretty hysterical, really. While still chewing, as I was cutting/ putting food on a spoon for her, she would reach over almost in a panic, grab my whole arm and bring my arm with the spoon to her mouth and shovel it all in. I couldn't keep up with her pace. One of her favorite foods here, which we've been pushing a lot to hydrate her (since she doesn't drink) is pronounced "she- gwa"....(watermelon). Emily also said "I love she gwa. She gwa is my favorite." So cute. Anyway, they served lots of she gwa at the restaurant, so that was good.

After lunch, we returned to the hotel and started packing up for our flight to Guanzhou (Friday), while the girls napped. At 3:30, Monica stopped by with Abby's notary documents (which we will bring with us to the consulate). Tomorrow Monica will be picking up Abby's passport for us, and then we will fly to Guanzhou to meet up again with the rest of our travel group (and all of their new additions). Emily can't wait to see her friend Naomi again. :)

Today was such a great day with Abby. She and I (mom) really had some nice bonding moments. She kept wanting for me to pick her up and she would nuzzle her head into me. I would kiss her on the forehead and she would keep putting her head near my mouth to be kissed. She also kept sticking her hands through my shirt arm holes while I was holding her and would rest her head on my shoulders. Also, in her crib she likes sticking her legs up in the air and resting her feet on the side of the crib. I will then tickle whichever foot is up in the air. She then giggles, takes her foot away and then puts it back up to be tickled again. Very cute...and she has the most infectious little laugh....just like her big sister.

Hello all. Our internet connection (specifically with blogspot/blogger.com) has been a little shotty since arriving in Nanchang. Anyway, here are our posts for the past couple of days. Our connection should (hopefully) be better when we get to Guangzhou tomorrow.

TUESDAY, 5/6/08

Today was our official day of rest….no plans, just hanging out at the hotel and bonding with Abby “Jin Jin”. We are still calling her by her Chinese name, as this is what she is familiar with. And she is already dealing with so many changes….like a whole new family, for example! We spent most of the day at the hotel, just hanging out, but did manage to venture out onto the streets of Nanchang once by ourselves, heading to a local supermarket (about a 5 minute walk away). Getting there was easy, minus the real-life version of “Frogger” that you play as a pedestrian when crossing/ navigating the streets. The supermarket itself was quite an interesting experience. The grocery stores here are huge! This one is considered a smaller store and is only two stories. Unlike at home where you only have the cashiers and a few workers scattered throughout the store, in China each section of the supermarket (i.e. candy section, baby food aisle, etc) each have several workers manning that “station”. The shopping experience was a bit surreal, and we found ourselves in a dream-like trance, floating through the aisles in a blur of vividly colored packaging, filled with all kinds of goods- some so very different and some very recognizable (i.e. oreos)….all the while listening to “What the world needs now, is love sweet love” sung in Chinese on the store’s overhead “musak” station.

But our exciting shopping trip pales in comparison with what we experienced back at the hotel. As you know from my earlier postings, we adopted our Abby Fu Jin through our agency’s special needs program. She has had some developmental delays, specifically with regards to weakness in her legs/ inability to stand or walk independently. Well, today we had the best surprise when Abigail took her first steps, right before our very eyes. We were walking in the hallway (with Mike holding on to both of her hands), when she decided to break loose from her Daddy’s hands and walk 4 steps by herself. We then put Emily in front of her and asked her to walk to Emily, and she walked 6 steps to Emily. Then she did 12 steps in our room. She is still very unsteady/ weak, but we completely expected that and we knew going into this adoption that she would require extensive physical therapy. We never expected to be able to see her first independent steps while we were still here in China. We are so thrilled and proud of her. Of course, now that her walking is starting to improve, that is all she wants to do (with our help). So we have spent most of the day doing laps with her up and down the hallway and around the room. Now she hates sitting still and fusses when Mommy or Daddy tries to sneak in a break.

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Today we explored Nanchang with our guide, Monica. We all hopped in a cab and drove to the Tengwang Pavilion. This pavilion has been built and destroyed and rebuilt many times since 653 AD, when it was first built by Prince Teng. Much famous poetry was written here. The Prince loved the arts, so the top two floors are set aside for the arts…one for performance and another for dancing. We got to see a live performance of traditional Chinese dance. Many of the floors now serve as a museum, with famous murals and other pieces of art.

We then wandered the grounds of the Pavilion, which were very nice and peaceful, with beautifully landscaped greenery and koi ponds. After the pavilion, we then hopped in another cab and went to the August 1st Park. It was a beautifully landscaped park, where people practice their tai chi exercises among the trees and peaceful setting. As we walked through the park, we came to a section with a playground. Emily had a great time trying out all of the playground equipment….no rubberized flooring or wood chips here, by the way- just concrete…so we made sure to stand close by our daredevil of a daughter (and future Olympian gymnist, apparently).

As we ventured further through the park, we came to another section which is a little amusement park, with about 10 rides. Emily and Abby went on the carousel with mommy and daddy. Then I (mom) took Emily on a mini-roller coaster train ride. Emily then went on a solo ride, which looked like a motorized rickshaw, where she was being bounced around and pulled by the monkey king!

We had a fun time, but by the time we left the park, Abby was asleep and Emily was having a major “I’m exhausted” meltdown…she didn’t want to leave the park.

Tomorrow we are heading out with Monica to do some shopping.

Here are some pictures from today:







Abby is adjusting pretty well and seems to be bonding with us well, but we have had a few issues as we try to figure out her likes and dislikes. So far, here is what we know:

Likes:
Food, and lots of it
Movement
Noise
Walking around constantly (with help)
The safety of her crib
Being tickled
Being chased by and/or chasing her big sister around the room

Dislikes:
Sitting still (except for in her crib or high chair, when she is being fed)
Being held while sitting down….she much prefers being held when we are standing up.
Cars/ buses (terrified of these)
Bathtime
Brushing teeth
And the big one….drinking.
Yes, the last one has been a real challenge. In the orphanage, she did not take liquids from either a cup or bottle. Instead, she got all of her liquids via her meals (congee, soups, etc). When we first met her, she was pretty healthy, but her skin and hair was soooo dry. Keeping her hydrated has been a real challenge for us, especially when we are venturing out of the hotel. She pushes all bottles and cups and juiceboxes, etc away…sometimes even with both hands. The jell-o is very watery here, and she likes it and will take a cup of it, via spoon of course. It is so watery that it comes with a straw, but Abby wants no part of drinking it….just eating it like soup, with a spoon. Luckily she loves watermelon, so we have been giving her a lot of it at mealtimes, again to hydrate her. Hopefully, as she continues to feel comfortable with us, she will learn to transition to a bottle or cup. Hopefully.