Monday,
November 10, 2008
Today turned out to be one of the more relaxing and
enjoyable days we’ve had since coming to China. We didn’t
have to be anywhere until mid afternoon so after breakfast
we joined another adoptive family and walked down to the
neighborhood park, where we hung out and let the kids play
for a couple of hours. The park was huge, with many
gardens and an amusement park area with rides in addition
to a really neat playground with what almost looked like
exercise equipment for young and old alike.
We grabbed a quick lunch when we got back to the hotel and
then rode a van with our guide over to Shamien Island,
where we had Maili’s medical exam and then did a little
shopping. Holt stayed at the hotel with MeMe and Pa so no
photos of him to post today. We ate dinner at Lucy’s on
the island, where we enjoyed some American food and
southern style iced tea. The kids all played hacky sack in
the courtyard after dinner and Maili had a great time
playing with the big kids. She seems to get along well
with other kids and definitely prefers older kids for some
reason instead of kids her age. Maybe it’s because she can
convince them to pick her up and carry her. She is
definitely accustomed to being carried and we have to make
her walk, she certainly does not choose to do so. Her
receptive language is growing every day and she has
learned a few signs to tell us what she wants. We are
pretty sure she understands most of what we say but she
still has selective hearing when she doesn’t want to do
what we want her to do! There were lots of other adoptive
families on the island and we ran into a few that we had
met before. It was neat seeing how each of the kids has
changed over the course of a week; they’ve all adapted
well and their individual personalities are coming out.
Maili cried for us for the first time tonight; we were
going to leave her in MeMe and Pa’s room for a few minutes
to run downstairs and for the first time she actually
noticed we weren’t in the room and started calling for us
and crying (of course we went back to get her
immediately). Previously she has been content to go or
stay with anyone and hasn’t seemed to miss us. I think she
is finally beginning to realize we are her parents and we
aren’t going away. She seemed to like us and be happy to
be with us from the beginning but she was also happy to be
with anyone else who would hold her or play with her and
would run up to strangers on the street asking them to
hold her. We’ve noticed that she hasn’t done that since
she’s been in Guangzhou, in fact, she stays pretty close
to us even in crowds now and mostly prefers for one of us
to be holding her unless she is in the stroller. She is
also beginning to throw a few tantrums when she doesn’t
get her way but they don’t last long and then she will let
us hold her and comfort her when she’s done pitching a
fit. We have some work ahead of us in the sharing
department but that will come with time.
|
Good Morning Sunshine!
Sharing a cookie with a friend
Yum! |
