Day 3, Afternoon Visit

When we arrived this afternoon, the same woman who was helping Alina eat earlier came to the door to greet us. She said, "Alina cry when you left before". Oh my goodness, she is starting to really get attached to us. She reached for us both at different times today, and when we were outside walking, she held out her hand for Chris to grab it when he stepped aside to take a picture. And she kissed my nose. Each visit gets better and better.

She seemed apprehensive at first. She made little noises (like she was thinking, "oh no, what is going on here? Where are my people? And who are these people?). We heard some of those sounds the first two days, but not today.

She laughed today, and smiled more. She giggled when I tickled her back. She is super ticklish!!

We stopped at a market and bought shoes for her today. The ones I brought were way too small (we took them with us anyway and donated them to the groupa...and when we arrived this afternoon they were already labeled on the bottom and a little girl was waving them in the air...they have been reassigned!).

When we took out the shoes we bought for her, Alina saw them and kicked her old shoes off immediately. She tried to put the new ones on herself. She was very proud once she was wearing them and didn't want to take them off.

The little girl who has the pair of shoes we brought is the most adorable little creature. I would scoop her up in a minute. She really likes Alina. She pats her cheeks and kisses her forehead as she says, "Lina!!" with a big smile. She looks out for Alina, too. When another child grabbed a book from Alina, she came over, took it and handed it back to Alina. She said, "no, Alina's" to the other child. It was so incredibly sweet. Chris and I were teary watching the interaction.

All of the children wave to her when they pass through the locker room where we have been playing with her. They like to talk to us, so we are a distraction, which we feel badly about. But man are they cute!

We are only approved to bring home one child, but we would be in major trouble if we had asked for permission for more!! These children are precious...