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!