Warm Welcomes

We arrived in Baotou yesterday unfortunately without Donna, our Occupational Therapist. She has been a trooper, though! The tornadoes causes quite the adventure for her in her travels! She just arrived here in Baotou late last night and I'm sure she's exhausted! Her luggage has yet to be found... The rest of us arrived without a hitch and received a very warm welcome from the provincial and orphanage officials with a lunch banquet in a traditional mongolian yurt. It was beautiful, with Traditional Mongolian singers serenading us towards the end of lunch. I wish I could describe the scenery here--it was quite striking with yurts surrounding a pond, sheep wondering the property, frolicking (and then ending up lunch) and a sand storm blowing in through all of the trees surrounding the yurts.

I'm sure you would rather here about the orphange....no? We didn't arrive at the orphanage until late in the afternoon. Dr. Hayes had a chance to evaluate a group of infants/toddlers in the baby room. I started with some of the older children and worked my way around to the babies. Most of the kids are quite interested in Westerners, but a little shy at first. I don't think they have had much exposure to Westerners. The orphanage staff seems quite helpful and kind hearted. I was pleased to see that the nannies were loving with the babies, giving them hugs, encouraging them to walk or crawl or creep, and celebrating their achievements with them. They are quite good with the older children as well. I asked who their favorite nannies were, and they each seemed to have one that they're very close with. The children I talked with all made very good eye contact and responded appropriately. I didn't see any signs of attachment issues in the children I saw yesterday. Hopefully today we will get more time there. More updates later...stay tuned.