And Prim Makes Four

Our daughter is a firecracker.....Today was a great day and I am now able to absorb it a bit better now that we're back in our hotel room and able to relax a bit. Let me start from the beginning.
After having a great nights sleep-actaully we all slept well over 16 hours-we got up, got ready and had a wonderful breakfast. You wouldn't believe the spread they had!! A great way to start the day. We met Pat in the lobby along with Alyssa and Time (great to meet them!) and after going into a conference room she briefed us on the day and told us a bit about what to expect in the coming days. They were nice enough to give us a schedule of our time which was helpful in anticipating our time with Prim.
We watched a short video on Holt Sahathai Foundation and during the last ten minutes or so Prim arrived with two of the social workers. The worst part was that we had to finish watching the video before they brought her in. We coud hear her in the hall way so we made G take a peek and he was jumping up and down he was so excited to see her. It was nice that he was the first in our family to see her. When she came in the door she was apprehensive and I swear she took one look at us and turned around to leave. I could tell that she had been prepared and recognized us because she wanted nothing to do with us. The social workers were just terrific and they sat down with her and tried to get her to come to us. I told Mo that it was ok and we would keep our distance until she could check us out for a while. We just sat down next to her and tried to play and roll a ball for a while. She was very attached to one of the social workers and after an hour, when they handed her to me, Prim screamed her head off. We finally had to leave the room so she would be separate from the worker that she obviously felt so comfortable with. We took a walk around the pool and it felt good to hold her;) Gabriel, meanwhile, was just terrific with her and shared his toys when we finally took her to our room to show her where she woud be sleeping. The social workers were telling her she would be sleeping in the room and we were her family and the whole time she shook her head no (I guess head shaking is a universal language!). We had lunch together and it was obvious that I have another child who could care less about food. Apparently our little one does not eat much and is fed on the go. Hmmm...why does that seem so familiar to me?
Later in the afternoon we took the hour drive to see the Foster Family. I thought that maybe they lived outside of the city but I was wrong. They live right in the city and a home that they share with their extended family. I wasn't aware of this as it was not stated in her home reports. I wish I had known that so I could have brought more gifts but Mo assured me that it was fine. I can't say enough about Prim's foster family. They are extremely warm and gracious. The father especially touched my heart. He was so concerned about her transition with us and told us (through the translator) that he worried that she would cry alot and be sad when she was with us for some time. It was so nice to see the interaction between the family and Prim and I think we got a better sense of her personality while we were there.
Now that I've gone through our day, let me give you some insight to our daughter. When I first saw her I couldn't get over how cute she was. Her face is very expressive and it is clear that she is very bright and attentive. I must say off the bat that she is the most strong willed 19 month old child that I have every come in contact with. She makes it 100% clear about what she wants, when she wants it and does not take "no" for an answer. She says a few words (like "no") and water, cat, up etc... When we visited the foster family they even told us that they do not really tell her no and that she is spoiled rotten b/c she is the youngest. While we were at the house, Prim grabbed a bundled of chopsticks and when G went up to talk to her, she hit him on top of the head so hard that they all broke. She is either freakishly strong or they were thin chopsticks. Amazingly G took it very well and after a brief explanation he seemed to be better. I felt so bad for him.
Hung adores her already and loves how fiesty she is. He thinks it's pretty funny that she is hard headed like her mother. He got her to smile at him today and she kept making a funny face where she would open her mouth as wide as she could and he woud imitate her. It was pretty cute!
There is so much more to write but quite honestly I'm tired. G fell asleep in the van to the hotel and when we woke him and went to dinner he cried until we finally realized he wasn't going to make it through dinner. We left before ordering and went to upstairs to our room. He went right to sleep and we ordered room service.
Tomorrow we have most of the day with Prim and I'm not sure how much the social worker will be with us. I'm looking forward to having her with us alone for a while and if we have some time we may take her to the swimming pool. I'll post tomorrow with more pictures!