All About Lia Kate and Life Here

There has been so much I want to write about Lia Kate but I rarely have time to sit down at the computer (with both hands!) and type it out. Danny just took her down to the White Swan play room, so I am taking advantage of this chance to write all about our girl and what life is like here. We are staying at the White Swan Hotel on Shamian Island in Guangzhou. Guangzhou is home to about 6 million people, so this is no small town we're in. The White Swan has historically housed most of the families who adopt children from China. They have a nice little playroom here with lots of toys, and a huge breakfast buffet with lots of food for kiddos. The hotel is located near lots of shops that have things we want to buy for our little ones as well as laundry facilities, etc. But the best part about being here is meeting all of the families and their new children. Every morning at the breakfast buffet we meet new friends. It is like being a member of a club ... and I have to say the adoption community is pretty fabulous! Anyway, we are connecting with people from all over the U.S. and it is a neat thing to be able to share this experience with others walking the very same path. I mentioned the breakfast buffet here. It has a traditional American breakfast (coffee, eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, oatmeal, yogurt, cereal, toast, etc.), but also traditional Chinese breakfast (congee, dumplings, noodles, dim sum, hot tea, and many other things I don't quite recognize). Lia Kate is a great little eater! She will eat anything we give her, even a stalk of broccoli. Amazing. She learned this morning to suck yogurt out of a straw and downed two whole yogurts at breakfast this morning. She also loves to eat crackers when we're out and about. All of my shirts have cracker crumbs and residue on them from her eating while she's in the carrier. It's real attractive. Thankfully, we've been able to do lots of laundry here! We have had Lia Kate for over a week here now and she has made quite the transformation. The first day we had her, she was in shock and barely made a peep. The first morning at breakfast, I set her in the highchair and she laid there limp, like a 5-month-old who can't even sit up. That second day we had her, she started crying a lot and had to be held with her head buried in my shoulder all the time. She would have nothing to do with Danny By day 4, she picked up a toy for the first time and started playing. By day 5, she actually let Danny play with her. By day 6, she started smiling! By day 7, she started showing us that she could walk and she started laughing out loud. She finally was content to sit on the bed and play with her toys and not cry to be held. She now plays this little game, where she stands up (she is still wobbly on her feet) and takes several steps toward me, laughing and falling into me. It is so completely adorable. I know she will continue to come out of her shell and we are so encouraged by the progress she has already made. Other things ... Lia Kate loves Chinese women! She will always smile at them. She also loves to make funny faces. She constantly makes this cute face where she squints her eyes shut and opens her mouth wide. It is hilarious. She loves, loves playing with toys, especially her stacking cup, which she scatters, then stacks. It will keep her busy for awhile. She is beginning to babble around us and keeps saying the word "ta." She also loves to play and look at her hands. Handgames are common among orphans, indicating she was probably in her crib a lot and entertained herself by playing with her hands. She can also cross her fourth finger over her third finger w/o assistance from her other hand. Danny thinks she is double jointed. She is extremely flexible, but I'm not sure if it is true flexibility or just lower muscle tone since she has probably hasn't spent a lot of time playing on the floor. When she starts to get insecure or begins crying, her hands go straight to her head and she starts pulling at her hair or rubbing her eyes. It is definitely her coping mechanism. We have noticed that she does this less and less every day, so we are thankful for this outward sign that shows us she is gaining trust and security with us. Lia Kate is extremely easy during the day when we're out and about. She is very content to be carried or to ride in her carrier and just take everything in. She rarely fusses when we're outside of the hotel room. Our hardest times come at night. She will not go down in her crib unless she is sound asleep. She can only fall asleep in our arms and then we have to try very carefully to transfer her to the crib. Most of the time, she will wake up and scream. So, usually we both end up falling asleep with her laying on top of me, and at some point she just kind of rolls off and continues to sleep beside me in bed. Once she is good and asleep, she will stay asleep through the night and not wake until after 8 a.m. It is hard being in a hotel room, because we don't want her screams to wake up the whole floor, so we are doing whatever we can to calm her quickly and get her to sleep. It is hard, but it is something we expected too. Usually one of the lingering affects of orphanage life is difficulty sleeping. We will definitely have to work on this once we get home, but know that someday once she has built more trust in us that this part of our life will be easier. We only have two nights left here at the White Swan Hotel! We have already spent 9 nights here. Once we leave Guangzhou, we will stay one night at an airport hotel in Hong Kong, then we will be on a plane headed home. Can. not. wait!