They call her "Ying Ying"

I was excited to get some updates today on our little girl!! Today, she turned 18 months old. I was however disappointed that the updates did not come with new pictures. But here is what we know so far. She is 29 inches tall. She weighs 18.5 pounds. Her feet is 13 cm, and we calculate this to be 5 inches. We wonder if this is acurate? She drinks milk in the morning and at bedtime, eats 3 meals a day consisting of rice ceral and congee soup - not sure about snacks and other food items. We have to figure out how to make this *congee soup* as this seems to be a main staple in her diet. She is still drinking from a bottle, although drinks soup with a spoon. We asked about her cleft palate- it is described as a third degree cleft, although in the US- they are not described in this way. They all are different in severity and uniqueness. However, reassuring is that her caregivers indicate that it does not affect her daily life much and she has had no major illnesses - described as "hardly ever sick" which is good because cleft babies can frequently be sick with respiratory illness and ear infections. She gets up just after 6am. She naps at 12. She goes to bed at 1030! Oh my, she is a night owl! We do know from our original referral paperwork she is a heavy sleeper and sucks her fingers. She sleeps in a crib with other children. She is not potty-trained. She is only walking with assistance, but her caregivers think that she will be independent soon. Her caregivers have nicknamed her Ying Ying. She does not cry much. She likes to watch TV and listen to music - we know from our previous referral update that she is fond of imitating what she sees and hears. She can say Mamma. She gets along well with all the caretakers and other children. Now we asked if we could get updated pictures, and we were told yes. So hopefully, they are soon to follow? It sounds like she needs some TLC.

We got all of our paperwork done last weekend. YEAH! A huge weight is lifted. I think that we have just a few blanks to fill in once we have our travel dates and hotel information. We are still waiting on our travel invitation, which usually comes about 4-5 weeks after LOA.