In China, split pants are VERY popular for Children. They just squat and go as they please. Even Very young babies where split pants. In fact most orphanges in china do not except clothing donations from America. I found this picture on another journey site (www.waiting-for-our-girl.blogspot.com.) Very Cute!

So, now that we have an LID, we are slowing starting on the nursery. I will do the before and after pictures when its done. I am very excited. A few weeks ago we let our agency know that we are open to a child with minor special needs. We filled out the required forms and contacted our Social Worker. So, what this means is we are in two programs SN and NSN, and when our daughter is found we will be HAPPY!

I also want to take this waiting time and LEARN all I can about parenting an adopted child from China. I am going to use our blog to post some things we all can learn. There are MANY books and websites that deal with bonding with a child who has lived in orphanage. One GREAT website is www.attach-China.org. Our Social Worker gave us this website. These are Activites to Promote Attachment. Not that grandparents can't be involved, but I will be taking on most of the care taking for Taitlyn. Especially the first few months. We have to remember that she will have a life prior to us and we have to respect that. We have to understand what she may be going through.

These are suggestions from therapists and parents of RAD kids
Wear infant in a chest carrier, all day if possible, facing IN.
Mom should initially be the only person who is meeting the baby's needs. Baby needs to build a bond with one person first, then she can branch out to others.
Bathe together, to promote skin to skin contact. Baby & Mom can wear the same lotion so baby associates scent with mom.
If you use cologne (or if you don't, use your shampoo), place a tiny bit on her arm so she has your smell with her at all times.
Laminate loving family pictures of you together and put around her crib and other places.
Outline her body, as well as your own on huge sheets of newsprint. Color them (great activity). Tape the "portraits" to her ceiling.
When feeding her something she particularly likes, tell her you are a good mommy/daddy. Telling her with words that you are a good mommy is important -- otherwise, how would she know?!
Play with dolls to act out how parents always return after child goes to day care, babysitter, bed, etc.
Draw cartoon panels of the day's routine, so that your child can see that Mom and Child always come back to the same home together. Anxiety and stress can interfere with auditory processing, so it is important to use something visual that can be held in the hand.
Give your child a laminated picture of the family to carry with her all the time.
Limit choices. At first parents should make all decisions, including foods, toys and clothes. This helps the child feel safe. Then as the child becomes accustomed to the new family, limited choices can be given, e.g. a choice between 2 foods.
Dress alike. Wear the same colors, type of outfit, accessories, hairstyle, etc. and point out how you look alike.
Claim your child. Tell her she belongs to you. Give her a big hug and say "MINE!" Make up songs about your family, e.g.:I am your MomYou're my sweet girlJust like a pearlso rare and preciousYou are mineand I am yours'Cause together we're a family.
Encourage Eye Contact

In the next few weeks these are the tpe of things I am going to post along with some pictures.

RED ALERT RED ALERT RED ALERT RED ALERT RED ALERT

Today I got an email from our agency...and The Fogles' are officially logged in at the China Center of Adoption Affairs (www.China-ccaa.org). Our Log-in date is 8/10/2006. This is a VERY important date. Its kinda like when you take a number in the deli line at Wal-Mart. You have to wait your turn until they get to your number. Well, this is our number. One can only hope that this will be a quick wait. Things have REALLY slowed down at the CCAA, so hopefully, the slow down won't last too long. I am sooooo happy! Its a HUGE milestone. Here is a part of the email we received today!


To: Chad & Melissa Fogle
Re: CCAI Log-In Date & Packet

Congratulations! Your dossier has been logged in by the China Center of Adoption Affairs.

Your official dossier log-in date (LID) is: 8/10/2006

Count down to referral ticker! This is just an estimate to our referral. We are hoping it doesn't take longer than a year. (Fingers crossed)

We received an email from our agency that stated our paperwork had been delivered to CCAA(Chines Center of Adoption Affairs) and now we just wait for our LID. We should find out the LID in a few weeks. Also, I wanted to include a letter we received from our adoption agency:

Dear CCAI Families,
Lily and I recently returned from a fourteen-day, seven-city, and eighteen-meeting trip to China. This time the jetlag tortured us longer than usual, but now we are 100% back to normal.
As one of the only two U.S. adoption agency leadership delegations invited to attend the CCAA‘s Tenth Anniversary Celebration on June 29, we felt very honored to be able to personally congratulate the CCAA staff on their historical accomplishments since the official establishment of the China Center of Adoption Affairs in 1996. In speech after speech, from the Minister of the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs to the Director-General of the CCAA and to other officials, we sensed an unwavering determination to continue the success of international adoption. The CCAA Director-General Mr. Lu Ying shared with us, “As long as there are still orphanage children waiting for loving homes, we will be here to serve them and the adoptive families.”
To demonstrate their readiness for the challenge, the CCAA is finally relocating from a very cramped four-story building to a high-rise where they will occupy ten stories of office space. They are adding more space to every department and upgrading to an even more sophisticated computer system. The relocation, which is underway as we speak, has been carefully planned to minimize the impact on their normal operation. Their goal is to “accomplish this in the shortest time frame possible while maintaining our service as usual.”
Of course, in the midst of excitement, we did not forget to ask them over and over, “How much longer will the child match timeline become?” Each time we were told, “There is no way to predict it. It depends on how cooperative the local governments and orphanages are, how many children we receive every month, and how many dossiers we get on any given day.”
As we traveled around China, we found a very disturbing situation. We saw quite a number of orphanages with large numbers of children, but a very passive adoption program. For example, the Beijing Orphanage, where our daughter Anna came from, has at least 1,500 children under their care, but fewer then three dozen children are reported to the CCAA for international adoption every year! Additionally, orphanages open to international adoption represent less than one third of the total orphanages in China!
The CCAA is working hard to educate orphanages on the importance of placing their children in permanent homes, domestically or internationally. We hope next time we visit the Beijing Orphanage, we will see an emptier children’s cafeteria.
We, along with the entire staff of CCAI, are committed to journeying with all of you through this unbearable child match wait. Feel free to call us or one of our mentors in your area. It is perfectly normal to feel impatient, frustrated, or even angry in the midst of a situation over which you have no control. We want to assure you that we will continue to try our best to keep you posted with the most accurate and verifiable information as it becomes available to us. The speed of our communication with you may never be as fast as the internet rumor mills, but it is the accuracy that counts. We appreciate you hanging in there with us, and look forward to the day we can finally call you and say, “CONGRATULATIONS!”
Waiting together with you,
Josh and Lily