Taking it Day by Day

We are so happy as we just got to Skype with Timothy for the first time and it was great to see him.  I can't wait to kiss him all over.  I'm glad he's so well taken care of and having so much fun with his Cincinnati cousins.  Thanks Amanda!

Audrey has very expressive eyes that dart all around as she's looking at the world around her.  She's either really happy or very mad - not so much in between.  Yesterday when she was in the Ergo -which she loves for the first hour - she was talking talking talking, lots of vocalizations and happy sounds, very precious.  She's so tiny, with a long torso, short legs and a big poochy stomach.  She's looks so cute in the little outfits we brought and fits into a size 12 month pretty well, except for the footies in her pj's.  Very similar to Timothy when we first got him.

She makes a very cute sound when she has food she likes - a joyful appreciation of food is something I love.  I often smell like ham as she likes these ham sausages that her foster mom sent with her.  As she was eating one in the Ergo I got little driblets in my shirt.  Audrey wants to be on the go, not stopping, not in the room - outside where the distractions help her forget about her sadness.  Mealtimes can be rough - she'll sit for a little while and then insist on standing so I'm often splattered with congee.  She'll also burst out crying - I'm not sure if it's because we aren't doing it right or she's impatient for it to be done or she's just tired of congee.  We will figure it out eventually. 

Yesterday she was mad at us because we put her to bed too early so she refused to drink her milk and laid in the crib while we watched with her back to us.  Her massive sleeping really is stress relief for her as she is emotionally exhausted.  She doesn't like for me to put her down, ever, or leave her sightline.  This leaves poor Greg to do everything else.

People's park is gorgeous, beautiful.  In the morning, the elderly and other in the city gather for fan dancing, music playing (not sure of the instrument), tai chi, modern dance. The park is green, lush with a big lake in the middle with huge carp that you can feed.  We've already been there twice.  I'm not doing it justice in describing it here.  It has an amusement park, with rides, not open right now.  We are in a very busy part of the city, lots of cars and scooters and motorbikes.  Lots of maneuvering around.  I had a Mandarin class before I left but haven't used it at all as I seem to have lost anything I learned.  China is such a complex place, very overwhelming at times.  I no longer feel sick think it was related to dehydration so I'm just trying to drink much more water.

Thanks Melissa for posting all of our updates!