Day 10 "Full" of personality

Last night, our guide took us on a dinner cruise along the Pearl River. It turned out to be a fun night with the other two families in our group. Going into the evening, Steve and I realized being on a boat with a 3 year old who doesn't understand a lick of English could present a problem. Thankfully, we did not see her stubborn side and no one was lost overboard. We enjoyed the sights along the river, dinner and some fun entertainment. Simon, our guide, was sweet enough to share his phone that had 'Subway Surfer' loaded with Liam while we waited for dinner.

Today we headed out to a fun park to learn some more about Guangzhou history. We are quite the spectacle with 3 families and 4 strollers. I wonder what people are thinking as we tote the strollers up and down countless flights of stairs. Jenna was pulled into her first picture with another family in our group. No worries that they weren't part of the same family~just a sweet family with a beautiful adopted daughter and a super tall blonde girl ! I wonder whether Jenna will end up on someone's refrigerator door?! Liam and Steve took their try with the hacky sack master while at the park. Needless to say, the master kept his title.

The sweet picture of the littles holding hands wasn't completely unprompted. We have had to strike a balance of how much Jenna can interact with Kinley. At the start of the week, Kinley really only wanted to go to me. Now, she is much more open to going to Steve or me which is what we had desired. However, as she has continued to become more comfortable with us, she has found out how much fun Jenna is as well. The routine has been I have been meeting most of her needs with Steve bringing up the rear. Jenna has primarily been a playmate to Kinley (as well as a HUGE HUGE help behind the scenes). Kinley has enjoyed her jie jie and has asked her to carry her some of the times. While we have allowed it a few times for some necessary moments and a few sweet pictures, it isn't a great idea because Kinley still has to learn who mama is. I still feel strongly to her it is just a word for now. She may look at me or my picture and say mama but in my heart I don't think she knows all that it means. So in any case, at the park, she asked to hold Jenna's hand and we instead encouraged her to hold Liam's hand (Steve and I were pushing the strollers). She sweetly reached over to his stroller and they strode side by side.

After the park, we went shopping with our guide for a few souvenirs. None of the families had much of a shopping list so it made it nice that we shared the same agenda. The one picture shows Liam and Kinley's interest as they waited outside one shop. We stopped for a box lunch on the way back to the hotel which our guide helped us with. Stating some place is a "hole in the wall" has an entirely new meaning but I am thankful Simon was with us as lunch was great. The live roosters in the front of the next shop over just added to the atmosphere.

I guess our outing wore out the kiddos as they both took over a 2 hour nap. We had to wake them for dinner where we joined the 2 other families. We walked to a pizza place and enjoyed some good conversation and a good meal. Upon returning to the hotel, we saw a sign that was changing pictures. Kinley, unprompted, said "pizza" as a slice of pizza popped up on the screen. Her first unsolicited English word!

Today we also learned that most Mandarin words have 4 inflections which each have 4 different meanings. Yun can mean either cloud, melody or transportation (I forget the fourth). We decided today was a good day to start calling her Kinley.

Today we also got a glimpse of the 'stubborn' side we had heard in her report. Up til now, the two kids have worked out who gets to push the outside elevator button and who gets to push the inside elevator button. Okay, Liam basically tells her how it's going to be and she agrees. However, opening the door has been reserved for big brother. Well today it was just Steve, Kinley and me so she was more than excited at her chance. I have come to adore this little skip she does down the hallway. Once we are off the elevator, she scurries out of my arms and makes her way to our door every time. Today she worked and worked to get the door open but had the key backwards. Oooh if you could see the sas I got from this little one as I tried to help her fix the key. Steve just stood half a step back to see how I handled the situation. Let's just say we finally got in the room.

We finished the evening with a walk for ice cream. Jenna has been craving it big time so we enjoyed our stroll (minus the rain) to get Kinley's first ice cream. To say she loved it would be an understatement.

Thank you for the prayers and the advice for Steve's eye. To answer a few, he did go to the Can-Am clinic but they don't have an eye doctor on staff. Our guide arranged for him to see the eye doctor when we had Kinley's medical check up. That is where the current eye medicine has come from. There is one other lead someone sent us that we are following up on to possibly obtain the necessary eye meds. Otherwise, our wonderful daughter at home is making Steve an eye appointment for Monday morning. In the mean time, he is being a huge trooper and not allowing this to impact our adventure.