Orphanage Visit / Evening

It's now 9:10 p.m. and I want to get this down before I forget some of the details. I'm using it not only to communicate with you, but also as sort of a journal of the trip. First of all, sorry for no pictures. I'm just having a hard time on this computer downloading them. It worked fine yesterday . . .maybe it'll get better. If not, I'll try pictures again when we get to Guangzhou.

After Hannah woke up from her nap this afternoon, we went downstairs to play on the little playground a while. It is by far her favorite thing, although she is starting to play with other toys some too. Then we met our guide to visit the orphanage. Hannah did great - thanks for the prayers! We toured around a little. Hannah didn't seem upset by the visit, but she did want to stay right by my side. When the nannies would talk to her, she would run grab my hand. Only at that point, would she smile and wave to them. The director was very nice and I believe he truly cares about the children in his care. The Wuhan orphanage is a good orphanage - but still no place for a child to grow up. Seeing the tiny babies and older children with special needs wasn't easy. Lots of the children had cleft lips and palates. The director pointed out one baby girl, not more than a couple months old with a cleft lip and palate and told me that Hannah's looked about like hers - same degree of cleft. He actually gave me some photos of Hannah as a baby, before her lip repair was done. We were allowed to take a few pictures, but none with children in them. I can understand and respect that. He did tell me that Hannah came straight from foster care yesterday and did not spend time in the orphanage first. (We had heard that many orphanages take the children out of foster care and place them in the orphanage for a while before their adoptive family comes to get them). I was so glad to hear that - and I believe he was being honest. The nannies in the room with children Hannah's age did not seem to know her. Some of the nannies in the baby room did recognize her name when the director told them. She did spend a few months there when she was first brought to the orphanage.

As we were leaving the orphanage, one of the nannies came up and tried to hold Hannah. She was not a bit happy about that and ran back to me, grabbing my hand and pulling me off (as if to say "let's go"). She seemed very happy to get back in the van. We then drove to Hannah's finding spot and took some pictures. It was a long drive - about an hour so I had time to think a bit. As we got closer, we were leaving the main part of the city and heading towards the country side. People were out working, and it was obvious the standard of living was much less in this area than in the city where we are staying. We had a hard time finding the exact area, and our guide got out several times to ask people where the street we were looking for was. We finally found it and were able to take pictures. It was a bit emotional - just thinking that we were in the area where Hannah was born. That her birthmother might be anywhere around - and seeing the houses around, I just believe that she was left, not for a lack of love, but for a lack of resources to provide for her and to provide her with the surgery she needed.
I didn't have too much time to think however, I had a two year old wanting to be entertained. And also getting a bit fussy. I can't blame her, it was a long day. She held up pretty well. We have discovered though that she does not handle "no" very well. I'm not sure she's ever been told that before! However, even throughout the day, I saw her start to respond more and more.
She also has livened up a whole lot! Tonight, she entertained us with her singing and dancing - using a pair of chopsticks as a microphone!

What else have I learned about her:
1. She is a neat-freak! Really. She took a wet towel and washed the table, chairs, crib, etc. today. She picked up my shorts off the floor and handed them to me to put up. She tried to spread her blanket out on the bed. When I left her cup on the table, she promptly got it and went to put it where we've been keeping the dishes.
2. She observes EVERYTHING!! Nothing gets by her. If I do something, she later will imitate it. She has to have "her people" in sight. She is constantly "checking" that I am there, Beth is there, and now that Jordan (our guide) is there. Thankfully, she will let Jordan leave without a fuss, but only as long as he tells her bye first.
3. She is trying to imitate some words. Her cleft palate looks wide to me (as I got a good look when she opened her mouth to scream yesterday in a temper tantrum!). Our guide says she is not speaking Chinese, just baby talk. I'm not convinced though that it's not just an articulation issue. She has all the vowels down, but I've only heard two consonant ('m' and 'n'). She says "mama" now and she waves bye and says "eye eye" for bye. She has learned the sign for "more" already.
4. Contrary to what her report says, she loves to take a bath! I didn't even try the first night, but tonight, I put her in the tub with the nesting cups and she had a blast!!
5. She does not like to go to sleep. She cries everytime you put her down, but it is already getting shorter and shorter. Tonight she only cried about 10 minutes. Once she is alseep, she is out!
6. She has a double helping of personality!! And it is shining through more and more! She loves an audience and is a charmer. She entertains all the staff of the hotel, but will not let them get close to her. She will talk to them (or more likely sing to them) only when I am right by her side. If they approach her, she runs and grabs my hand.

All in all, I think we are both doing great. I'm thrilled to finally have her, and am having a blast here, although I also look forward to getting home and into some kind of normal routine.
In the mean time, I intend to enjoy experiencing the culture of my daughter's birth.
Okay, I'm off to bed!
love, DeEtte