Trick or Treat!

Happy Halloween from Guangzhou, China.  Today was an early day as we had an 8:30 am appointment in the US Consulate for the Oath Taking Ceremony and for a final review of our paperwork to get Lauren's visa.  Her Chinese passport was issued yesterday, so now we are waiting for the US Visa to be issued for the passport.  Lauren will actually become a US citizen as soon as we pass through immigration in Los Angeles and the immigration officer will process the documents at the airport.  After much protest from miss Lauren, I finally got her to wear her chinese dress.

"Ok, I'll wear the dress if you let me suck on my fingers!"

The water bottle is one of her favorite toys

As we had to leave before 8 am, I fed Lauren a banana and had her eat cheerios to tie her over.  Our guide said that we would be back in the hotel by 10:00 am and can have our breakfast then if we choose.  Today she sat on the seat of the bus by herself for about 10 minutes before climbing back on my lap.  So we are practicing with her sitting next to me whenever possible in preparation for the flight.  I don't know what the policy is on take off and landing regarding a baby in your lap.  Also today she actually went up to Dad and asked to sit on his lap!  So of course Dad was happy to obliged and gave her a horsey ride. 

Breakfast in bed with her favorites, Cheerios!

There are no pictures allowed in the US Consulate, so each of the families just posed in front of the lobby sign in the lobby. 

Since it is after all Halloween, the families decided to meet at noon in the play area for trick or treating.  Lauren of course has no idea what Halloween is, but loved the bag I gave her.  She carried it around all over the playground.  She still is not showing much interest in the playground structure except for the one time she followed a little girl and then found herself stuck in the middle of it all.  She did not like it so much and climbed out!  She also climbed up and down the rock wall.  We definitely have a climber on our hands.  One of the moms brought bubbles and Lauren loved chasing and popping them.  Note to self:  buy bubbles!

She now knows that she can push the button to call the elevator

She loves riding the elevator by herself vs being carried

And after 15 minutes of coaxing and telling her to sit down in the bathtub, she finally sat down! 

Theme of the day is water!

We woke up to a wet and rainy day.  The plan is to go to Shamian Island today because the four families that joined us had not had a chance to go.  Since it was raining, I thought the trip would be cancelled and we would just have a hotel day today.  But at breakfast the other families agreed that we would go forward because a little rain does not hurt anyone.  So off to the island we went.  This time we bought squeak shoes!  After we finished shopping Dad and I decided that we would get massages.  Dad got a whole body massage while I got a foot massage while Lauren was sitting in my lap.  I kept her occupied by feeding her a banana (her favorite fruit) and cheerios (her favorite snack).  Then we discovered that the massage came with a lunch, so we ordered two rice dishes thinking that it would be easier to feed her rice vs. noodles.  The rice was a bit hot and boy did Miss Lauren throw a protest!  When she sees food it better be ready for her to eat!

Lauren is becoming familiar with hotel and our routine.  She will now push the button to call the elevator to go down to the lobby.  She also discovered the escalator and loved going up and down with Dad.  She still will not let him carry her, but now she plays peek a boo with him.  And is comfortable with him getting close to her or helping her with the stairs. 

When we returned Lauren took a nap.  Again it takes her sometime to fall asleep but once she is asleep she is hard to wake up. 

Not ready to wake up from her nap.  Notice she stuck her fingers back in her mouth.

Sleepy head

Because it is still raining and we are too lazy to leave the hotel we just opted to eat downstairs in the hotel again.  This time we ordered a fish soup and Lauren loved eating that with rice.  She has now mastered the "I'm full" notice to me by spitting out the food once she is through.  This is actually a good sign as she is beginning to self regulate.  Many of the orphanage kids will continue to eat, even if full, until they get sick.  This was explained to us to be aware of.  The reason is that they may have not gotten enough in the orphanage, so when there is food they eat as much as possible, not knowing when the next meal would be. 

At dinner, but still refusing to sit in the high chair

The other water story is about bath time!  The great news is that Lauren was able to get into the tub by herself without me having to go in there!  YEA!  She stood the whole time, but I will take that for now if it means that I don't have to go in with her.   This is a huge accomplishment because she was so afraid of the water when we first got her.  Even walking into the bathroom to turn on the sink faucet scared her.  Tomorrow we will work on sitting in the tub.

Her signature two fingers in the mouth when she is tired or scared

Off to the Zoo!

Another paperwork free day!  We are now waiting for Lauren's passport to be issued so that it can be taken to the US Consulate for processing.  So today we headed off to the Guangzhou Zoo.  It was a pretty nice zoo, clean and lots of plants around.  Of course we went to see the Pandas, China's National Treasures.  There are two pandas in the Guangzhou Zoo.  Lauren was more active today and had a great time when I let her off the Ergo and just let her walk around.  We had our first leak through the diaper experience, so the Ergo was a bit wet.  Of course changing her diaper in public is not easy as she is still freaking out with new things.  She had some interest in the animals, but when they moved around.  She was most interested in the leaves on the ground.  She kept picking one up and holding it in her hand as she walked.  Dad was worried that it was dirty, but taking something out of Lauren's hands when she is not ready to give it up is not an easy task!  Dad tried to trick her by finding a newer cleaner leaf and trying to switch, but she was not falling for it and made a loud protest.  So then he held up both leaves, her original old leaf and the newer cleaner one, Lauren went with her original leaf.  She can be one determined and strong will child. 

When we came back to the hotel we decided that we would just to to McDonald's which is next door to the hotel for convenience sake.  So Lauren got to try her first McDonald's chicken nuggets and fries.  Both of which she liked!  She is getting so much better in feeding herself and biting off the food that she is holding in her hand.  I also let her try regular milk, but she is not too sure of that one. 

After a 2.5 hour nap, we decided to head off to the hotel's playground.  This is the first time that I have let her nap without waking her up.  Usually she is woken up since we have to be somewhere.  She is a good sleeper, but fights going down as she wants to still play.  This happens at bedtime too, she can amuse and occupy herself for oven an hour before I can get her to finally sleep.  Not a good thing for me, because I am so tired that I tend to nod off before she is asleep.

It is obvious that although her orphanage had a play structure she had never played in it.  She did not know what to do at all.  So we just allowed her to explore and watch the other kids that were playing.  After sometime she started to get closer and began playing.  She is hesitant with new things but after multiple exposures will try to experience.  We have to remember that all she has known is the four bare walls of the orphanage so all things are new.

One week

Happy Forever One Week Lauren!

A hot day in Guangzhou

Today was a hot and humid day in Guangzhou.  The weather has been warm here, but today it seemed to be warmer and more humid.  Made even higher when one is carrying a baby in an ergo all day long!  (My hair will confirm so please excuse the frizzes)  Today's accomplishment included Lauren sitting on a pillow in a chair for breakfast.  She is still refusing the high chair, although we try it every meal time.  But this morning she was ok, sitting on a chair.  The hotel did not have any boosters but did bring a pillow for her to sit on.  Today's new food was a sausage. 

Yes, she can eat that whole bowl of congee.  Plus a roll, a dumpling, and a sausage.

After breakfast we headed out for today's outing which was the Chen Family Temple.  There were some artists at the temple so we had a scroll made with her name in Chinese.  As well we had a chop made for her.  I decided to get her Lauren and then her Chinese name under it.  Our guide explained that the chop is the first gift usually given to school aged children.  From there we headed to the older part of Guangzhou. 

Chen Family Temple

Kelly explaining what the characters on Lauren' s scroll means.

Lauren's personalized chop

With Engkong at the Chen Family Temple

Walking in old town Guangzhou

As this is Sunday, Dad wanted to go back to church.  So we ventured off in a taxi and went to mass.  The congregation consisted of Africans who were Catholic and Chinese who seemed to be there just to experience it.  The ushers are pretty strict, handing out wraps for girls to wear who were coming in wearing short skirts.  During mass they also walk around and wake people up who have nodded off.  From mass we headed off to a grocery store.  There Lauren saw her first Mickie Mouse (chinese version) and puppies!  There was a man selling them outside the store.  She seemed ok with them and even reached out to touch one.  But pulled her hand back when he licked her.  She is still exploring different textures and touches.

Walking around Guangzhou exploring the street vendors

Lauren meets her first Mickie Mouse

Puppies!