Kyleigh's Story - Finally Home!

(Written mostly on 12/5/2008 and finished on 12/6/2008)

My husband and I rushed and finished the last bit of house cleaning this afternoon, and headed to the airport at 3 PM. When we got to the baggage claim, the flight had just arrived. We recognized my mom's luggage (she always has a specific type of tying knots on the suitcase handle), and pulled them off the carousel. 

Long before we could actually recognize the faces, I saw two people shaped like my mom and Kyleigh. I pointed at them and asked my husband to confirm if that was them. He said he couldn't see anyone. I was pretty sure that was Kyleigh so I ran towards them. 

And it was them. Kyleigh was not walking too fast because she was watching the Christmas trees the airport set up. I called out to her, and my mom saw me. 

When Kyleigh turned her head and saw me for the first time, she had this "who are you" expression on her face. I was expecting that, so I wasn't really upset or anything. When I squatted down in front of her, she lowered her head and wouldn't look at me. 

She finally warmed up to us after we got in the car. She kept calling "Ba ba (Daddy)" and my husband would wave to her. My mom did not sleep for the entire trip, so she fell asleep in the car. We didn't get a chance to talk much about the trip, but supposedly they had a bad trip because the computer was offline at the Detroit airport, and they had to wait and stand in line for a very long time. Supposedly Kyleigh finally broke down and cried, and even the airport personnel came to apologize to her. In addition, the airlines also ran out of milk. So Kyleigh was really hungry. 

We stopped by a Chinese restaurant on the way home to grab some quick dishes. Unfortunately, the taste just could not compare to those good dishes in Taiwan. Kyleigh was hungry but she wouldn't eat those. We also tried to give her cookies and crackers, but she refused all of them.  I finally offered the broccolini I cooked last night (for my mom and Kyleigh). Normally no one likes my cooking, but surprisingly, that was the only thing Kyleigh was willing to eat.  So I was rather proud of myself. 

After dinner, Kyleigh rediscovered her old toys. It seemed that her memories started to come back. She played with the toys, watched a Baby Einstein tape, kept climbing up and down the stairway, and finally fell asleep on her Snoopy chair. So we scooped her up into the bed right around 8:30 PM. 

Kyleigh didn't sleep through the night, but woke up a few times. Maybe her body was adjusting to the weather and the bed again. The good thing is, it looks like she does not have severe jet lag like she did when she first went over to Taipei.

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For more stories about my baby Kyleigh, please visit Kyleigh's Stories Group.