Day 2 - Meeting our Daughter*

*This post was updated with photos and additional info after adoption

How can we possibly describe the day we meet our daughter? Well, I guess that really the feelings are the same as the days that Sam and Ben entered this world and our lives – wonder and gratitude. Today was truly an amazing day; it exceeded all of our hopes.

It all started with a brief meeting at the baby house and after a few formalities we were taken up to a toddler room. When we saw Sasha, we just new that she was our daughter. We expected her to be cautious at first – after all, she doesn’t know that we’re Mom and Dad, to her we’re just weird sounding strangers – but after just a few minutes she was sitting in our laps and using us as a convenient perch to watch the world around her. The girl is such an observer! And by the middle of our first two-hour time together she seemed right at home with us. We expected our first visit to be tough, but were so blessed by a genuinely fun get-to-know you!

By the end of our afternoon visit, we were really getting to know each other. We were rolling balls to each other on the floor, playing put & take (my grandmother’s name for the game most little ones play where they put things in their place, take them out, and put them back again), reading stories, and Sasha was even repeating lots of the words we said, especially when she found her voice this afternoon (this morning she was mostly silent with a few little whispers). We got to feed her lunch, too, which apparently is unusual for parents to get to do on the first day and of course we were thrilled to feed her! And from an attachment perspective, there’s lots of good stuff going on – she’s looking at us in the eye, referencing back to us when she’s curious about whether what she’s doing is ok or not, and she shows affection for her caregivers when they walk through our little play area.

The baby house workers have been really amazing. They’re friendly to us and show such love and attention for Sasha, and the coolest thing is that they’re working really hard to foster her attachment to us – they praise us while talking to her and they encourage her to walk to us and give us hugs and stuff like that. I’m sure it means a lot to Sestra to have the people she loves most in life encouraging her to get to know her Mama and Papa.

Oh my goodness, today was just such a whirlwind that it’s hard to sum up. What can I say? Today we met our daughter.