I'm having Blogger issues so this post is for yesterday and today. First, let me tell you a little about Nanchang. Let me just say, we're so blessed and fortunate in America. There seems to be quite a bit of poverty here but the people generally have such great attitudes. The traffic here is completely crazy, a free-for-all really. I've often heard those adoptive parent's who've gone before me compare watching the pedestrians cross the street to watching a game of Frogger. It's even worse. Lane restrictions are really more of a suggestion than anything. Two lanes here sometimes doubles as three lanes, with an oncoming vehicle passing another one and then veering away right before you plow into each other. The horn honking is a constant thing, so much so that people don't even seem to respond to it. Bikes and mopeds weave in an out of it all carrying an entire family of three or even four ( a small child just stands on the seat sandwiched between the parents). And intersections are particularly scary. Experiencing this in a large van is crazy enough, but one time we took a small cab.....never again. Everyone lives in apartments, and apartments are everywhere. The people here are mostly very nice and curious when it comes to us. We went to a small store around the corner yesterday evening and there were lots of people just hanging out and letting their kids play and by the time we came out of the store they were all kind of congregated around wanting to talk to us and look at Kerry, and they love to introduce their own children and try to get them to play with Kerry. I figured out quickly that they love it when you talk to their children or touch their faces or something like that and the kids are so sweet. And they all want to meet Kerry and the westerners. Speaking of Kerry, she continues to amaze us with her resilience and willingness to give and receive affection. She really seems to be bonding with us well. She will not let anyone else hold her at all and when she's unsure, sad, or in pain (like earlier when she hit her mouth on the arm of the chair) it's me, or in a pinch, Daddy that she comes to for comfort which is very encouraging. Even when she's playing happily she will sometimes get this suddenly serious look on her little face and she will turn around and put her little arms up and lean in for a hug, then she's okay for a while. And she does not want us out of her sight. Her Nannies confirmed that she was in the orphanage only and never in foster care, so I'm thrilled that she's already identifying us as her "home base" and that she is showing such emotional capacity for bonding, love, happiness. She plays well and catches on very quickly to little games we make up and even puts her own slant on them. We took her to the hotel pool, which is amazing, it's on the 8th floor surrounded by windows and it's huge. I'm pretty sure she's never seen a pool before but she took to it like a little duck to water. I started of by sitting with her on the edge of the kiddie pool and showed her how to spash and before I knew it she was leaning out of my lap trying to get in. So I got in the big pool with her and she took to it immediately. She and Daddy were splashing each other which she thought was great fun. She didn't mind being submerged up to her neck and even, on her own, kept leaning over and dipping her face in the water. I just held her under her arms and drug her around the water for a good half hour and she even started straightening herself out and kicking her legs after a bit. Like I said, this kid is amazing.

I'm about as much of a morning person as my mommy

A hamburger! Not that I haven't enjoyed the local food

I like to look out the front window of the lobby and people watch

Silliness