Visiting the girls' orphanages was so sweet

Lian's orphanage is fairly small, just 90 kids or so.  When we walked in, they had a big banner up saying "Gu Yi Lian Welcome Back Home" - really sweet.  So many nannies remembered her.  Two nannies had retired, but made a special trip in to see Lian.  Lian's favorite nanny was also there, which was wonderful.  The orphanage director is the man standing next to Eric - we have lots of photos of him with Lian and she spoke fondly of him.  Her favorite nanny is next to me, wearing a black sweater.  The other two nannies (in pink coats) I recognize from Lian's photos - she spent a lot of time with them.  The nanny on the far right pulled out her phone and showed me photos of Lian from years ago - she's kept them on her phone all this time.  Also, I had made photo books on Shutterfly and sent them back - she'd taken photos of each page and had those stored on her phone too.  It was clear that Lian was very much loved there.

We were invited to stay for lunch, and they prepared a feast for us - so many different dishes, and it was all delicious.  We had a lot of time to ask questions of them, and for them to ask questions of us.  She showed off her gymnastics skills, and they were so thrilled to hear that she is healthy and doing well in school.  Due to the bird flu outbreak, we weren't allowed to interact with any children, but it was wonderful to see her nannies - and to have so many of them return to see her!

After Lian's orphanage visit, we went to an old water village on the outskirts of Shanghai.  Harmony stopped us at this bridge and suggested a photo (our guide translated) - so we obliged.

Today we went to Medora's orphanage.  The Shanghai orphanage is much much larger - about 500 children live there.  The nannies tend to turn over more quickly than Lian's orphanage, so we didn't hold out much hope that anyone would remember Medora - it has been almost 5 years.  But we were so lucky - several nannies have been there for a long time and remembered her.  This nanny is the one who brought Medora to meet us on gotcha day.  We toured the orphanage, but couldn't interact with the kids due to the bird flu.  They gave Medora a pin with the orpahange's logo and a DVD about the orphanage.  And - this is the best - they gave us a color photo of the day Medora was found.  The earliest photo we have of her!

Well, tomorrow we start the journey home.  It sounds so simple ... depart Shanghai at noon on Wednesday and arrive Denver at 5 PM on Wednesday.  If only it were that easy!!!!

Cotton candy larger than my head

Today we wandered the crazy, massive, rabbit warren that is the Yu Yuan market (sometimes also called the Dragon's Gate market).  We got a scrapbook for Harmony from the same store that sold us scrapbooks for Medora & Lian in 2008 & 2009 - nice to know some things stay the same.

After lunch at an awesome dim sum restaurant, XinYi noticed a street vendor selling cotton candy.  Oh my, that elicited a lot of excitement.  The portion size was generous as you can see in the photos below. She ate it with enthusiasm - for her first bite, she buried her face in it.  She had cotton candy sticking out of her nose!  Bonus upside of the cotton candy - she spontaneously pronounced it "yummy".   That's a new English word for her bringing the total to monkey, watch (pronounced kwatch), oops, pee pee, and yummy.

After shopping, we swam for an hour and a half.  At one point, 4 local kids joined us swimming and we had a raucous game of pickle-in-the-middle going.  After swimming, we had dinner with friends.

Tomorrow - we see Lian's orphanage!

Ni hao from Shanghai!

Today just did not lend itself to photos, so I'll share some cute ones from previous days:

Reading on a bus ride:

Medora upside down:

We had an absurdly early morning wake up call today to catch our flight to Shanghai.  UGH.  We had the kids sleep in their clothes, which helped with rolling them out of bed early.  The flight was tough.  We had 2 seats in row 35, and 3 seats in row 39.  So not close enough to easily share food and toys.  I sat with Xin Yi in row 35, and Eric sat with the big girls in row 39.  Xin Yi was doing pretty well and even let me put the seat belt on her without much fuss ... until we sat on the tarmac for 60 minutes.  All electronics had to be off, seat belts on, can't get up.  It was not so pretty.  A helpful Chinese older woman seated behind us talked with Xin Yi while she was melting down and that helped ... I wish I knew what she said.   It was very kind of her. The businessman seated next to us will likely never ever have a child after dealing with XinYi for 3 hours.  Then an hour taxi ride to the hotel.  But we made it!

The hotel in Shanghai has a very nice pool and hot tub.  We stayed here in 2009 and requested it again, since aquatics is a popular activity with the whole family.

Tomorrow we have the day to ourselves; we'll hit the crazy YuYuan market to get a scrapbook for XinYi - we have gotten scrapbooks for both Medora & Lian there.  And we are meeting friends for dinner at their favorite local place, which should be really cool.   They are expats living in Shanghai who just adopted a little boy.

Monday we visit Kunshan Social Welfare Institute, where Lian spent her first 4 years.  We didn't visit it in 2009, and I am really looking forward to seeing it.

Tuesday we visit Shanghai Children's Welfare Institute, where Medora spent her first 3 years.  We did visit in 2008, but Medora is looking forward to seeing it as a 7 year old - she doesn't remember much.

And on Wednesday, with a healthy dose of dread as well as pleasure, we start the journey home.  Our flight departs Shanghai at noon and arrives in Denver at 5 PM.  Sounds so simple!   **shudder**

Sorry no great photos today - just surviving the flight and handling munchkins.  A few more cute ones from previous days that I haven't shared:

XinYi and her best friend AiNian.  Turns out AiNian is going home to Colorado too!  We'll get together this summer.

Rocking the swimming goggles and subway map:

Safari Zoo!

Eric and I were feeling a little better today, so we went to the Guangzhou Safari Park.  We'd been twice  before, and knew it was very fun.  But each time is different!

First we happened upon a young (15 month old) spider monkey.  We were allowed to pet him, and then watched him scamper around.  At first XinYi wasn't sure about this but she eventally warmed up to it and even felt brave enough to pet the monkey too.  Bonus - she now has full grasp of the English word "monkey", and used it later in the evening when she was telling me a story.

Next up was feeding baby tigers.  I'm sure this is not considered good zoological practice, but we decided to give it a go.  We were allowed to pet the baby tiger also.  We even heard the little one give a little baby tiger roar.

After lunch, we boarded a little "train" (but with wheels so it doesn't need tracks) and toured the safari part of the park.  It is very cool.  We watched our train driver play chicken with a giraffe.  The giraffe was striding quickly across the road, and our driver just kept going and didn't even slow down.  The giraffe did yield in the end, but only inches from the train.  As a result, I can now say I have viewed giraffe knees from a distance of 8".  They are quite bony and have lots of callouses on them.

After the safari park, we toured the koalas (home to the world's only koala twins!  But they all look the same, so who can tell?!?) and the giant pandas.  The pandas were hot and mostly napping.  But still very cool.

Our last stop was to feed giraffes and elephants.  For the elephants, you bought bananas and chucked them into the elephant area.  For the giraffes, you could buy a bundle of leafy sticks.  The giraffes would lean over and grab it with their tongues and take it from your hands.  Xin Yi didn't want to do this herself, but was okay with watching the jie jies do it.  Until Eric had them turn around to take a picture, and one of the giraffes leaned over to check if there was any more food in the girls' hair.  Xin Yi clearly thought they were going to be eaten by giraffes and started shreeking about her jie jies.  I asked Medora to come over to Xin Yi and show her that she was okay.  This mollified Xin Yi a little, but she modified her shreeking to "liang ge jie jies!  liang ge jie jies!" while holding up two fingers (Two sisters!  Two sisters!).  It wasn't until Lian joined her too that she relaxed.  Poor kiddo, it would be terrifying if you thought your beloved sisters were going to be mauled by a giraffe.

As we rode the subway home from the zoo, it was super crowded.  Xin Yi started talking with a young woman in her 20s.  She chatted that woman's ear off.  I could follow along a little bit - she told the woman she had a mom, and a dad, and two jie jies (emphasizing the two by holding up two fingers).  Then she made sure to point each of us out to the woman.  Then she told the woman all about their matching blue t-shirts.  It was very cute.

Tomorrow we have to be up early to fly to Shanghai.  Until later....

Funny signs in the nearby park

Both Eric and I are sick, ugh.  Not food poisoning, thank goodness, but miserable head colds.  Thankfully, the kids haven't gotten it yet ... but that means they are raring to go while we just want to curl up and sleep.

Today was an entirely free day.  We rented a paddle boat at the nearby park, which XinYi refers to with the same word as plane - "fay-jee-uh".  Not sure if that's correct Mandarin, but we went with it.  She is eating sunflower seeds, which she loves.

After lunch, the kids went swimming with Eric for an hour while I napped.  XinYi is still refusing to wear a swimsuit.  For dinner, we decided to brave the subway system ... turns out it was super easy to use, and very clean - albeit very crowded.  I preferred it to taxis as the air was cleaner in the subways.

I leave you with some funny signs from the nearby park:

Note the lack of paving near the sign   :)

It was merely mediocre.  Semi clean and bring your own TP and hand soap.

Okay, this one isn't a sign ... but still hilarious.  Contents did not live up to expectations.

Making Puzzle Soup

We had an hour to waste today, so Harmony made puzzle soup and served us all.

.....

Comments welcome.

odd

Because when I think of buying Rice Wine, I think of Mobile Missile Launchers.

Ni hao from Guangzhou!

Yesterday (Sunday) we had an early start to the day and caught a flight from Zhengzhou to Guangzhou.  It was a LONG day for all of us.  From the 5:30 AM wake up, to lots of waiting around in buses and airports and airplanes, we were all shot.

XinYi was super excited about going on the plane (Mandarin word is pronounced fay-jee but with her country bumpkin dialect, she calls it fay-jee-uh).  She did really well except for a freakout about the seat belt.  She kept telling me "Boo chwan" meaning she didn't want to wear it.  She gasped with surprise when the plane went through the clouds and unleashed a stream of Mandarin.  I couldn't follow most of it, but delight was the underlying emotion.

About to board ... she was so excited about the plane ride, that she tried to push her way up the 

stairs instead of waiting in line.  Oh wait, maybe that's just the way the Chinese do queueing!

Our hotel in Guangzhou is very nice (5 star) and thankfully has a swimming pool, since XinYi has turned into a water monster.  It also has a small playground in the courtyard, which is great for letting off steam.  Chinese parks do not have playgrounds as we think of them, so this was a real find and made Medora & Lian sooo happy.  Of course, it doesn't have the same safety standards as the US, so there's exposed rusty sharp metal edges, yikes!  So we have to keep an eye on it pretty closely but it is great to have.  The other nice thing about this hotel is there are 2 humongous parks right next door.

I understand that Guangzhou has had incessant rain for the last 2 weeks, but the weather cleared a few days ago, and we've been lucky to have good weather so far.  I'm hoping it lasts ... I can't imagine trying to entertain XinYi if we couldn't be outside!!!!

Anyhow, Sunday evening, Eric took the girls swimming in the dark ... everyone thought that was a blast.  The pool is outdoors, but is fairly warm.  It isn't super shallow - 3.5 feet at the shallowest.  I wasn't sure how XinYi would feel about that, but she's totally fine with it.  She also loves the fact that planes fly overhead once every 10 minutes or so ... and everything comes to a stop while she points and shouts "fay jee uh!  fay jee uh!"  One of the hotel employees stopped by to ask us about the family and XinYi chattered her ear off.  The worker said that XinYi's accent is so thick that she can only get about 60% of what she's saying.  That makes me feel better!

Post swimming - playing with Polly Pockets before bedtime

Monday (today) was the dreaded medical exam day.  We knew this was going to be trouble, as XinYi is super sensitive to the remote possibilities of doctors and shots.  At the passport photo office, she started crying and saying "Not want shots".  Ditto at the security line to get on the plane to Guangzhou.   Then add the US government requirement that all immigrants above the age of 2 to have a Tuberculosis blood test.  This was gonna be ugly.  We have two guides with us, but there were 13 families going to the medical exam ... so there wouldn't be an option to have a guide explain every step of it to XinYi.  Eric had the brilliant idea to ask if we could hire a personal guide for the morning, and it was only going to be $50-65 to have someone accompany us personally on the bus and through the medical exam.  Sold!  When we met our guide this morning, we were so happy to see that it was Jason - who had helped us in Guangzhou when we adopted Lian!  He is a super nice guy and he was so good with XinYi.

Jason sat with XinYi and me on the bus ride to the medical clinic, and he chatted her up to break the ice.  She knew something bad was going down, and wasn't her normal chatty self, but she did open up at last and told him all about the plane ride - how she climbed stairs to get on the plane, how the plane went up, the clouds, what she ate, and so on.  Then she told him all about the wonderful swimming pool and how she went swimming with Baba and the big sisters.

I had brought topical Lidocaine, so we applied that to her elbows, wrists, and ankles - anywhere Jason thought they might try for the blood draw.  I wanted to make this as easy as possible for her.

There were 5 stations to go through for the medical exam - first, a photo for the US visa, then an ENT station, a general health station, a height/weight station, and finally the dreaded blood draw.  She wasn't happy about the overall scene, but it really helped having Jason there to talk her through it.  She knew what was happening - the four stations then the blood draw.  When they used an ear thermometer on her, she started crying and babbling in Mandarin, so Jason spoke with her at length.  Jason said she thought they were giving her a shot in her ear, poor kiddo!

Convincing XinYi to let the doctor put a tongue depressor in her mouth - she thought it was a shot.

At the general health station, we had a long wait while the doctor read all of her medical reports, and she was convinced the shots were coming, so Jason calmed her by singing familiar children's songs to her.  Then - surprise - at the blood draw, we weren't allowed to go in!  They took her away from us and behind a curtain.  Jason again stepped in and explained what was going to happen and that we would be right there waiting for her when she was done.  The nurses said that she didn't cry for the actual needle stick, so hopefully the topical lidocaine helped.  Jason had arranged that XinYi would go first of the 13 kids in our group, then we went walking around outside while the others had their turn.  I'm so glad we spent the money to have Jason help us.  On the bus ride home, XinYi invited Jason to go swimming with us.  :)

Smugness after the medical exam, while we were walking around outside waiting for the others.  

She was quite proud of the bandaid on her arm.

After returning from the medical exam, we had lunch at the McDonald's next door to the hotel.  They had happy meals, so all three kids were excited about that.  The choices were hamburger/cheeseburger/nuggets, and french fries or corn.  Xin Yi and Medora chose the corn.  Xin Yi didn't want the bun on her cheeseburger, and also didn't like the cheese.  So we scraped off the cheese and tore the burger into bite size pieces.  The hamburger pieces she happily put into the corn, dumped a packet of ketchup on top, and went to town.

After McDonald's, we went swimming - XinYi was sooooo excited about this.  She still won't wear a swimsuit, but we have convinced her to strip down to her undies at least.  Today she started floating using a swim ring without us supporting her.  She's also starting to paddle her arms and legs while she's in it, like she sees Medora & Lian swimming.  She tried goggles for the first time today, but only after ascertaining there would be no head in the water.   After an hour, she was still raring to go, and we had to drag her out of the pool... and that is how a water monster is born.

This one just cracks me up - soggy undies and goggles around the neck.

Medora & Lian are doing gymnastics conditioning moves.

She was so taken with the goggles that she wore them to dinner  ... and then to bed.  We did remove them once she was asleep.  :)

Water monster

Today was our last day in Zhengzhou.  Another warm, sunny day so we headed to another park named Bishigang.  Because it was a weekend day, there were special vendors/activities set up.  Right next to the ballroom dancing area was an area for kids to do painting - for $2.50, you could buy a picture to paint (the design was printed in black velvet) including a little paint set.  Harmony hasn't shown much interest in arts & crafts yet, but Medora & Lian were very interested, so we got each girl a painting set.  Turns out they all had a great time and spent at least an hour and a quarter painting.

After painting, we bought a small packet of fish food (It is so much fun to try out my mandarin ... I was able to successfully ask people where to buy fish food!) and fed the koi.  Then we headed out of the park for lunch.  This sounds easy enough, but there are only three gates to exit this very large park.  So it took us a while to find a gate, then we had to go up and over a pedestrian overpass, navigating vendors selling everything from wallets to toys to live chicks.  The other side had a super cool open air food vendor market, but we decided that buying street meat was probably not wise.  The only close restuarant we could see was Dico's.  Clearly a chain but we were all hungry so we went in.  Turns out it is a Chinese version of a KFC crossed with McDonalds and its own unique teriyaki/curry flavors.  Yi wasn't a fan of the chicken options (teriyaki dark meat) nor did she like french fries.  But the girl discovered ketchup.  Yep, she ate ketchup for lunch.  Talk about a cheap meal ... feeding your child freebie packets of ketchup.  :)  At first, she was scooping the ketchup up with a french fry and then licking it off the fry (she's not a fan of the french fry ... yet).  Then we got her a spoon and she went to town.  Oh yes, and she got her own Coke.  She's a big fan of Coke and ketchup!

Apres lunch, we headed back into the park for some amusement park rides, ice cream, and blowing bubbles.

After the park, we went swimming in the hotel.  It has a unique feature which they call a whirlpool but by our standards is a kiddie pool - maybe 18" deep and bathtub warm (not hot tub warm, no jets, and no seats).  The first time we went swimming, Yi wouldn't go in the door of the aquatic area.  The second time, she would go near it but not in it and remained fully dressed.  Today, she refused the swim suit again and so went to the pool wearing jeans, a t-shirt and her beloved flower tunic.  She was having a good time horsing around the edge of the pool, even reaching over to splash us with her hand.  But she was NOT going to join us in the pool, or even dangle her legs over the edge.  Then she had a meltdown about sharing a toy with another kiddo, and while I was comforting her, I dipped her bare feet in the whirlpool as a distraction.  It worked ... and pretty soon she was splashing Eric with her legs while I held her on the edge.  That lasted about a minute and then she wanted off my lap and into the water ... still wearing her full outfit.  I figured it was already soaked, and if it made her more comfortable, why not?!?  Once she was in she had a great time.  She asked to take off the pants and tunic after a little bit, so she was romping around in her t-shirt and undies, having a grand time.  She even put her face in the water a few times, and poured water over her head.  She went from adamantly refusing to enter the pool to splashing like a crazy lady within about 3 minutes.  She had so much fun she didn't want to leave to go get dinner.  This is the Food Vacuum turning down dinner to stay in the pool!



Yi was definitely easier to deal with today, PHEW!  Sometimes things didn't go her way (e.g., the amusement park ride stopped and we had to get off) but she was able to roll with it much better today.  We had two meltdowns (see above) but they were fairly short in duration.  I'm hoping we've turned a corner!

That's all for now ... we have to be up early for the flight to Guangzhou.  Wish us luck on the 2.5 hour flight!!!!

odds and ends

I thought I'd chime in with a few tidbits from yesterday.

Harmony started calling Tara "Mommy" yesterday.  It's very cute and she says it with a soft voice.

We happened upon a bouncy castle at the mall yesterday.  Harmony had a great time, so did Lian.

We spent some time feeding the ducks at the Zhengzhou City Park.  I recorded lots of giggles, but am still having trouble uploading videos.

Cranky pants

Today Yi woke up on the wrong side of the bed.  She was fussy and impatient all day long, interspersed with moments of insane cuteness.

Cute moment #1:  We went to a nearby shopping mall to get some extra shirts for her as the shirts I brought are too small (too short and too tight across the chest).  We went into a store and held up a number of options for Yi.  "Boo hao" to all of them.  I was beginning to think that she just wasn't into picking out clothes, when she spotted a cute pink and white flowered flowy tunic and that was the one she wanted.  We tried it on, and it just barely fit around her rib cage.  Of course, they didn't have a larger size AND it was $30 (ouch ... was expecting to pay less than $5).  I explained it was too small - and she insisted it wasn't too small.  I explained again that it was too small, and she again insisted that it was not too small.  We went to take it off and she was having none of it - she even locked her hands behind her back so we couldn't lift it off.  It was going to take both Eric and I to forcibly remove it from her body, and we decided discretion was the better part of valor.  $30 later she was happy happy happy.  Afterward, we went to a large park.  She kept showing off her new top to random people, chattering away and then holding it out so they could see it better.

Cute moment #2:  She was playing with play doh and decided to play doctor on Eric.  She displayed impressive medical procedural knowledge.  She expertly tapped the side of the injection, massaged the injection site, and so forth.

Cute moment #3:  Monologuing.  The girl can talk.  And talk.  And talk.  Medora is going to have a run for her money with this one, and poor Lian is going to have a hard time getting a word in edgewise.  Last night, she went on a monologue to Eric that easily lasted 5 minutes.  She went on and on and on.  She would pause occasionally, and Eric would ask a question (in English), and she would launch right back into it.  Tonight, she was monologuing while preparing imaginary food for us.  I couldn't follow along with her story, but she was very busy pretending the desk was some kind of kitchen and preparing imaginary food? drink? in a cup and saucer.  Here's a little bit from dinner tonight - this was fairly restrained - when she gets on a full monologue there's no stopping.

Having trouble? Click here to view the monologue video on YouTube


Cute moment #4:  Ice cream in the park.  As a parent, I love treating all three kids to ice creams at a tourist trap park for the princely sum of $1.20 total.  We chatted briefly with a Chinese family that was also having ice cream, and Yi told them all about the new shirt, and held it out for them to appreciate.

Cute moment #5:  We attempted the second bath tonight.  Bath #1 was not a hit on Tuesday night.  It required a phone call with the guide to negotiate what she wanted (turned out she wanted me in the bath with her, holding her, so she wouldn't slip).  As soon as she got into the tub with me, she stiffened her whole body, put her hands over her eyes, and started crying about having her hair washed.  I assured her we wouldn't wash her hair, but she was still wary and tense.  Bath #1 lasted less than 5 minutes.  Tonight was bath #2, and what a difference!  Three times, she wanted me to reassure her that we wouldn't wash her hair  (thank goodness for our Mandarin lessons!!!!).  Then once she was in, she had a blast.  We gave her the lids off some bathroom products (shave gel, deodorant, etc) and she had a blast pouring water with them.  She was upset that the bath had to end.

Photos from the Zhengzhou orphanage

Here are the kids in Yi's preschool classroom saying goodbye.

 This is the room where Yi spent a lot of time.

 This little boy came right up to me and started chattering away.  He was so friendly.

One of the buildings - the complex is roughly a square shape.

 More photos of the grounds.

Filled with sadness ... a visit to Zhengzhou Children's Welfare Institute

Harmony spent much of her first years in foster care, but was transferred to the Zhengzhou Children's Welfare Institute (ZZ CWI) in mid-December 2012.  So she spent 4 months at ZZ CWI.  Since she spent so little time there, we considered skipping the orphanage visit.  There was also the worry that she'd want to stay there, with the comfort of her nannies and friends that she knew for the last 4 months versus these strangers who she'd only known for a few days.  In the end we decided to go as I wanted to ask if there was any possibility that they had the note her parents left with her.

It is a big facility, housing 700-800 kids, and is under expansion.  ZZ CWI has several foreign charities helping with the children's care.  The kids lucky enough to be in these NGO-run rooms have extra nannies, an opportunity to attend preschool, etc.  Harmony was in CCAI's Lily Orphan Care Center (LOCC) area, so she had the benefit of extra nannies, better nutrition, etc.

She was a little bit agitated when we arrived.  I thought it was the hot, exhaust filled, ventilation-free hour long ride in the back row of a van (I was feeling a little bit agitated myself ;), but no - our CCAI guide talked with Harmony and said that she was worried we were bringing her back to leave her.  She relaxed a little bit once our guide explained that we were just here to say a final goodbye to her friends.  Even so - she insisted on being carried the entire time - she was not taking any chances!

So many kids greeted her - it was heartwarming and heartbreaking to see all these kids waiting for families.  We were approached by some older kids - I'd say maybe 9 or 10 years old - who wanted to talk with us.  They knew who Harmony was and wanted to say hello and ask questions about Medora and Lian.  My tiny amount of Mandarin is so woefully inadequate - I wish I could have had a more meaningful conversation.

We saw the sleeping area and saw her crib, which is a very nice room, light and bright and clean.  The preschool area was bustling with kids and so busy!  She told the kids about her mama, baba, and 2 big sisters.  As we left the preschool area, the kids spontaneously all shouted "Bye bye Xing Yi".  It was so sweet.

The nannies asked her if she wanted to give them a hug.  "No" she replied and clutched me tighter.  They nannies asked if she wanted to come back to the orphanage.  "No" she replied "I want to go to America with my mama and baba".  As we were leaving the room, one nanny playfully grabbed her arm as if to pull her off me.  Harmony grew claws of steel around me and screamed "Boo Yao!  Boo Yao!" (Not Want!  Not Want!)

I'm honestly just floored that in just 2 1/2 days she has so firmly decided that she never wants to go back there.  I expected some tears about a nanny she missed, or showing some signs of fondness.  Not an iota.  In just 2 1/2 days, she's decided that whatever we can offer is way better than the place where she spent the last 4 months - and what have we offered?  It hasn't been super scintillating (mostly just two days full of boring paperwork and long bus rides) - but she does have interaction and attention of all 4 of us.  What an amazing and awful thing for such a young child to process.

The words are escaping me tonight - but it was so deeply meaningful to see how Harmony has cast her lot with us.  And my heart aches for all the kids still waiting.

Pictures to follow!

A trip to the park

We spent the morning at a nice park nearby.  Stairs were used as jungle gyms, since there was no jungle gym there.  The Chinese do not really believe in jungle gyms. It's odd.

We practiced fishing.

We got our first ice cream in the sun.  We misunderstood the Vendor initially, when we thought she said the three treats would be $12.50.  We have seen that prices of some items in China have risen substantially in the last 3 years, but were shocked.  Then we realized she wanted $1.25 for the three.  Done!  Ice cream tomorrow?  Don't mind if I do!

Get near my treat and I'll poke you!

Dinner tonight was at Pizza Hut.  Were needed a break fron the Chinese food.  She ate a huge amount of noodles with Bolognese sauce, then moved on to her first Pepperoni Pizza.  A day of firsts!

Another first!  We got her out of the big bulky clothes she came in and into some of the clothes we brought.  The heavy quilted orphanage standard-issue garments add about 10lbs to a 30lb kid.

I'm a little low on content today.  I took mostly videos, and I cannot get them to upload.  Sorry!

Yi goes shopping at Walmart

Today was a busy day, with 4 different offices to visit (civil affairs office to finalize the adoption, notary office to sign more papers, passport photo office, and passport application office).  Sounds simple, but took 6.5 hours and generally involves lots of bus rides and then waiting and child wrangling (x 3!!!) in a small enclosed space.  Ugh.  Glad that's over!

We hit a nearby Walmart after the day of errands to stock up on snacks, as the Food Vacuum had made a large dent in our supplies.  We wheeled by the toy aisle with no reaction from Yi - I had feared that might cause an issue, but she didn't bat an eye.  Now the food storage aisle ... that was a different story!  As we passed by the Tupperware aisle, she got quite animated and insisted that we go there.  She selected a small orange tupperware that cost ~30 cents and was so happy with it, chattering away about putting food in it.  She took it to dinner and brought home the leftover rice in it.  The rice lasted about 20 minutes -- we walked the half block back to the hotel and as soon as we were in our room, she proceeded to finish it off.

Today we discovered that Yi's best friend from the orphanage is also being adopted this week by a Colorado family!  When we arrived at the civil affairs office this morning, Yi made a beeline for this girl and immediately shared her snow cracker with her.  I was taken aback - not that Yi was sharing, but just her direct approach to this girl - she literally put the cracker into this kid's mouth.  Her friend is much younger (~18 months old) and she told the friend's adoptive mom that the girl can call her jie jie (older sister).   Yi definitely embodies the good and bad parts of the older sister role.  When her friend was fussing, Yi was very attentive and tried to cheer her up (even sharing the coveted USB drive!!!!).  On the flip side, when her friend had something she wanted, Yi had no qualms with using her size and dexterity to simply grab it out of her friend's hand.  We exchanged contact info and will try to get the girls together.

Tomorrow (Wednesday), we have nothing on our schedule ... mostly we are now just waiting for her passport to be processed.  Looking forward to visiting the large park near the hotel.

Getting to know Harmony a bit

Gotcha Day went really well! She did not like the big room at the civil affairs office - 15+ families and guides milling about was not her idea of a good time. So we actually met her outside on the building steps and that went over much better. Having Medora & Lian with us was a huge icebreaker. Oddly enough, she doesn't mind being out and about in the hotel, the tour bus, and on the streets, so I'm not sure what it was about that room that she did not like.

 Her nickname is the Food Vacuum. She is a voracious eater and packed away a ton of lunch and dinner. When the noodle dish at dinner tonight was getting toward the end and the noodles were small and scattered on the plate, she allowed us to feed her ... so sweet. When the noodle remnants got so small we couldn't pick them up any longer with chopsticks or a fork, she pulled the dish right in front of her and proceeded to harvest all noodle remnants ... a noodle piece 1/8" long was not lost on her. She's not picky at all, and channeled her inner Medora by eating a raw lemon wedge.

 She is very smiley and giggles a lot. She's enamored with her older sisters and orchestrated several picture moments today where she insisted on posing with her sisters, then jabbered in Mandarin and waved her arms to indicate that Baba should take photos. Clearly NOT shy or reticent! 

Developmentally, she seems totally on track. She speaks a TON of Mandarin. She jabbers away with anyone else who she can get to stop and talk with her - waiters in restaurants, workers in the hotel, etc. I can understand some of it and respond to her. I'm so thankful for the little bit of Mandarin I do know ... she clearly expects to communicate with us and gets frustrated when we don't understand what she is asking. The girls have been teaching her to count to ten in English already, and she repeats a lot of our English phrases already.

 We had sent her a care package with a USB thumb drive, and asked the orphanage to fill it with any pictures they had of her. They not only complied with that request, but sent a lovely photo album filled with pictures of her. She found the USB drive at Gotcha Day and immediately claimed it as hers. She has not let it out of her sight! I'm not sure why the USB drive is so precious. I did get it away from her for about 60 seconds to copy the photos onto my computer. You'll see it in her hand in any picture (white with yellow accents), but I especially love the picture of her sleeping with the USB drive clutched in her hand.

 She had been sleeping in a crib at the orphanage, so we asked the hotel to give us a crib in our room. Harmony was having NONE of it. If we pointed to it, she'd say "boo shi" and then touch one of the regular beds. So we ended up pulling the bedding out of the crib and putting it on the floor. That was fine with her. She went to bed so sweetly, combing her doll's hair as she drifted off to sleep.

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