Day 6- Getting to Know Anna Kathryn

It's been about 29 hours since Anna Kathryn was placed in our arms and we are having a ball getting to know her.  Some highlights:

• She doesn't have teeth yet!  I guess our update was wrong.  But we think she is going to cut one soon, because she chews on everything.  I loved the sensation of her little gums sucking on my finger in the van yesterday (guess which rookie mama forgot to pack a pacifier?)
• She is definitely active.  She loves to play "airplane" and romp with Mark.  She also loves looking at the baby in the mirror and making faces (see the picture below).  
• She's been fighting sleep and nap time.  Not sure yet if this is a personality thing, an overstimulation thing, or an attachment thing.  We are trying to follow her lead on this.  Today's nap didn't happen until we put her in the crib and left her alone.  I think laying on the bed with mommy and daddy made her think it was still playtime!
• She has rolled with all of the firsts:  restaurant, hotel, night away from the orphanage, shopping trip to a local grocery store, stroll down the street-- where she attracted lots of smiles and attention from the other shoppers. 
• She has no trouble telling us "no"-- she makes a hilarious stubborn face and fake cries (no tears)  
• She does not like to be on her tummy.  This is a major cause of fake crying, and the occasional real tear.  She can stand, but she is wobbly, and has to hold tight to us.  She hasn't shown us if she can crawl yet, due to the tummy aversion.  She is also wobbly when she sits up on her own (and has fallen over on the bed a few times).  I think we have a few developmental milestones to work on.
• We call her "Bo Di" or "Di Di" (her nickname at the orphanage) and sometimes she will look at us when we say it.  We say Anna Kathryn too, but she doesn't recognize that one yet.  
• Her eyes gleam when she sees food.  (Chip off the old block, eh?)  The bottle, especially, although she has eagerly chowed down on fruit, congee, banana, oranges, bread, eggs... By the way, the formula she has been fed is not the brand involved in the tainted formula problem here, thankfully. 
• She has us wrapped around her finger and much prefers to be held to anything else (bed, chair, stroller).  She smiles, laughs, giggles, and looks at us.  We are so thankful for this, since we have been praying that the attachment process will go well for her.  It's still a process, but she looks for us if we are not nearby (for example, if one of us steps into the bathroom to fix a bottle, or to go get food at the breakfast buffet).   This is a good sign!

More pictures from late Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning:

The mirror game is super-fun!

Playing before bedtime
Hi to everyone in America!
Good morning, sunshine!
Our first breakfast together.  Daddy helped her sample the breakfast buffet.
Here is the bathroom counter, post-baby.  Boiling water for every bottle and all dishwashing is more labor-intensive than we realize (the water is not drinkable for anyone.  We've bought bottled but try to use that more for drinking and formula.)  This area is the kitchen and laundry room, too. There is a clothesline that strings across the bathtub-- perfect for small baby things. Living with a baby in a hotel room is definitely interesting!

Well, I probably should be napping along with Anna Kathryn, but am enjoying some computer time instead.   Today has been very relaxed, since we got pretty much all of the official business out of the way yesterday.  We slept in a little, after our 3 AM wake up call from Anna Kathryn.  Once she fell back to sleep, she slept hard until 8:30 AM, when we woke her up for breakfast. 

After breakfast, we went shopping with our guide in the pedestrian district and went to the grocery store for diapers, water, and hairspray (mine was confiscated in the security checkpoint at the airport, despite being in my small Ziploc baggie.  A sad moment, indeed.).  I was so busy checking on Anna Kathryn in the stroller and chatting with Sally that I forgot to take pictures.  I'll have to get some on the next outing.  After the heat and crowds, we were kinda glad to return to the hotel for lunch for Anna Kathryn and then a nap.  

Today we entrusted a week's worth of dirty clothes to one of the local laundries, arranged by our guide.  It takes a certain level of trust to give practically every stitch you brought to a stranger, who just zips them in his suitcase and heads out.  At least he had an official looking form in both English and Chinese I filled out.  I am picky about my laundry, but also desperate and down to the last clean shirt!  I pray that everything comes back in one piece tomorrow.

Mark is waking up our little sunshine, so I've got to go.  We race to the computer first thing in the morning (and afternoon, and so on...) to read comments and e-mail.  Even if we don't respond to all of them, please know that we love you all and appreciate every note and comment from home.   

Good night from China!!