Patience 8/26/2009

The wait for paperwork continues with not much for us to do. We try to avoid going stir crazy in the hotel, but the heat outside limits our venturing out time, and our abilities to get too far are limited. We enjoy visiting with family at home using Skype and spent a good part of the morning doing that. It's fun talking with the other families at breakfast to compare notes on how everyone is doing. For the most part, I'd say everyone is hanging in there.

Once we got the morning routine taken care of we headed to the park around the corner and ventured into new area (it's huge), only for FuJiao to decide she was hungry. Back to the hotel for lunch at our usual spot and then a little down time in our room to escape the heat. We met our guide Hannah for an outing to a technology museum that's for children. There were some areas FuJiao really enjoyed that were for her age, and some that were for older children but she still had a good time pushing all the buttons. It had robots, water stations, ways to learn about the area, electricity, and more.

We tried McDonalds for dinner and FuJiao likes fries, and was willing to try my hamburger. They do side dishes of corn, and she loved that. Last night she didn't know what to think about an ice cream cone, but tonight she took mine quickly and ate most of it.

We were able to have Hannah talk with FuJiao and ask her some questions for us. We can't get her to try swimming at the pool. She won't even get on a swimming suit, and we were just curious why. I don't think she's ever been swimming and if that's the case, a pool would seem a bit scary. I think many things will come with time and seeing brothers and sisters doing things and realizing they can be fun. Also, we had her ask about getting some more shoes. She has this cute pair of sandals she wore on the day we met her (think Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz type sandal). As cute as they are, they just don't look all that comfortable to walk any distance in. We tried yesterday to show her some shoes at the store and she wouldn't try any on. Our best guess is that her favorite nanny got these for her and she just loves them because of it. Hannah explained she will grow and it will get cold at our house, so she will need more shoes. She said "alright" but we've yet to shop again. Our final question was about Todd. We were told before we came that many children bond with one parent more than the other and often it's the dad. In our case it would very much be the mom. She's quit holding Todd's hand, hugging him, and prefers not to acknowledge him. He says if this rate keeps up he will be sleeping in the hall before we get home! When Hannah tried talking to her, she told her that mom has beautiful hair. Hannah pointed out that FuJiao has short hair like her dad so they are similar, and her response was that she was hungry (way to avoid the subject on that one!) She hasn't answered Todd's chinese questions for a couple of days and we thought she just couldn't understand him as well. Now we think she's just being a stinker!

The good news is how quickly she's adding English words. She's already saying a handful of words, and seems to understand things we say often. I was counting as we walked up the stairs...1.2.3..and she added 4, and has also gotten many numbers up to 10. They must have worked with her at the orphanage. She is also a little parrot most of the time, my favorite being when she copied me saying "okie dokie"!

They've changed our flight to leave here from Friday evening to Friday morning, so really only one more day in Nanning.

Things to remember about Nanning:Riding in cabs that make it feel like the worlds largest game of chicken!Sound of bikes, cabs, and cars beeping.White bed, comforter, and pillow with FuJiao's black hair sticking out (she pulls the covers right up).Our favorite breakfast buffet and restaurant across the street for lunch.Our guide Hannah and the families we've met.Trying steamed bunsStreet sweepers, buggy cabs, address cards from the hotel to show cab drivers for directions.A million, billion scooters!The People's Park around the corner from our hotel.The swimming pool we never swam in.