After our appointment we headed back to the hotel and spent some time playing in the room. Hadley was tired and went down for what I thought would be a quick morning nap but turned into a very long nap. We had planned on walking to get lunch but she kept on sleeping and we hated to wake her up after the traumatic few days she has had. So she slept though lunch time and we missed yet another meal. I now understand how people loss weight when they come on these trips. It is a lot of work to find food here. Once she finally woke up we headed out to Walmart in search of a stroller. The walk to Walmart is just about five blocks but you have to cross the busiest main street in the city. We just stick by the locals and run when they run and weave in and out between the speeding cars and trucks when they do. After Walmart we grabbed some KFC and headed back to our room. It is funny that we do not eat KFC or Pizza Hut at home ever but it is all we want here. We are already sick of Chinese food and the local food in this area has a very specific taste and smell that is not our favorite.
After eating we played for a bit. My goal for today was to get Hadley down on the floor to play without having to be on my lap. She has been very hesitant when I sit her down and will cry. She is fine if we are holding her or if she is sitting in our lap. Today she ate lunch sitting by herself in a chair and then sat and played on the floor with us. I was crawling around and she crawled after me! That was something we hadn't seen and weren't sure she knew how to do. They told us that she didn't feed herself and needed to be spoon fed. This was true lasts night and this morning. There was a plate of food sitting in front of her and she never touched it. If you put food in her hand she would just hold it until you pried it from her grip. She did not know how to pick something up and bring it to her mouth. We have been working on this today with puffs and by tonight she was picking up puffs off the bed using her pincher grasp. We would cheer every time she got one in her mouth and now she is an old pro and has eaten half of a container of puffs! We think she has said her first word too (the first word we have heard her say anyway). I brought her a little stuffed duck that she has been cuddling and sleeping with and two or three times today she said "da" in reference specifically to her duck. It may be a stretch but we think that is what she is saying. She loves reading books and turns the pages and points her little pointer finger at all the pictures. We were told she loves music and tonight she got a hold of the laptop and accidentally started some music. She immediately started dancing! Earlier we were playing with stacking cups and we put them on our head and told her it was a hat. She spent 10 minutes putting everything in her reach on her head like a hat. She is very smart and is catching on very quickly. She smiles and gets very excited when I approach her and she knows I am going to pick her up. She has warmed up to daddy today too. She let him hold her and carry her while we were walking to Walmart and she played on the floor with him while I was out of the room without any issues. She still is a little weary of him when she starts getting sleepy and will avoid making eye contact. I think by the end of the day tomorrow they will be best buds! The worst part of the day was bath time. We didn't want to traumatize her last night with a bath but it was long overdue. She hated everything about it and was trying to climb out of the tub. Poor Aaron ended up climbing in to hold her while he was fully clothed. Hopefully the next bath goes better. We are going to have to try something different.
Her personality really came out tonight and she had so much energy. She was actually crawling over to things and picking them up and playing with them where as before she was very hesitant and wouldn't reach out and touch anything. Now she is grabbing anything within arms reach and crawling to get what she wants. She was pulling up to stand on the edge of the bed but just couldn't get enough grip. I think she is probably able to do it and hopefully we will see that tomorrow. They said she is walking with some assistance. We haven't seen it yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if we don't see it soon. It was a lot of fun to see her playing tonight and see her being more comfortable with us. It seems like she has been with us for way longer than a day and we have already seen so much progress. I can't wait to see what she is willing to do in a few more days. She is very smiley and continues to giggle at us all the time.
Tomorrow morning we have to make the four-five hour trip to Datong City by van. We will be riding for 8-10 hours round trip with Hadley and no car seat. I am dreading the drive and hoping she will sleep part of the time. We will go to the police station to do some paperwork. We are also planning on visiting the orphanage where Hadley spend the first week of her life. Since one week old she has been in a foster home. We were told that we would be able to meet her foster mother tomorrow so we are looking forward to talking to her and learning a little more about Hadley's past. I am nervous with how Hadley will do seeing her foster mother again and haven't decided what we will do. Is it better for her to have the closure of seeing her one last time and then leaving with us or not seeing her at all and just letting one of us talk to the foster mother privately? We will have plenty of time in the car to make a decision that we think is best for Hadley.We know two other families who have children either at the orphanage or in foster homes in the area and we are hoping we will be able to see them and get some pictures for their mommies and daddies tomorrow.
We will be back later tomorrow night and will probably be exhausted so I will probably do our next blog update on Thursday.
Stay warm back home! I was so worried we were going to freeze here and you all are the ones with the extreme cold.
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