When we got back to the hotel and got out of the car, she woke up right away. She stayed in my arms and looked a bit out of it. We came up to the room and I sat her on the bed and she looked back and forth at the two of us. I took out a few toys and she started to perk up. She pokes you softly and then points at something when she wants it, and she soon had Josh and I gathering up all of the things we had brought her and then she tucked them safely away into the bright pink and purple backpack that she just seemed to know was for her.

We gave her her first sippy cup, and she quickly discovered how to use that and she is very fond of it. She was too cute. She would take one thing out of the backpack…give a toy to Josh and one to me, then take them back and then put everything back away and zip up the backpack. We got a few, small, impish smiles while we played with her.

Since it was getting close to noon and we knew she was due for lunch and a nap, we called for some room service, and we ordered a variety of American and Ethiopian dishes to get a feel for what she likes and doesn’t like.

She spotted some of her new clothes, and we I had her choose between two outfits, she chose one and then started to take off the clothes she was wearing. I was nervous to give her a bath and worried it would scare her, but she saw the water running and pointed to get in. She was so dang cute as I washed her up…she cups her little hands and lets me poor water in them and then she rubs it all in her face.

She let me rub her all over with lotion (and she helped too!) and she happily got into her new dress. She looks really good…she has the giant Ethiopian belly, most likely due to past malnutrition (which makes wearing tights a bit difficult). She is a lot smaller than I expected, but looks very healthy. Her hair is growing in, but is still short. She has huge sparkling eyes and a smile that lights up the room. Her skin is beautiful…she’s an angel.

We got her all lotioned and dressed in the dress she picked, and lunch came shortly thereafter.

Holy cow…this gal can eat! She chowed on the doro wat and shiro wat we ordered, and then chowed on my French fries, and then took some bites from the GIANT cheeseburger (we have the funniest pictures of that!) We finally started taking away the food so she wouldn’t get herself sick.

Oh, and twice during the day she snacked on Chex mix…she loves that. (And she picked out all of the M&M’s and ate them first, just like her mom!)

After lunch she was obviously tired (and we knew she was due for a nap) but the only way she’d go to sleep was wrapped around my neck. Once she went to sleep I layed her down and she stayed asleep just fine.

We had a lovely visit from Denise, the volunteer at AAI, after that. Belane was asleep when Denise came and woke up sad and groggy while she was still here. In retrospect, I wonder if she wasn’t afraid that Denise was going to take her back to AHOPE (or if she wanted Denise to take her back to AHOPE??). Denise has picked her up and taken her on adoption-related outings and then brought her back to AHOPE several times in the past.
She started to whimper and then cry for real, which aggravated the nasty cough she has. But she wrapped her arms around me and let me comfort her, which I know is very good stuff.