Tuesday

I'm wide awake at 2 am and not feeling well. But I might as well write while I can, as the details of our days here fade quickly.
We took one step back this morning when she woke up. Yesterday's evening smiles had regressed into fear; she took everything in with wide and fearful eyes again. We skyped briefly with the boys. She timidly watched them on the screen, but did not interact.
Still no budging on changing her outfit, and we don't dare take off her prized shoes. When her pigtail fell out she made it clear that it needed to be fixed. It's as if she wants every detail to be frozen in time from when she left the orphanage. No problem, baby girl. We can wait.
She began eating almost immediately after waking. And the breakfast buffet rocked her world.
She still throws things when she is done with them. So Randy got hit in the face with a banana. Apparently, bananas are only worth eating if they are still in the peel.
On one of our walks we saw a disabled man lying on the sidewalk. One foot was incredibly disfigured; it appeared to be club foot. This was hard for us to see, as both Randy and one of our boys were born with severe bilateral club foot. It was heart wrenching to see that what could have been fixed with simple medicine in our privileged world, instead destined this man to a life on the streets.
We ate lunch at a Mexican restaurant. Next to us were three American women and their Chinese friend. We chatted a bit and they asked what we were doing here. Turns out, the Chinese woman had thought that our daughter was biological. We all had a good laugh. Funny how that recessive Chinese gene works sometimes. :)
We got a tiny potty from our guide; much better for her than the terrifying toilet.
At the grocery store she lit up when she saw the coconut milk and clutched her special drink through the rest of the trip. She also gave a tiny yell and lunged as we passed a display of jello type candies. The girl knows what she likes!
She grinds her teeth when sleeping. That makes three of us grinders in the same bed.
Tonight we ate dinner with two other adopting families that we'd met online; we had a great time. The toddler girls all eyed each other. I wonder if they thought to themselves, "I see that you're stuck with the same alien beings that I am. At least they seem to have lots of food."
It thundered and stormed on the walk back to the hotel, but she wasn't as scared as we'd expected. Someone mentioned that another typhoon was passing through but it didn't seem to be a bad one.
We did get more smiles today, and even some giggles. She is hilarious when she is feeling comfortable. We spent hours playing with stacking cups and letting her put stickers on our faces. She mimics faces that we make and I hope to get a video of it at some point. She is a DOLL.
Our appointment duty today was at the civil affairs building to sign papers to make our adoption final in China's eyes. She remembered the building from yesterday and whimpered when we entered. We were asked at least three times if we were satisfied with her and if we would ever abandon or abuse her. By the third time I got teary and wanted to exclaim, "Are you kidding me?? Have you seen this amazing child?!" Needless to say, she is now officially ours. <3