Squeaky shoes!

Almost every family travelling to China for adoption is familiar with squeaky shoes. We put them on Adelyn and she wants to wear them all the time. She even likes to wear them after we put her in pj's. We have been doing alot of shopping/walking the past couple of days, so she is becoming so much more independent. She is starting to walk on her own without holding my hand and she goes to "Ba Ba" (Chinese word for Daddy) a little more freely now, especially if he has food. She loves to walk by herself in the park areas. She picks up leaves, points, waves at everyone, loves to be outside!

On the 22nd, we visited Adelyn's orphanage. The conditions were sad and of course, we wanted to bring all of the babies with us. The caregivers were nice but Adelyn was afraid. She would only go to one of them, her primary nanny, but quickly came back to us. We are glad we have pictures of where she lived for her first 19 mos but we were more glad to take her from there forever. After we returned from the orphanage, we ventured out to a local shopping area within the city. Wow, there's soooo many people everywhere and it's very unsafe to walk next to the road because of the traffic. Taxis will just about run over you! It was interesting to mingle amongst the locals. I guess we would compare this experience to being in New York on New Years Eve, except everyone was sober (maybe).

Feb. 23rd was passport photo, medical exam and paperwork day. Adelyn's passport photo looks like all passport photos, just a mugshot. The med exam was very fast and not too traumatizing to the babes. Adelyn weighs 21 lbs now, but is still one of the smallest babies in our group. We had to shop for clothes for her because 18mos is too big. 12mos fits perfectly right now. We have been layering her so her clothes won't fall off. It's been difficult to find 12mos old clothes on the island. Checkup was "normal." We finished the day by joining Catherine in the conference room to complete more paperwork.

Feb 24th. We went to the Pearl Market and The Jade and Porcelain Market. We had a great time buying keepsakes for Adelyn and souvenirs. Adelyn decided that the Jade Market was boring and began to throw a big fit. I jokingly asked our guide Catherine if Adelyn was the loudest baby she has ever had in a travel group. She shyly smiled and said "Yes, I believe she is, for her age." Well, where's the shy, timid child! Seriously, fits and all, she is perfect!

Today, we actually were able to eat breakfast. Don and I were finally able to organize the morning quicker and get out the door earlier. Everything takes longer too, because people want to stop and ask about Adelyn. That's ok, but we didn't realize that we needed to get up at 6:00 in order to eat breakfast by 10:00!HaHa. Each day has gotten better.

Thanks everyone for your comments. We can't wait to get back to the states!

Peace,

Andrea, Don and Adelyn