Following Where He Leads...: Lily Kay

We had a good day. Not a great day...but a good one. After the great day we had yesterday I was hopeful...overly optimistic. These things take time. Of course. I know that. I know that from our three previous adoptions. It's often “two steps forward, one step back.” For instance, instead of waking up smiley like she had the previous two mornings, Zibing woke up definitely not smiling...and avoiding eye contact (a "first"...and not a good one). But thankfully it wasn't too long before she was smiling and laughing again.

Our tour today was to “An Old Road”. Seriously, that is what it is called. It was fun and we bought a few neat things in the shops. But the big thing for us about this tour was that it was the first time that Lily Kay let Jas hold her! And she gave him his first kiss!

After the tour we had our guide drop us and the Parkers off at the new restaurant that we found yesterday. Wow, Lily Kay loves. her. some. noodles! (She practically squealed when we they were on the breakfast buffet yesterday for the first time.)

Back in the room, the girls and I climbed in the bed and I read them all the books we brought (just 4, wish we'd brought more) before naptime yesterday. Lily Kay sat in my lap, and when we turned off the lights, she didn't get up...and I wasn't about to set her off. So I just slunk down until I was laying down and she just stayed right there on me and took her nap – yay! It was two hours and it wasn't very comfortable, but like I said, I wasn't about to be the one to move.

After nap, we finally got to do the boats at the park. Noah and Daniel, you would have loved this and we wish you could have done it with us! We had a boat that looked like an old red car! And it wasn't a paddle boat, it had a motor (a very sick sounding one, but neverthless...). Jas let the girls take turns driving us and they had a ball. And I got some great pictures as we made a cirlce around the island that the park is on.

The biggest holiday of the year in China, Spring Festival (also known as New Year), is just around the corner (it begins February 14th and lasts for two weeks). It has been so much fun seeing the city decorate and prepare for this big holiday! Before our eyes the last few days, beatiful lanterns and other decorations have gone up and a bazillion flowers have been planted! This trip was perfect timing in relation to the holiday - we get to see a lot of excitement...but miss out on the actual craziness (I don't think adoption agencies let you travel during the Spring Festival, maybe govt offices are closed? And apparently you couldn't get a hotel room, or couldn't afford it if you could find one!)

We had Pizza Hut delivered to our room for supper (a trick we learned from some of the other adoptive couples!). We ordered two large cheese pizzas and had a picnic on the floor of our room. Lily Kay, who was probably so hungry by that time, immediately picked up a piece and began eating it! She ate about half of it but then the noodles we prepared for her (because we knew she wouldn't eat pizza) were ready...and she never gave the pizza a second glance. I'm going to need wisdom when we get home on how to feed her, how to transition her to how we eat...because our children do not eat ramen noodles (and certainly not for 2-3 meals a day!). But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it!
Here are some other miscellaneous tidbits about our new daughter:

-Zibing LOVES that Jas has a picture of her on his Blackberry! She goes and picks it up and shows it around to us and says a whole phrase in Chinese, the only part of which we understand is “............Zibing!”

-She now calls Jas “Baba” (“daddy” in Chinese) exclusively, after calling him Shu Shu (uncle) for the first couple of days. Every time she called him Shu Shu, we would say, in a funny/playing way “Bu Shu Shu – Baba” (“not Uncle - Daddy”)...and she has it down now. And it sounds precious!

-She's already trying some English words. She has said: 1-10 (when we're reading 10 Little Ladybugs), Happy Birthday to You (we did NOT teach her this and we were shocked into laughter when she said it!)

-She is already totally potty-trained, even at night (don't need all these pull-ups I brought – yay!)

-Another good sign that she is getting used to these crazy foreigners: the first couple of days, when she needed to go to the restroom, she would shut (and lock!) the bathroom door, but she now just goes right in there to do her business, even if one of us is already in there do something else, like brushing teeth. Definitely a good sign!

-When she wants to watch a Mei Mei video (which is all the time...we don't always say “yes”), she'll go sit in the chair in front of the laptop and say “(various other Chinese words).....Zhu ni Sheng-ri kuai le” (“Happy Birthday to You”), which is one of the many songs on the video. It is so cute!

-It took a couple of days, but she will now let us brush her teeth. Dr. Page, you're going to have a field-day with her little mouth!

-While she is a hard sleeper, she is also a crazy sleeper – one of those all-over-the-bed sleepers (just like her big brother Daniel). She slept with me last night, and I got to experience the feet on me!

-She is very neat. She got onto me (in Chinese, of course) for leaving my jammies on the floor!

-Her behavior is showing that she is feeling more comfortable with us – she's starting to test us a little (which is a good thing). She has started saying the word “Miao” (“no”) quite a bit more – and she doesn't smile sweetly and shake her head anymore! (I say she has started testing us “a little” because I would never sell this little survivor short and say that this is all she is capable of!)

-Whining is a universal thing – easily understood no matter what language you speak!

-She plays rough and is going to have a big time with her big brothers. (Her big sis isn't really into playing rough.)

-She just started puckering up for kisses, and you can tell she's never done it before and it looks a little funny and it is so cute! I hope to catch a picture of it before she learns how to do it right because this probably won't last long.

I'm trying to be patient, but I'm itching to know her, like we know our other children. I want to go to the buffet and know what she'll want. I want to know what her favorite book is. Which colored cup she'll choose at home. Will she prefer to swing on our swingset, or use the slide? When we order from our local Chinese place at home, will she want egg rolls (like Noah), or wonton soup (like Daniel), or Sweet-and-Sour chicken (like Elisabeth), or something else that is uniquely her favorite? I want her to not only tolerate our affection, but welcome it...or better yet, seek it out.

But knowing a person like that takes time. And so I'll be patient. But I sure am looking forward to the day when we can put a check mark by all those above items!

All over the place...