Wednesday, 29 August 2007
Another day, another solid night of sleep for our little princess. Just like yesterday, she woke after a good night’s sleep and we headed down to the hotel buffet. If you have not noticed, this is where we usually load up on calories that carry us through the day. We are still getting used to things around here and are not yet actively seeking the local cuisine.
This morning we could see a noticeable change in Kate’s demeanor. She appeared much more alert and engaging with our attempts to entertain her. She would smile at some of the silly things we tried and once food started hitting the table she starting saying “DAH!”. Now, whenever she sees something she likes or (I guess) is funny, she turns to one of us and says real clearly “DAH!. Now if I could only string two of those together then I could claim she is saying “dada”. Well, thinking about it some more, she could be saying “dada” or she could be seeing something very funny when she looks at me. I’ll take the former if it comes down to it.
Still at breakfast, Gram played patty cake with her and she started to clap her hands.
It was quite a moment to see her try to clap herself. Again, the difference in her Wednesday morning versus Tuesday morning is really an encouraging sign. After breakfast we strolled to the Swan Room to play. This is a room set up in the hotel where you can bring you kids to play. It has little tables, stuffed animals, balls, and a few other items to use. Kate was able to push a ball back and forth and did partially stand next to a small table. Most of her weight was on her legs and I only gave her a little bracing behind her to keep her upright. It was not much, but it was better than what she had done so far.
In the afternoon we were again escorted to the CAB to receive our official adoption certificate (“Red Book”). Once we had this in our hands, she was legally ours in the eyes of the Chinese government. One country down, one more to go (U.S.). We then headed down to the security bureau to apply for Kate’s passport. There must have been 40 adoptive families in the waiting area when we arrived and I was worried we would be there for quite a while. [In this waiting area there is a sign that says “Please be Quiet” but you turn around and there are 40 babies and families milling around. Yeah, good luch enforcing that rule.] Fortunately, Peter our local helper in this paperwork maze, had us up at the counter in about 10 minutes. We sat down across the desk from the lovely Dong Fang (Security Bureau worker) and after a few strokes on her keyboard and a snapshot of Kate with a computer camera, we were off back to the bus. I must give Peter credit, he has kept us on track and seemingly minimized our waits where possible.
Once we were away from the Security Bureau, we stopped at the local Carref
our (Walmart-ish type store) to say we have been there. It was a multi-level maze of merchandise. I’m sure there was some system to the layout, but we did not have enough time to study it to figure it out. We hit the stream of humanity that was the checkout lanes and eventually got back outside to wait for the rest of our group and bus. Luckily, we ran into Peter near the checkout and had him close by in case we had any questions.
We returned to our hotel after a long, warm afternoon and little Kate was just tuckered out. After a little dinner for her, she was cleaned up and put to bed and asleep in a minute or two. We branched out and ordered from Danny’s Bagels tonight. Hey, at least they have locals working and doing the cooking so you could say it is sort of Chinese food.
We capped our evening by calling Grandpa (Gordon) at 7:15 to wish his a happy birthday. I hope you played well for your 11:40 tee time. By then, we were fast asleep.
Thursday is a free day for us to do whatever we desire. I’m sure it will begin with a visit to the breakfast buffet followed by some shopping and perhaps a laundry run. On Friday, there is a planned outing to the Guangzhou Zoo for our travel group. Saturday and Sunday are open as well.
Talk more later,
KEG.
Another day, another solid night of sleep for our little princess. Just like yesterday, she woke after a good night’s sleep and we headed down to the hotel buffet. If you have not noticed, this is where we usually load up on calories that carry us through the day. We are still getting used to things around here and are not yet actively seeking the local cuisine.
This morning we could see a noticeable change in Kate’s demeanor. She appeared much more alert and engaging with our attempts to entertain her. She would smile at some of the silly things we tried and once food started hitting the table she starting saying “DAH!”. Now, whenever she sees something she likes or (I guess) is funny, she turns to one of us and says real clearly “DAH!. Now if I could only string two of those together then I could claim she is saying “dada”. Well, thinking about it some more, she could be saying “dada” or she could be seeing something very funny when she looks at me. I’ll take the former if it comes down to it.
Still at breakfast, Gram played patty cake with her and she started to clap her hands.
It was quite a moment to see her try to clap herself. Again, the difference in her Wednesday morning versus Tuesday morning is really an encouraging sign. After breakfast we strolled to the Swan Room to play. This is a room set up in the hotel where you can bring you kids to play. It has little tables, stuffed animals, balls, and a few other items to use. Kate was able to push a ball back and forth and did partially stand next to a small table. Most of her weight was on her legs and I only gave her a little bracing behind her to keep her upright. It was not much, but it was better than what she had done so far.In the afternoon we were again escorted to the CAB to receive our official adoption certificate (“Red Book”). Once we had this in our hands, she was legally ours in the eyes of the Chinese government. One country down, one more to go (U.S.). We then headed down to the security bureau to apply for Kate’s passport. There must have been 40 adoptive families in the waiting area when we arrived and I was worried we would be there for quite a while. [In this waiting area there is a sign that says “Please be Quiet” but you turn around and there are 40 babies and families milling around. Yeah, good luch enforcing that rule.] Fortunately, Peter our local helper in this paperwork maze, had us up at the counter in about 10 minutes. We sat down across the desk from the lovely Dong Fang (Security Bureau worker) and after a few strokes on her keyboard and a snapshot of Kate with a computer camera, we were off back to the bus. I must give Peter credit, he has kept us on track and seemingly minimized our waits where possible.
Once we were away from the Security Bureau, we stopped at the local Carref
our (Walmart-ish type store) to say we have been there. It was a multi-level maze of merchandise. I’m sure there was some system to the layout, but we did not have enough time to study it to figure it out. We hit the stream of humanity that was the checkout lanes and eventually got back outside to wait for the rest of our group and bus. Luckily, we ran into Peter near the checkout and had him close by in case we had any questions.We returned to our hotel after a long, warm afternoon and little Kate was just tuckered out. After a little dinner for her, she was cleaned up and put to bed and asleep in a minute or two. We branched out and ordered from Danny’s Bagels tonight. Hey, at least they have locals working and doing the cooking so you could say it is sort of Chinese food.
We capped our evening by calling Grandpa (Gordon) at 7:15 to wish his a happy birthday. I hope you played well for your 11:40 tee time. By then, we were fast asleep.
Thursday is a free day for us to do whatever we desire. I’m sure it will begin with a visit to the breakfast buffet followed by some shopping and perhaps a laundry run. On Friday, there is a planned outing to the Guangzhou Zoo for our travel group. Saturday and Sunday are open as well.
Talk more later,
KEG.
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