Another Great Day!

10/30/2010 at 9:40 pm (China Time)

I don’t know where the days go! I feel like we have been gone forever, but yet the days just fly by us. We have been so busy that I haven’t been able to keep up on my blog. We are now in Guangzhou and love it here! We got Isla’s passport at 5:00 last night in Nanning then went straight to the airport to fly to Guangzhou. We are back with our original 10 families. This morning we had to go get Visa pictures taken then off to get all the children’s medical done. It was an absolute nut house there, but we made it out with a clean bill of health, no shots, just a TB test. After that, we went to a place called Lucy’s and had a fantastic lunch! In fact it was so good that we went back for dinner.

Isla is doing great! Where she lived with her foster family was a place where they spoke a dialect of Cantonese. According to her latest records, she only spoke a few words of that. She has been with us for five days and we are amazed as to what she understands and how she communicates with us.

It seems that all or most Chinese children have nicknames. Isla was known as Ahming or Ming Ming. Her Chinese name was Gong, Kangming. The first few days we would call her by her nicknames, but then started calling her Isla Ming and now it is just Isla. Her best friend’s name was Gong Kangcou, she was just adopted about one month ago. I tried to get some information, but all I got was that they thought she had been adopted by a family that lives in Holland.

Isla is no longer “storing” her food in her cheeks. She still does pretend play like she is eating, but actually has no food. This too is less and less. Since she has been introduced to so many new foods, she no longer enjoys her congee like she used to. In other words, she is becoming a picker eater now that she knows that she has options. She didn’t even finish her bottle tonight. She weighed in at 22 pounds today! It truly is sad to know that these children just live in a survival mode. Isla is the happiest little girl who giggles nonstop. She even gives us lots of hugs and kisses, which makes our day. She loves to sing and dance so she will fit right in with our family.

I have been posting pictures on Shutterfly. If you are interested in viewing, go to http://islaming.shutterfly.com.