Day 5: Tuesday, May 31, 2005
She smiled and walked today!
When we left our room this morning, we saw a baby (Katelin) from Abby's orphanage in the hall. They immediately recognized each other and Abby smiled - really big! Then we got in the elevator and she saw another familiar face (I guess) and had a really big smile when she looked in the mirror.
Her walk is very wobbly, so I don't think she's been walking for very long.
She has a new trick. When she wants a hug, she holds both arms over her head (arms by ears - she's been in gymnastics training already I guess) and lunges at me. I am still the only person she really trusts or seems to like. Hopefully she'll warm up to dad and Steph soon. She won't sit alone or let me out of her site without screaming. When I am in site, she has to be touching me. Not just holding hands, but sitting in my lap. She's very loveable.
Notice the french fries in both hands?
Baby Wins!!!
Stephie keeps trying.
Here's the view from our Nanning Hotel Room.
Abby is a good eater. She had a full bottle plus rice, 1 egg, cheerios, congee, and banana for breakfast. Steph and I finally found some food we could eat. Dad has no problem - although this morning he thought he'd be adventurous and try some weird BBQ thing on the buffet. When he started to eat it, he realized it was some kind of unidentifiable critter. He reconsidered.
Isn't she precious?
Most of the families took taxies to the mall today. We even went to Wal-Mart! Everyone is friendly and polite.
Twelve of the 15 families went shopping. When we all got out of our taxies, it looked like we were invading the mall. We soon all separated. We got many stares and smiles. Some families even heard "lucky baby".
Can anyone identify this?
It seems that all the babies will ride and nap in strollers - except ours. We had lunch at KFC - finally more food to eat. Except the chicken breast sandwich was dark meat - yuk.
There are 'eateries' all over the place. The people appear to be testing out some Fear Factor items. It is quite scary. So far we are healthy - knock on wood. Abby seems to have a bit of a cold. Hopefully when she feels better and is out of shock, she'll come to life. She doesn't play or socialize or anything just yet. Stephie said "Oh great, we got the boring baby." Steph is always anxious to change her diaper - how exciting. No poopoo yet though. She may have to get De's magic poopoo potion.
Dad, Steph, Kaitlin, and her Dad went swimming. The pool is nice and big. I'm so glad Steph has a friend to play with. There are sooo many Kaitlin's on this trip. Steph's older friend who's 10, her younger friend who's 7, Abby's friend who's 2, and another baby named Katri. Abby and I stayed in so that she could nap and I could update our friends and family back home. We hope to swim later.
WOW! What a Great Pool
Nap Time
The hotel hosted a birthday party for all the girls. They served cake and we all took pictures of the families so we could remember them. Everyone is very friendly. It is so nice to be on the same floor and to go anywhere in the hotel and see a familiar face.
Party Time
Celebration
Abby loved the cake - especially the fresh fruit.
Here are some of the family pictures from the celebration. Sorry we didn't get everyone.
Danielle and her mom
Katelin and her mom
Ciara and her mom
Isabella and her mom
Molly and her mom
Joycelyn and her mom
Kylie and her sister, Kaitlin
Dinner time! Getting dressed is usually a challenge but getting easier. Abby's head seems a little large, so getting into and out of her shirts is a little funny. She doesn't think so.
It's A Struggle
Ready for Dinner
Here We Go
We went to dinner with Stephanie's friend's family. They are fun. Al keeps saying that they eat all the animal parts here. Now I believe it. We went to a very fancy buffet. They had camel, pigeon, lamb, sushi, raw octopus, many unidentifiable items, and even a whole chicken cut up raw, including the head and feet. YUK YUK YUK. Thanks to Al for pointing that out to us.
Stephanie had french fries, a sweet potato and chicken. Abby tried lots of stuff and played a Cheerio game the entire time. I played with the stacking rings with her for more than an hour before dinner and she would not play. But during dinner she stacked the Cheerios in my hand and then unstacked them. We'll try the stacking rings tomorrow. She even put the cheerios in her own mouth and mine.
She does not feed herself. She won't even hold her bottle. She will not drink from a glass or a sippy cup. She hates OJ , water and Apple juice. Wow. She has lots to learn.
When she is in her crib, she will not sit or stand until you tell her that it is okay. She just lies on her back looking around. I hope she's in there somewhere......and will come out of her shell soon. I'm a little worried about her. One of the things we learned about in our adoption education is that some babies/kids go into shock when they are removed from their environment. I hope it will soon pass.
Going to Dad and Steph seems to be getting more difficult. Hopefully before the long plane ride home, she will be able to sit alone or with someone else.
Abby and I never made it to the pool. Everyone was too tired after dinner.
Wednesday we are going on a site-seeing tour with the group. Nanning is the capital of GuangXi and it is huge - 6.3 million people. There are lots of bikes and motorcycles - even during the night. It is 4am right now and the streets are still fairly busy. Steph and I are having a hard time finding food to eat so we run out of energy quickly. I had to take 2 naps on Monday - that's why I figured I was getting up so early. I didn't take any naps yesterday, and still here I am up at 4. Abby's crib is right beside my bed and she tosses and turns a lot and makes strange noises while she sleeps. Steph keeps waking up about 5 each day. Dad keeps on sleeping.
Stephie took this picture from our hotel window. The streets are almost always this busy - except at 4am.
People seem to drive all over the road, but we haven't seen any accidents. We've heard sirens 1 time since we've been here. All the streets that we have been on are like this - some are just skinnier. If you want to turn left, it appears that you wait for 20 - 30 seconds and then you just turn. Oncoming traffic will stop. The busses and taxies get so close to the bikes, you think that they are going to hit them. Lots of people ride with umbrellas to block the sun. Many ride 2 to a bike. We've even seen 3. It is very hard to find an overweight person here - maybe it has something to do with all these bikes.
It seems, the bigger the vehicle the more right-of-way you have. Busses rule, then vans, taxies, and cars, then motorized bikes, then bikes, then finally pedestrians.
Signing off for now.
