Free Day

Thanks to everyone for all the good wishes!  Nice to know everyone is thinking about us.  My email has been kind of funny and I haven’t been able to reply to some messages but all the good wishes are appreciated!  Here’s an update on our free day…

We started the day at breakfast.  Ana did much better trying different foods and mama did much better getting the food into Ana’s mouth.  I think they may just let us back in the restaurant.  I discovered that Ana likes eggs!  Then we went for a walk with another family to Walmart for shoe shopping.  The shoes I brought for Ana were just a little HUGE on her even though they were 18-24 month size.  We found a cute pair of pink and green ones (they were really the only ones).  After the walk we tried out the whole nap thing.  Not so good but she did sleep for 11 hours the night before and then slept on the walk back from Walmart.  Not sure how she managed to do this with all the dodging and weaving we had to do due to the scooters and bicycles zooming down the sidewalk.  There are no trucks here I think, just big bicycles with carts on the back that people stack as high as they can get.  So instead of nap we went to try out the play yard in the hotel.  Ana loved the ball pit!  Later we took a walk to the park.  Ana discovered leaves from the trees and we practiced stair climbing.  She did great!  The park was really nice and relaxing.  There was even a Chinese band playing music in the park.  We rested under a gazebo and had a picnic of animal crackers.  Here, Ana discovered how to use her snack cup.  We headed back to the hotel to play with our toys we bought at Walmart.  Ana loved the spinning caterpillar toy that Aunt Maria bought her.  I found out that she knows how to put her shoes on (and also take them off).  She also likes to throw whatever she can off the bed so that you pick it up.  Although, she has discovered that it is much more fun to put the toys on her foot and then kick them off.  Later that night, we went back to Mama Mia’s for dinner with another family.  Ana ate up her spaghetti and also discovered another leaf… basil.  She wouldn’t let it go and kept eating it.  When we got back from dinner we tried bath time.  Not a big fan of bath time, even though her info sheet from the orphanage said loves her bath.  Something to work towards.  Today we are headed to the Zhengzhou zoo.  Love to all!