I think today is a turning point for all of us. Isabella is happily playing with Eddie's Spiderman watch. I had forgotten how cool it was, children at this age, playing, amusing themselves with the simplest of things. She is such an inquisitive little girl, taking everything in, her eyes noticing everything, watching intently, each of us, what we do, what we say, she seems more interested and curious about her new surroundings than intimidated, as I feared she would. She is indeed a happy little girl. Last night, Eddie had her cackling with laughter as he was dancing about, acting like a clown which we've all witnessed, tickling her, making funny sounds. He is such a natural at this, being a big brother - and boy did it warm my heart to hear my children laughing. My children. Wow.
She is doing well. She sleeps well at nights, 8-10 hour stretches. Wakes occasionally, soothes herself - she sucks her thumb(s), and goes back to sleep. She takes 3 nine ounce bottles and eats congee, and soft solids at the table with us. We gave her some fruit at breakfast this morning - cool to watch her expression experiencing the new foods. We're sure she ate no solids and had no experience with spoon feeding prior to now. But she's a fast learner and tonight was opening wide for the noodles Bill was feeding her with his chopsticks. Already in just a little over 2 days, she is looking better, with better color, smiles, laughs, and plays quietly at the table at meals. Can I say how helpful it is to have Eddie here with us. He tries so hard and is so good with her. Tonight at Dinner, Bill and I actually got to eat at the same time, while Eddie was feeding her congee. Yesterday at the pool and again last night, Bill had her on her feet, cruising, holding onto the bed or Bill, taking steps, shaky, but taking steps. She is able to roll over, sit herself up, and is doing more of that today, but wasn't moving much on her own the first day.
I rarely openly disclosed, mostly out of embarassment or shame for what I thought most would think was less than appropriate feelings, but so often through this long, arduous process - I questioned whether or not this was the right thing to do. Not knowing what to make of the abivalence I just could not suppress. Was that ambivalence an internal cue of what would be the biggest mistake of my life, or just fear of the unknown? Would not "going through with this" end up being that mistake? Surely, the length of time we all have had to wait, think, re-think, wait some more, and my usual way of over-thinking just about every situation in my life, has contributed. Though, as I watch my husband, my son, emerge over the past 2 days, bonding, working, trying so hard to care for this new little creature in our lives, I start to remember why we did this to begin with. Then today, only the 2nd day after what I assume has to be a most traumatic experience for her, I get a clear, distinct message from Isabella that she is happy to be with us - I know for sure now, that this was the right decision, that this was our path, and she was always ours. She completes us. (ok, it wasn't entirely the message from Isabella, but the 2 hour discussion, Bill and I had over 2 boxes of tissues in the middle of night while Eddie and Bella were sleeping.)
At breakfast in the hotel, we get a table by the window this morning. This fisherman? on this boat has come down the Pearl River every morning with this giant net. What is he fishing for? Bill says the fresh catch on tonight's menu. Ewwww. Let's just say the river isn't exactly crystal clear..
Eddie loves to take pictures of the vessels floating down the Pearl River from the giant window where we eat breakfast every morning. The picture below shows the dining room. If you look carefully, you'll see Bill pushing Isabella in the stroller and Eddie is to the right of the picture, crouched behind a chair. The woman on the left, is she taking a bite of something or picking her teeth?
Me and my kids at breakfast. Aren't they cute?
Back in our room. Eddie took this pic. He is good with the camera. He was so proud of himself, getting Bella to put her arms up in the air and taking the picture.
This is the atrium on the 1st floor. Just behind is the 3 story waterall. The marble floors are spotless - all day. The staff are continuously trimming, clipping, watering and caring for the plants and public areas in this hotel. Never a piece of trash on the floor or anywhere. Below is the waterfall. See the fish in the water?
This is the chef that makes the made to order omelettes each morning. Above is the breads table, one of 4 buffet tables for our breakfast each morning.
This place is wild. Picture any street mall in anywhere in America and multiply it by 100 times. It almost dwarfs New York City. Streets and streets of stores, 100 or more, looking up one side, then the other, mostly organized by types of products, like a whole street of just women's apparel, another of all shoes. We never found the electronics street, though cousin William said he's going to Hong Kong for business tomorrow and will pick one up for us. It has been incredibly helpful having him here. While many in the hotel know English to some extent, the cultural gap is the most notable. Even if I were to find someone in the hotel who understood what we were looking for - they wouldn't know the types of shops we'd like to shop at. For example, this Walking Street place, is too big, with way too many streets and shops. We are not adapt to walking more than a couple blocks in 99 degree heat and humidity. We were all very grouchy today. Well, not Isabella. She was a trooper, sleeping most of the time in the stroller, while the 3 of us walked around grumping and grouching at each other. I was sure Eddie's charger cord thingy was there, but having the stamina to find it was the challenge. Only a few of the stores had English writing on the sign out front, so you had to walk, look inside the store for clues of what it sold. When I say walk - I mean like down a block that would have 80-100 stores, two and three stories high. You may know, we're not exactly rugged. So after walking around for almost 2 hours, we took a cab back to the hotel, defeated. We pass the girl at the concierge desk who suggested we go there, giving us a card with the name of the place on it to give to the driver - she asked us if we got it. We said no. I got an empathetic look that crossed between disappointment and dismay. Boy, do I feel like a "dumb American".
This is Eddie amusing the fish. He loves the idea that when he flaps around, waving his arms and legs, they come to him, heads out of the water, mouths wide open. Bill and I explained they think you're going to feed them. He thinks they're enjoying his show.
She has 6 teeth that are in or mostly in with looks like at least 10 more coming in soon. She sucks her thumb to soothe her achy gums or when she's upset. She's very good at self soothing. It'll be hard not to spoil that by wanting to hold her all the time.
