A night out

Only twice on this trip have I been ashamed of our Americanness.

1. A trip to Walmart in which my almond eyed empress walked out with a blonde haired, blue eyed Barbie. We brought a more appropriate doll with us for Gotcha day which she loved but it somehow got lost at one of our appointments. We knew immediately that wawa (doll) had to be replaced.

2. Tonight we took the ride of shame- a taxi to Pizza Hut. After 20 straight Chinese meals and the Chicken Head Incident, it was time for some pizza. And IT. WAS. GOOD.

Once we got there I started to panic. I realized that we were all alone for the first time- no guide, no translator. This was also the same time of night she decompensated last night. But she did great. It was the happiest she's been since we saw the foster parents. I realize that the sadness will come and go but it was good to see her smiling and happy again. We shared a lot of laughs. Only occasionally did she look at me like "I still don't like you, remember?" She even called me Mama tonight. I started referring to myself as Mommy today thinking maybe it wouldn't be as threatening. To her mama is foster mom. And that is ok with me- that will always be her first mother. I'm not trying to replace that.

And Baby Girl loves some pizza. (Wish you were here Darlene and Lulu.)

Again the Chinese people are so gracious. Because we had two children in tow, someone gave us their booth. We were supposed to have a twenty minute wait. It was also fun to watch the Chinese people watch us. You can tell by their expressions exactly how they feel about adoption. But you could watch their expressions change as they saw our girls laugh and giggle and snuggle up with Mama and BaBa.

I wish I had taken our camera tonight. It was Friday night so all the teenagers were out at Pizza Hut on dates or hanging out with friends. The girls were all dressed up- so beautiful and stylish. It was fun to watch them.

On a sad note, when we pulled back up to the hotel, she started to clap and sing. She thinks this is home, bless her heart. She has just settled in to our hotel in Nanning and tomorrow we fly to Guangzhou. It will be her third hotel in four days. But it will be her LAST. As much as I love China, I am ready to get home and get settled into our little routine as a family of four.

Now my girls are in the tub. You can probably hear the squeals down the hall.