Today was another free day for us. The rest of the families visited the 2 orphanages that their babies were in. Our baby was from a different orphanage and because of the bad weather the road was closed. We were not be able to tour the orphanage or see the front steps where Amelia was found.
We decided to do a little exploring of the city around our hotel. The weather was so cold.
Vaughn and Janet asked the front desk where the Pizza Hut was. They told us to go straight down the street from our hotel and then to turn right at a street that they wrote the name in Chinese for us. We set off for our "mecca". Janet asked a couple of people along the way for help and we found it. We were so excited! With all the change in our life right now, it was nice to have familiar food. We were seated in a booth by the front window. We ordered onion rings, garlic bread, pizza, Vaughn had spaghetti, apple pie, and chocolate ice cream. We wanted it all! Everything was very good, very similar to home. Since we were in the front window, everyone on the street could see us. They would just walk by and stare at us. They act as if they never see Americans. Amelia had her first taste of chocolate ice cream fed to her by Janet. She really liked it. Amelia also started drinking out of a sippy cup today.
We have badges that we are to wear anytime we are in public. They are written in Chinese and explain that we are adopting a baby. It is amazing how many people (mainly women) who will just come up and touch Amelia and talk to her and then scold me for not having enough layers on her. I had heard about the Chinese doing this before we traveled, but, it is still unnerving. Especially since we did have Amelia bundled up very well. I can't help but wonder if it is their way of letting us know that they do care about their daughters, it is just out of their control to keep them.
After we finished eating, we stopped by a local grocery store. It was big and busy. There were people everywhere. We picked up a few things we needed and then headed home.
We spent the rest of the day playing with Amelia. We thought today would be an uneventful, relaxing day. But, Amelia decided to amaze us. First she started to walk while holding our hands, then she crawled. I already mentioned earlier that she started drinking from her sippy cup. We knew that she could do all these things before. We had read that sometimes they regress for a while because of the trauma of all the change in their life. So, we knew eventually she would remember and catch back up. Well, she did it all today. By the end of the evening she could walk by herself using the wall as a support. She also started pulling herself up in the crib. So, I had basically 2 days of feeling like I had control over where she was and what she was doing. Now, she is "off and running". It is almost like each day equals a month in her development. It is all happening so fast.
Over the past 2 years, I use to mourn the fact that we would miss many of our daughter's firsts.
Her first smile, tooth, crawling, walking, word, etc. I was sad that her baby book would have empty pages because there would be part of her story missing. But, now I realize that it is not her first smile that is important, but, her first smile with us because we are the reason she is smiling.
Today was one fine day!
January 25, 2008 One Fine Day!
Pizza, Pizza!
Amelia sleeps all the way back to the hotel
Janet gives Amelia her first taste of chocolate ice cream!
