Make that "Li-ehn" not "Li-ohn"

Sorry I am tired tonight so just a short post.

We found out that the Kunshan dialect pronounces Lian's name as "Li-ehn", not "Li-ohn" as I'd heard on language tapes (which were in the Beijing dialect).

The girls are doing great. They get along better than I expected, particularly with the language barrier! They are figuring out how to take turns and share, and it is generally quite peaceful.

Surprise - Lian is only ~ 1.5" shorter than Medora, not the 4" we'd been led to believe. All of the clothes I brought are too small ... the pants end at mid-calf. :)

Today was cold and rainy, so we opted for indoor activities. After some paperwork at the notary, we went to an indoor kids playground across the street from our hotel. The girls LOVED it. Eric took some great video of the two of them playing in a ball pit - we'll have to get that posted soon.

On gotcha day, the orphanage had sent Lian with many of the items we'd sent over the last year. The photo albums appeared to be well loved and the pictures had moved around to new slots. They sent a whole pad of paper with her writings and drawings in it, because I had sent markers in the first care package. She was wearing the ladybug necklace we sent for her birthday, and when asked who sent it, she pointed at me and said "mama". She put it back on right away this morning.

Tonight we were hanging out in the hotel room and I booted the computer. Lian saw it boot up with a picture of Medora (from the tulip and fairy parade) as the desktop wallpaper. She immediately said "jie jie!" and ran to her backpack. She knew exactly which photo album she wanted and opened it to the same picture. I think they must have spent a lot of time showing her the photo albums, since she has them memorized! It was very sweet, and I think the orphanage's prep time helped the transition.

She has acquired two English words already, courtesy of the "Good Dog Carl" book - Dog and Baby.

Sorry, that ended up being much longer than I expected! Turning in now.

PS - next up in the "Foods I Actually Tried in China" series, we turn our attentions to beverages...