Monkeys at the Zoo: Family Day!

On Tuesday we went to the agency around 11:00 a.m. First we met with Dr. Kim, the director of the agency and then we had lunch with other adoptive families. Then we had one last visit with Charli's foster mother and father before we took custody of her. On our first visit I could tell that Charli called me something other than Omma (the Korean word for Mommy) so I asked the social worker what it was that she was calling me. Everyone in the room who spoke Korean laughed and then they said she calls me "mi gook omma" which means American Mommy. We got Charli around 2:00 p.m. Taking her from her foster family was as painful as we thought it would be. Watching them stand on the street crying while Charli wailed for them in the van as we pulled away is an image that will be forever burned in my brain. Charli cried herself out and then slept for some of the drive to our hotel.

Once in the hotel Charli's grieving continued. She wouldn't let me put her down but did eventually nap with the help of the baby carrier and a children's Korean music station on the T.V. When she woke she was willing to eat a little and started to enjoy us. She LOVED it when Daddy pulled out the bubbles. She was very anxious and wouldn't let us take off her shoes or her jacket. I think removing her shoes makes her think that she is staying and she was not ready to commit to that. She also didn't want to leave the hotel room and would become very anxious whenever we tried. After three attempts we managed to go to the food court in the mall and get something to eat. We got a fried rice dish that she seemed to like. We also hit the little grocery store for some fruit and drinks for her. We went back to our room and she fell asleep easily and slept all night except for the time she fell out of bed (oops). All in all I think this day went better than we expected. We had to wake her at 7:00 a.m. to have some breakfast before heading to the airport.