Adoption Study Take 2!

We made it safely back from Minneapolis last night around 8. On our brief 2-day trip, we were able to visit with my parents and brother, see the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit and view a movie about the history of the Arab world at the Science Museum, and dine on Swedish meatballs and lingonberries at Ikea. The kids got to search for eggs in my parents' yard, which surprisingly was not covered with snow as it often still is on Easter.

We stayed on the U of M campus on Monday night in the room arranged by the Adoption study. It was your typical hotel for people richer than us. Instead of free breakfast, it had an Applebees on site that you could order food from. We had oatmeal, bananas and leftover coffeecake in our room. And, Brooke, it was complete with a middle-of-the-night kid throwing up (my bed partner, of course) with no spare pj's packed. So, I was up in the night scrubbing down a hotel bathroom and cleaning up a nice trail of "ick" through the carpet with some cleaning supplies Shawn got from the front desk, throwing the "soiled" towels in a large see-through (bad idea) trash bag they provided. Fortunately, I think it must have been a bad dream, because the issue resolved itself and there was no illness in the morning.

Tuesday morning, Anju and I walked the block to the study from the hotel while Shawn and the other kids played Uno in the hotel room. She was mesmerized by the sights of the city. People of all colors were around us as we waited at the crosswalks for the signal to change. There were smells coming from the bakery and the chinese restaurant even at 9 something in the morning and she ate it all up. Of course, as soon as we had crossed the first intersection, it began to rain. So, I held my now-soggy map in one hand (very subtly as not to attract attention of course) and picked up my toddler with my other arm to make the walk a bit quicker than I had intended.

The study went much better this time, as we were not asked to separate and her older age helped her be more capable of the tasks. (I blogged about it last time here and here.) She was asked to play with a stranger in the same room I was in while I was made to look "busy" with some paperwork. It was actually a couple surveys that were completed quickly and a Parents magazine to keep myself looking busy. She did so happily. Our researcher this time was named Bao, and was a very petite Asian woman. Anju really took to her and didn't have any problem ignoring me and playing with her.

She again was exposed to some foreign objects coming in the room with no person around (remote control devices). While last time this scared her, this time she held on to my knee, but just made comments about what was going on. One vehicle was covered with fur and had pipe cleaners with glittery puffballs on top of them with more pipe cleaners coming out the tops of the puffballs. Anju said, "Look, a family!" and pointed out that the mysterious things coming out of the top of the device were the mom, dad, and kids in their car. The objects got much closer to us this time, and still she didn't cry. She did tell the one object (kind of roboty) to "Go back to your home".

After playing with play-doh to make a birthday scene, blowing bubbles, playing with balloons, reading, etc. we went back to a room to have electrodes put on her. Last time she pulled them all off and the study stopped. This time, she pulled the one off her neck a few times and ultimately it did not get re-attached, but she continued the study with one on her tummy, one on her chest, and one on her back. They had her watch a video quietly (ha!) with them on. She told them at the end, "Next time, Winnie-a-Pooh? Winnie-a-Pooh better."

They took the last of 3 saliva samples (to test for stress hormones) and gave her a treat bag with a stuffed cat, bubbles and the play-doh we had used earlier. She seemed to have a good time and said that Bao was a "nice mama" on our walk back to the hotel. When she saw the hotel, she said, "Jonah, Andu coming!" For the amount of time those two spend scrapping, she sure loves him!

After spending this morning trying to clean up our pile of bags and laundry as much as I could, Anju's ECSE teacher came by at 10 for her final visit. She showed me the report they had written up on Anju recommending no further intervention at this time, and had her last session with Anju. She brought Anju a birthday present: a Dora beach towel, book and an animal puzzle, which Anju did while we talked. It was a great feeling to see that Anju was at-level in all areas. Her teacher commented on how she's never seen a child improve in all areas so quickly. We have been very blessed, indeed!