Mu Shu
June 11, 2011
I have a new friend.
I’m calling her Mu Shu. (Like the cartoon Dragon not the entree.)
She’s tough little thing with a MAJOR attitude problem.
As is human nature the folks in our group sort of gravitate to the the kids who want the attention or at least are not openly hostile towards our advances. Mu Shu is not one of those kids.
The first day she walked around glaring at us like a cranky old Chinese grandmother. A dragon lady.
She put her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes enough to let us know we were not welcome. Any attempt to engage her was met with a nasty screech. No translation needed: she did not like us. That first day her interaction with us was pretty much limited to throwing toys at us. Lovely.
I will be honest, on day two when I walked into the room I did not want the crabby screecher. I know I know, shame on me but there were happy, cuddly babies in the room...give me one of those! But I was too late all the “good kids” were taken: just the cranky old grandmother was without an adult. It was her and me. Her against me to be more precise.
What to do? How to tame this little pot bellied beast?
I decided to take an indirect approach. I didn’t get too close, instead I played just near enough for her to see me stacking toys in a tower.
She noticed. Ha!
She came closer. Ha again!!
She reached out for a toy. GOT YA!!
For the next two and a half hours I inched my way closer and closer to her. I touched her hand when she thrust a toy at me.
Then I kissed her hand.
Then her cheek.
By the end I was nuzzling her neck and getting full on giggles and grins.
Before we left she was cuddled up in my arms. We ended up being the last two in the room. We had bonded and Mu Shu clung tight to me and tried to fight off the nanny who had to peel her away. She cried (ok she screeched) and stretched towards me. It was pathetic and I wanted desperately to pull her back into my arms but at the same time I was too satisfied with our (her) progress to be sad.
When we came back to the orphanage the next morning guess who made a bee line for me?
My Mu Shu of course.
She is still a little stinker as proven by her swatting and (of course) screeching at another little boy who tried to hug me. Not very nice behavior but actually a good sign that she can (and maybe did) bond. We played all day today and I even got to give her a bath. Again when it was time to leave she cried for me to stay. My heart ached just a bit more today...(I’m bonding too).
Mu Shu is a scrapper, a strong willed survivor of a kid. She is just 20 months old with a very old (and ornery) soul. And I’m in love with her. Her paperwork is done and she should be available for adoption soon. He medical need is so minor I can hardly believe it is a special need at all (it would not be in the US). She will certainly be adopted...at least I pray she will.
My team is joking she will be our number 7. (Don’t worry honey I’m not drilling holes in my suitcase...yet.)
In my heart I don’t think Mu Shu is meant to be mine but what I do know for sure is she is meant to be....wanting to be.... loved.
Don't forget to click the banner...need to keep this blog high in the rankings if we want s lots of potential families to see our Chen Zhou kids. (Pssst: Pics are coming soon!)
I’m calling her Mu Shu. (Like the cartoon Dragon not the entree.)
She’s tough little thing with a MAJOR attitude problem.
As is human nature the folks in our group sort of gravitate to the the kids who want the attention or at least are not openly hostile towards our advances. Mu Shu is not one of those kids.
The first day she walked around glaring at us like a cranky old Chinese grandmother. A dragon lady.
She put her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes enough to let us know we were not welcome. Any attempt to engage her was met with a nasty screech. No translation needed: she did not like us. That first day her interaction with us was pretty much limited to throwing toys at us. Lovely.
I will be honest, on day two when I walked into the room I did not want the crabby screecher. I know I know, shame on me but there were happy, cuddly babies in the room...give me one of those! But I was too late all the “good kids” were taken: just the cranky old grandmother was without an adult. It was her and me. Her against me to be more precise.
What to do? How to tame this little pot bellied beast?
I decided to take an indirect approach. I didn’t get too close, instead I played just near enough for her to see me stacking toys in a tower.
She noticed. Ha!
She came closer. Ha again!!
She reached out for a toy. GOT YA!!
For the next two and a half hours I inched my way closer and closer to her. I touched her hand when she thrust a toy at me.
Then I kissed her hand.
Then her cheek.
By the end I was nuzzling her neck and getting full on giggles and grins.
Before we left she was cuddled up in my arms. We ended up being the last two in the room. We had bonded and Mu Shu clung tight to me and tried to fight off the nanny who had to peel her away. She cried (ok she screeched) and stretched towards me. It was pathetic and I wanted desperately to pull her back into my arms but at the same time I was too satisfied with our (her) progress to be sad.
When we came back to the orphanage the next morning guess who made a bee line for me?
My Mu Shu of course.
She is still a little stinker as proven by her swatting and (of course) screeching at another little boy who tried to hug me. Not very nice behavior but actually a good sign that she can (and maybe did) bond. We played all day today and I even got to give her a bath. Again when it was time to leave she cried for me to stay. My heart ached just a bit more today...(I’m bonding too).
Mu Shu is a scrapper, a strong willed survivor of a kid. She is just 20 months old with a very old (and ornery) soul. And I’m in love with her. Her paperwork is done and she should be available for adoption soon. He medical need is so minor I can hardly believe it is a special need at all (it would not be in the US). She will certainly be adopted...at least I pray she will.
My team is joking she will be our number 7. (Don’t worry honey I’m not drilling holes in my suitcase...yet.)
In my heart I don’t think Mu Shu is meant to be mine but what I do know for sure is she is meant to be....wanting to be.... loved.
Don't forget to click the banner...need to keep this blog high in the rankings if we want s lots of potential families to see our Chen Zhou kids. (Pssst: Pics are coming soon!)
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