Happy Birthday Anna!!!!!

2 years old today!!!  Our hotel gave the gift of a beautiful and delicious birthday cake and Welcome House is treating us and Mary to dinner tonight.  Anna was so excited over her cake she grabbed a fistful of icing while we were coaxing her to blow out the candles.  After she was cleaned up she had a whole piece and wanted more.  Timothy, Elias, Natalie and Nana & Pop-pop (and whoever else is at their home :)) are celebrating with a Dairy Queen cake.   

 

This morning we had a tour of the countryside and a village.  It was less than an hour drive.  The city just sort of stops and the country starts.  It was quiet and beautiful and we heard birds for the first time since we have been here.  Mary said the people in the country are healthier than the people in the city and probably happier too.  

I will never complain about doing laundry again. 

Dinner

Tonight at dinner Anna actually ate some Cheerios instead of feeding them to us.  Other highlights on the video, besides Matt's chopstick talent, is Matt trying to get her to say "ba ba" which is "daddy" in Mandarin and all she will say is "ma ma" :).

New Parent Stuff

I horrified our dear guide the other day when I told her that in America we have our children in diapers until about age three.  Anna came to us China potty trained and Mary is working very hard with us to understand it.  We see babies being carried and toddler aged children with split pants: The pants are open down the backside and nada is on underneath.  Every hour or two they are squatted over a potty (which is a hole in the floor) or sat on a child's squat pot.  They stay there until they go.  We cannot fathom the patience that must be involved in stopping what you are doing every hour or two to help them squat and also make sure they stay there until they go.  The day Anna came to us we went to the market and bought her a child's squat pot for just a few bucks.  It was obvious she knew what it was for.  It was also obvious she was good at testing if she really had to sit there.  She sat down fine but would make eye contact and stand up.  We would move toward her and she would plop back down.  Mary said sometimes children have to be held down with force until they go but Chinese have strong backs so it is ok.  I think we will manage without the restraint :).  We still have diapers on her since we are rookies at this China potty training.  She will only wet them while sleeping or if she has a chance to get in the squat position.  When we were at the park yesterday Mary said it is ok for children to squat next to a tree if they have to go.  Mental note made to absolutely go around ALL puddles.  We would have an audience if they saw us maneuver taking off her diaper cover and diaper without letting her get into a squat position.

Last night Anna had ice cream.  We suspect it was the first time with as big as her eyes got.  She wanted more and more.  She cried lots of tears yesterday when it was time to leave our room to go to supper.  Usually we tell her it is time to go bye-bye and she is so excited to get her socks and shoes on and go.  Yesterday though something went off inside of her and we have no idea what caused it.  We think it was teething related but of course wonder if there was something more.  Time will tell.  Please continue to pray for her and this immense transition. 

People's Park

Little girl is sleeping extra long for her nap so I had a chance to download and now upload some more pics and video.  Today we had an "official" tour of the People's Park.  We went yesterday on our own after breakfast out of desperation to establish some sort of routine.  The park is very close to our hotel and we don't have to cross the street to get there.  (More on the traffic here in another post.)  It is a wonderful place.  There is grass and we even caught a glimpse of some butterflies and dragonflies.  (Are we sounding a little homesick?)  Matt thought he saw a squirrel but it turned out to be a very large rat :).  It has an amusement park, lake, places of historical interest and lots and lots of walking paths.  There are many retired men and women who gather for ti chi, playing instruments, singing, playing games, etc.  In the lake there are tens of thousands of koi.  Our guide Mary told us that it is considered good luck to feed them so there is no fishing or catching of them allowed.  Good to know :).  In the amusement park there are stands where you can shoot a BB gun at a wall of balloons and if you pop a balloon you win a prize.  In China the citizens are not permitted guns of any type so we were laughing at the thought of Matt sitting down to do this and popping an entire line of balloons.  We were actually almost hysterical at this thought.  Matt said yesterday "people about break their necks" turning around to continue to stare at us after they walk past.  We were told by our agency that in China it is not considered to be rude to stare but wow, we didn't expect this much attention.  In defense of the Chinese here in Nanning, we are not a common sight.  In the seven days we have been here we have seen exactly seven people who were not Chinese in appearance, and they were all in our hotel.  We have seen one woman with wavy hair and one little girl with wavy hair.  Zero with curly hair which I cannot pull back because I am then seemingly unrecognizable to Anna.  We have seen zero men with facial hair as well.  It is also so hot and humid here we are continuously drenched in sweat when out walking around and have yet to see a Nanning native sweating.  Add in us pushing around a Chinese child who insists on wearing an Old Navy baseball hat and holding a toddler spoon in her left hand with her arm completely extended.  I'd probably "about break my neck" too :).

Anna on her ride.

Our WONDERFUL guide Mary.

Flower nursery at the People's Park.  Those are ALL apartment buildings in the background. 

What we see when we go out: Anna's hat on, spoon in hand, arm extended and stares. 

Nanning Zoo

One of the notes from Anna's foster mother was that she likes new toys.  This sort of puzzled me.  What kid doesn't?  Today we had the opportunity to say "Oh, THAT'S what she meant." 

We spent the morning at Nanning zoo.  We had a great time despite sweating uncontrolably.  There weren't a ton of animals but a bear, tiger, lion and acrobatic show as well as a dolphin show.  Anna wasn't terribly interested in the shows but sat on my lap very contentedly.  When we were at the dolphin show we were about a quarter of the way through it when a family with a young boy came and sat next to us.  The boy had a pink squeaky elephant.  She zeroed in on that pink squeaky elephant, bolted from my lap and made it crystal clear that she wanted it.  There was NO distracting her.  I put some distance between us and the toy but she was not letting it go.  We left the stadium and walked to a place where we could still see the show.  There happened to be a toy vendor there but no pink squeaky elephants.  She was content though with a new car.  On our way out Mary worked to find her a pink squeaky elephant.  Less than a dollar and a wonderful souviener for Anna's first trip to a zoo. 

Video and Photos from Meeting Anna and First 24 Hours

 

Meeting Anna!!!

Leaving with her!

Paperwork in the hotel room.  Sealing it with our signatures and thumbprints.

Finalizing her adoption the next day.  Stamping her right foot.

Leaving the notary.  She is officially ours!!!

What you don't see is the video prior that shows Anna laughing whenever Matt would pound the ball and her throwing the ball back to Matt.  I had to clarify because in this one it looks like he is trying to annoy her.  I chose this one though because you can see and hear more of her.  

Like our rec room area :)?  This where we sit and play Scrabble when she takes her afternoon nap. 

Meeting and Our First 24 Hours Together

We were prepared for the worst in the amount of information we would receive about Anna as well as her transitioning to us.  We never imagined the best case scenario, but I think we have it.  Yesterday when we picked her up we received a two page translation of her daily eat and sleep routine, what she eats and how she eats it (HUGE for us on account of the cleft), what she likes and is afraid of, what her personality is like, etc.  We also had the opportunity to ask every possible question to the orphanage's foster care contact person.  And it gets better. One of the questions we asked was when she came from foster care to the orphanage.  That morning they picked her up from her foster home and she came immediately to the meeting place.  The foster care contact person is obviously a seasoned and caring woman.  She provided us then with a diary written by Anna's foster mother.  Today she provided us with over 60 pictures of Anna growing up and her foster family and their home along with mementos and gifts from her foster mother.  Most of these items were given to us when the orphanage director was not in the room and we were shushed from talking about them when he returned.  Thank you just doesn't cut it but that was all we had.  

And Anna.  Instead of appearing institutionalized she almost seems spoiled!  She clearly makes us aware of her wants and dislikes and has us laughing with her imitations.  If she doesn't want something she throws it.  Hard.  If we weren't so impressed with her strength and aim we might be a little annoyed.  Something to deal with later though.  She was making eye contact with us from the start.  I was so not prepared for that I almost don't know how to interact with her!  She wasn't scared at all when we met.  They said she stared at our picture for much of the ride there.  I was so glad we knew to wear the same clothing as in the picture after hearing that.  She had the toys and books that we sent to her.  She LOVES the music toy Elias picked out for her!  Her eating yesterday was very much trial and error unfortunately resulting on the error side.  Today she ate very well and loved the American stuff.  It is all very soft and you have to get it in just right or it comes back out.  Mouth and not nose thankfully!  (Food tends to come out the nose of cleft babies.)  She is not talking at all (probably due to the cleft) but is always babbling and "chirping."  Her hair is very thin and we were told that it fell out due to a calcium and zinc deficiency.  Thus she has a bit of a mohawk look going right now.  She loves her hair.  She is always touching it and smoothing it down.  She sticks her four fingers in her mouth and then wipes it in her hair.  Today she even spit in her hand and smoothed her hair down with the spit!  We are assuming this is what her foster mother did.  Anna was obviously very well cared for and loved immensely so we can't get too disgusted by it.  Going to sleep was a lot better tonight.  There was a lot of energy last night and today for nap there was pure rage which is an indicator that she was grieving her foster mom.  I have no doubt her foster mom is grieving as well so please, please, please say a prayer her too. 

Tomorrow we have a free day so I will upload photos and videos!

Thank you for all of your words of encouragement and sustaining prayers!  We deeply appreciate each and every one!