Our second day with Ting Ting - Thursday March 24

We had another busy day of mostly good things with Ting Ting - which we are calling her for now because that is one of the names she would have been called by most often at the orphanage.  Most of today went very well.  Lots more smiles and giggles, lots of mild temperment, mixed in with a few stronger expressions this time!  

She did sleep all the way through the night last night with no trouble at all.  We were so thankful for that because we all needed a good night sleep after that long and emotional day.  When she woke up this morning, she was very very quiet at first.  She looked a bit confused and maybe a little scared.  But she let Jim pick her up out of bed and hold her.  Then after she woke a little more, we pulled out the Chinese picture book we had recorded for her and "read" that with her.  That seemed to help her transition into the day, and she moved on without a glitch.  She was happily willing to get dressed in her new clothes - and luckily the first outfit we chose fit pretty well.  

Listening to her picture book recorded in Chinese

Glad to try her new clothes

Cute as a bug - I'll say!!

Breakfast went well, not surprising after seeing her eat lunch and dinner yesterday.  Lots of choices on the hotel breakfast buffet and she loved everything.  She even smiled at us a little while she was eating, so that was sweet.  It's amazing how meticulously neat she is when she eats.  If one crumb drops onto the table, she will pick it up and eat it.  Although to be honest, not much drops anywhere since she is so good with a spoon!


After breakfast, we were already running a little late to meet our guide and she was waiting for us in the lobby.  We headed off to Forbidden City to do some sightseeing.  This turned out to be an interesting experience.  Yes, it was an interesting place to see because of it's history as the palace of the emperors in the Ming and Ting dynasties (I believe that's right).  But more than that, it was an interesting experience to see how TingTing reacted to a crowded public place.  This place was very crowded, like an American tourist location on a very busy day with hoards of people.  Personal space was in limited supply and many people push and shove to get up close to see something.  Very different culturally!  Well, the little girl who was alert and interactive in our room got very very quiet when we went out, and even more so when we got to the very crowded Forbidden City.  We picked her up and carried her shortly after we arrived to get through the crowded gates.  After that she didn't want to be put down at all and we had to take turns carrying her through the whole rest of the place.  Our arms will be sore tomorrow!  I have to get my Mommy muscles back!  While we carried her, she was very stoic - no response to much of anything.  She was just very straight faced and quiet the whole time and looked really shocked and maybe scared.  When our guide asked her something in Chinese, she would sometimes respond and sometimes just ignore the question.  Overall, our time at Forbidden City was fine, but we were ready to leave because our arms were so tired and Lydia seemed so uncertain.

Before entering the main gate

A good picture of the number of people who crowd around to look in the buildings

After leaving, Forbidden City in the background

After getting back to the hotel, our guide left us for the day and we were on our own again.  Again today it felt a little scary when she left, but I know it's best since it forces us not to rely on her Chinese translating, but just figure out the communication.  And really, Lydia was not very responsive to our guide this morning anyway.  Not sure why.


For lunch we walked down the street and decided to try KFC.  We were certain that would be new food for Lydia, but we weren't feeling very adventurous this time.  Plus there are KFC's everywhere, so we didn't have to go far to get to one.

The only thing we've given her to eat that she hasn't finished were the KFC mashed potatoes!

After lunch, back to the hotel.  We didn't hear any crying out of her until naptime today.  We had been told that she napped from 12-2 everyday at the orphanage so we decided to insist a little more today that she lay down in the afternoon.  So after lunch, we gave it a try.  Not a fan of naptime!  She protested laying down and cried for a little while, but she did give in and eventually fell asleep.  She slept peacefully for about an hour and a half and then we woke her up.  We didn't want to let her sleep too long because it was later than normal - already 3:30.  We didn't want to affect bedtime by having her sleep too late.

Naptime picture are too sweet not to include!

So fast forward, through our playtime after nap, through our excursion to walk around some mall-type stores, and through dinner in the hotel again.  Fast forward right up to bedtime.  Yeah, not as smooth tonight.  It's hard not knowing anything much of her routine from the orphanage.  So we know "naptime" is from 12-2 after their lunch, but we have no idea if naptime is really all the kids lay down and sleep, or if naptime is just more of quiet time in their beds.  We don't know - but we do know that she did not seem to be tired and ready to sleep when we tried to put her to bed, and that wasn't until around 9:30 I think!  And then I think since she wasn't tired enough to fall immediately to sleep, she had more time maybe to think about things...her different surroundings, the way things have changed, these new strange people who speak jibberish most of the time....Long story short, she laid down, she sat up, she shook her head, she laid down, she cried, she sat up, she went potty again, we insisted she lay back down, she cried more, she quieted, she cried softly, she repeated something in Chinese several times.  If only we could understand her...she could have been saying anything.  My stomach hurts, I'm thirsty, I want a drink, I want my nanny, who knows!  We figured get the basic needs out of the way so Jim gave her her water cup.  She downed a ton of it, laid back down, and finally....sleep...

Ugh, tomorrow is gonna come early for that little one, and me too so I better get off this blog!  I'm tired - hopefully I get lots of sleep again tonight!  Everyone pray for a peaceful night again!  Tomorrow morning we have several followup adoption procedures to take care of.  And then sometime later in the day we go to see the Chinese Acrobat show.  A few final pictures - 

Sunchips with Daddy.  I've never seen a kid eat crumbs of chips like she did.  Pinched every last crumb into my hand, and then pinched every last crumb possible into her mouth.  I about cried at the way she picked up the tiniest crumb to put it in her mouth.

This was a fun thing to pull out of the suitcase today!  Many big laughs at this one!

Three things we are thankful for:

1.  That laughter is cross cultural and doesn't depend on language.
2.  That we have never gone hungry
3.  For the nice bilingual man at the front desk who taught us how to say "yes" and "no" in Chinese.  We're working on BASIC language here!