TOUCHDOWN IN HANOI AND THEN MELTDOWN IN HANOI

We arrived in Hanoi this afternoon after leaving our hotel in Ho Chi Minh City early at 8:30 this morning. Chianna loves riding in the car and was excited to walk through the airport. The plane was fine until Myke put her seatbelt on and then "IT" began. Thuy ended up sitting in her seat with Chianna on her lap the whole time and she was fine for the whole trip. She liked looking out the window and she ate some of the lunch they served on the plane. As we were getting off the plane, Myke picked her up but she wanted to walk, so she started to cry and I am not sure who was more upset, Chianna or Myke. That started the spiral. She fell asleep in the taxi on the way to our hotel, and as soon as we arrived, woke up cranky and started crying. She did not like the hotel room and stood in the corner.

She was really mad at Myke and only wanted to come to me or Thuy. A big difference from the days before when she wanted Myke more than me. Its ok, we know its all part of the process.

So Thuy and I took her with us to the immigration dept while Myke stayed in the room to try to nap. We applied for her passport and wrote a letter asking them to expedite the passport. We walked back to the hotel and got CHianna's passport photo taken on the way. Chianna walked a good protion of the way and Thuy & I alternated carrying her. She loves to walk and I believe that in the few days here she has gotten better at it.

As soon as we got back to the hotel and I got in the elevator with her and said bye to Thuy, she started crying. I brought her to the room where she crying, screamed and threw a complete tantrum for almost 2 hours! We tried everything and could not console our poor girl. And her cry. . . . is as awful as her laugh is wonderful. Its painful to hear.

Finally she responded to wanting to have her diaper changed, and I layed her on the bed to change her, she calmed down and we ran a bath for her. She got in the bath and within minutes was playing with me and daddy again, giggling away.

She loves the bath and did not want to come out even though all the hot water was gone. When the tub started leaking all over the bathroom floor, we finally coaxed her out of the tub, she was shivering cold but didn't care! Then we put pjs on and daddy played with her for about an hour. She loves coloring and in 3 days has shown an improvement already. I palyed with her for a little while and then gave her a bottle while she watched Sesame Street on the DVD player we brought. She loves watching TV and just phases in on it. She eventually fell asleep around 8 or 8:30pm and as I write this now its 8:20am and she is still asleep!

It was one hell of a day for us and I am glad that it is over. We know that this is just the beginning of the bumps in the road as she gets used to us and goes through all these changes. It must be so scary for her. We just keep telling her that we love her and that it is going to be alright. We are not going anywhere and we will always be here for her.


Our plane to Hanoi


Chianna sitting on Thuy's lap



The view of Hanoi from above over Chianna's shoulder.



The last calm moment of the day. Sleeping in the taxi. She really took an interest in daddy's wallet - UH OH!! Look out!!

Also in the airport, there was a panda statue with a clear bowl of money in it (might have been for a contest or something?) and she went right over to each one we passed staring and pointing at the money inside - oh boy! Are we in trouble!!??!!