The Sun Sets on Day Three

Hi from glamorous Nanning. We've had a tiring couple of days with the two princesses and met a lot of interesting people. MeiMei continues to be bonded to Daddy. They couldn't be closer if there was Super Glue spread on Dad's chest. She's sleeping there now, arms and legs around him.
JieJie fell asleep at the bar where we were toasting Tammy's birthday. We were only there about 15 minutes after dinner when she curled up in her new, white Harley Davidson jumper ($2.50 yesterday at the kids boutique near the hotel. ok, sorry. pure shamelessness).

JieJie and I spent a very long time at the pool today. We had a ladies lunch at poolside and just when we were about to go in, her new friend, a fellow JieJie, came back from the group outing, so we started over. MeiMei got a little pool time today too, in her sweet watermelon bathing suit that was a gift from Tammy. She liked the water as long as her father held her, and splashed and laughed, then promptly fell asleep.

She still wants nothing to do with Mama, who understands that these things happen, but still wishes she could hold the baby without being pushed away.

MeiMei is quite the dynamo. She can crawl very fast if her father decides to put her down to tend to some necessary detail of basic hygiene, but she sat on top of him throughout a haircut today. She ate broccoli and birthday cake and noodles and bread and fruit in addition to her formula and congee. In fact, bread seems to be her favorite, the crustier the better. Perhaps we can have a baguette for her to gnaw on every day at home. So much for only adding a new food every few days. She also tried eat a pad of paper and a crayon. She's definitely getting some new teeth.

We tried a bottle with a liner so we would not have to keep sterilizing our three old-fashioned Chinese bottles every day. She examined it, turned it upside down and shook her head quite resolutely. The formula went back into the old bottle, which she grabbed and sucked down.

Yulin orphanage is very organized. Each family was given a goodie bag containing a CD of photos of the baby dating back to the earliest days and showing her foster family and their home. We have their names, too, so we can correspond. It seems there were two and possibly three babies in the home at the time. There was also a group photo of foster moms. It was comforting to see them.

Tomorrow we are supposed to go to the dreaded monkey park again, and I suppose victims from the audience will be chosen to try the potentially ankle-crushing monkey dance between fast-clacking bamboo poles. JieJie said monkeys are slimy.

We skipped today's outing, and it was lovely to have nothing scheduled. Unless you travel a few hours from Nanning, there is not much to see but the city, which is lively and teeming with people and commerce and traffic. There are huge piles of beautiful fruit, tropical flowers by the armload and thousands of interesting faces. In the three years since we have been here, Nanning seems to have grown and changed a great deal. Last time we saw no Westerners other than those involved with adoptions, but this time we have seen several people who appear to be here on business, and then there are the tobacco company delegations having some sort of convention here. Cigarettes are everywhere, even on the plane, although JieJie told me I must be wrong because smoking is not allowed on the plane. Even a wedding in the hotel had trays of favors and candy mixed with loose cigarettes. An old joke comes to mind... I dunno, I never looked.