One Pink Sock

Hello my fellow Americans. We have had another busy 24 hours, which is pretty typical for us. After the little one's nap, we played around on the floor for a little bit. We just stretch out the blanket on the floor, and we have great fun. Maddy has discovered the fun of stacking blocks. Next to her plastic keys, the stacking blocks are one of her favorite toys. She doesn't do any "Stacking" with the cups, but there is a lot of slapping them together to make noise. We keep a set in the diaper bag so that she can have fun with them while we are out and about.



Yesterday we once again had dinner at Lucy's, but this time we went with Karen and Paul from our travel group. They are both pretty cool people, and I don't know if I mentioned it, but her daughter is also a Maddy! How cool is that. At dinner Maddy chowed down on some more yogurt, which is always a good thing. The really nice thing about Lucy's is that you are eating outside, and the evenings here in Guangzhou are just amazing. We went to dinner a little late since we had to wait for the jeweler to drop off the Jade. All of the pieces turned out pretty nice.

After dinner, we hung out in the room for a few minutes, and then we pretty much all crashed. Another one of the "First" Maddy has done is given us her cold. When we got her she was pretty congested, but now she is much better. Now that she is better I guess it's our turn to be a little sick. It's one of those 24 hour kind of bugs for us. Tina got it first two days ago, and then I picked it up next. It actually isn't to bad, just a little cold. Speak of Maddy being sick, I never knew that so much snot could come out of such a little nose. It's just amazing how much she can produce, I'm just not sure where it's all coming from. She had a couple of big sneezes earlier yesterday, and wow, that was a lot of stuff coming out. It's a good thing that she is getting it out. We have been keeping her in the bathtub a little bit longer than normal, which has been helping.

Speaking of being sick, I'm sure the environment here in China isn't helping matters. The air is just "Thick" for all of the pollution. Our room has a view of the Pearl River. The river is just about as wide where was are at as the Ohio River in Cincinnati. Yesterday there was so much smog that I could barely see the buildings on the other side of the river. If you look at the slideshow link at the bottom, you will see a picture of one of the container ships sailing by the hotel. You can tell how much traffic this river gets just be looking out the window. I'm sure most of the containers on the ship are going to be going to the US.

Oh, forgot to tell you a funny thing that happened yesterday. We were changing her diaper in the last afternoon, and as Tina was opening the sucker up, someone turned on the spicket. Luckily the diaper was still for the most part on her. If not, Tina would of had a pretty wet spot on the bed . I always figured that only little boys did that, not girls. I guess live and learn.

Speaking of pee, when we were out with Liu Jing earlier this week, we saw an "Interesting" site. There was a little boy with his mom out walking around. The little guy was probably about 24 months old. He needed to pee, so mom just dropped the pants, and he just did it right on the sidewalk. We had always heard about that happening in China, but I guess you still never expect to see it when it happens.

Everyone is probably still trying to figure out the title of the posting. We had laundry done a couple of days ago, and while I was pulling the cloths out, I noticed that one of my sucks was nice a pink. Hmm, I guess I have learned my lesson on that one. Make sure that you pre-sort out the laundry BEFORE taking it out to be done. I'm really glad that I don't wear tighty whities. I consider my self pretty secure in my manhood, but wearing pink underwear would probably be crossing a line.

Anywho, where was I. On yes, this morning we did our typical bath routine, which is always lot of fun. Maddy really likes her bath time. She must of always been given baths standing up, since she really isn't to fond of sitting down. We have her a small bowl the other day, and she does seem to like to play with that in the bath tub. She has even started splashing around in the water. It's pretty cute.

Today along with tomorrow is for the most part a free day. We have some American Consulate paperwork to fill out this afternoon, but that's pretty much it. This morning we spent quite a bit of quality time on the floor playing, ate some breakfast, and took one heck of a power nappy. Maddy actually slept for most of her two hour nap, which is huge. After we woke up (Yep, I took a nappy also), we did some shopping around at the local stores. There are ton's of little shops all around the hotel. I think on Tuesday Karen and Tina are going to go out and do some power shopping while I'm going to see Maddy's orphanage. After doing a little bit of shopping, we went back to Lucy's (yea, yea, I know, we just ate there), and had some lunch. We might try to expand our lunch options later on this week.

After Maddy wakes up from her afternoon nap, we were going downstairs to the playroom and have some fun, but the paperwork took a lot longer than I thought. We skipped it yesterday since she was doing so well on the floor in the room. Yesterday she was just sitting there playing by her self. That is a very good sign. It's telling us that she is feeling safe and secure in her environment. This is a huge step for her. She continues to open up to us, and is starting to mimic more and more of what we do/say. Yesterday while we were playing on the floor, Tina said "AhhHaa" like she does, and about 5 seconds latter, Maddy started to say it. We just looked at each other. It was a very cool moment.

For this evening, it's going to be another evening with Karen and Paul at Lucy's. After finishing the paperwork, we really need a beer. It's amazing how many trees have to die to adopt a single kid.

Here is some additional pictures from the past 24 hours... Enjoy