First 48 hours

Hattie has been with us for almost 48 hours. Things have been going really good. We had appointments most of the day yesterday and went to the grocery store. We had two interviews with Chinese officials. The notary guy we had was apparently a jokester, which we didn't realize. He kept asking me if we remembered the name of the notary we had at Naomi's adoption. I kept saying no, he kept asking, apparently very funny for him. I thought I was going to have some sort of PTSD after our last grocery store experience here with Naomi, but no flashbacks. Hattie let me push the cart and was very interested in things at the store. All of these experiences are so new to her, we are guessing she had rarely been away from the orphanage except for maybe a couple medical appointments. She's slept unbelievably well. Goes down 8:30 or 9pm each night and sleeps until about 7am. Naps 2 hours every day. She's incredibly easy to take care of, routine was I'm sure very part of her life. Pretty well potty trained, once we get home and take the pull ups away my guess is she will get it within a week. Had to change our 4th poopy diaper ever, hoping to stay under 10 in our parenting experience, suckers. She cooperates when getting dressed, holds hands to go anywhere, likes the stroller. Really easy now. We had not heard her cry until yesterday at all. She got a little upset with sharing some toys in the playroom here at the hotel, but overall I think sharing will not be a huge issue. We skyped with Naomi last night and she met Hattie for the first time. We forgot to take a picture, bad parents. Actually we've been pretty bad about remembering our camera, trying hard to remember it more. Anyway, it went okay with Naomi, she was her goofy self over Skype. She smiled at Hattie and seemed maybe slightly unsure but said she was excited to play with her. Hattie was glued to the screen with Naomi on it and immediately started talking when Naomi popped up on Skype. The first time we saw Hattie get upset was when we pulled her back from the screen where Naomi was at. I'm taking that as a good sign, she was very interested in her!

Practicing her martial arts with chopsticks

Loves her heart bracelets one of the caregivers gave her at the orphanage before she left

Target puffs a hit again this time!

Food is a bit interesting with her. They have a really good breakfast buffet here and the yesterday morning we took her there. She ate about 10 different things, cantaloupe, tomato, eggs, sausage, watermelon, yogurt, bananas. Really liked
everything. She does like to be fed by spoon but still very independent with feeding herself. She ate dumplings for lunch yesterday and chicken nuggets for supper. The first day and sometimes today she will eat everything you put in front of her, but at breakfast this morning she did leave some on her plate. She does not like sweet things, no chocolate. We tried a mocha frappucino from Starbucks, not a fan. Kind of begrudgingly ate Oreos, I'm thinking that may change. We ate at a new American cafe around the hotel here last night, I had a burger, and it was awesome. Not a McDonalds hamburger but a real burger, the little things help with wanting to be home!

Language also interesting. She is a quiet girl right now, but once you get her playing she has a loud voice. We were hearing a few Mandarin words, but she wasn't really responding to the Mandarin we tried to say. So we whipped out our computer and she loves to talk with Google Translate. Adam started typing in some phrases, and while I don't think her responses were always appropriate, she started saying some sentences back. Computer beats human again. Regardless I think her language is better than we initially thought. She loves to play, lots of smiling and interacting with us more today. Even reaching up to be carried and loves to sit with us or on our laps. She's a little clumsy and has a different gait. Not sure if it's just not being out running and playing a lot or something she will need help with. Regardless, she gets around fine now and can run and jump.

I've been waiting over two years for the new iphone and it gets announced while we are in China! Anyway in stores the day after we get back. Planning to give Hattie a true American experience with probably standing in line her first full day in the US to get an iphone. Good news, Adam did find a way to watch the Husker game last weekend, so we should be able to get the UCLA game on our computer too.

The weather here is crappy. It's in the lower 90's every day with a heat index at our above 100 every day. Luckily no rain, but no wind either. We tried to go to a park this morning and made it like a few blocks into the park and were dripping with sweat. Hattie handles it better than us, but still not the best to be out and about. Lots of staring at us there, just curiousness though I think. Also went down a market street here and saw lots of live chickens being butchered as well as live frogs, turtles, and fish. Refridgeration of meat here not a priority apparently. Went to get Hattie some shoes that fit that aren't quite as blingy as the ones she came with. She's already at least one size bigger than her older sister. Headed to apply for her passport this afternoon after nap!

Hattie's first masterpiece

Two sweaty girls ready to get out of the sun

Beautiful park, if we weren't melting!