Six Banyan Temple and Pearl River Cruise

We ventured out on our own again this morning. There is a pedestrian street right outside of our hotel and we decided to try it out. It is full of very nice shops and was a great place for walking by ourselves and just taking in all the sites. You can see everything from a man in a chicken outfit playing a trumpet to people eating long squid pieces on a stick. The people watching was fascinating and we all enjoyed it.

After the walk we spent some time at the rooftop pool and play area. It was a beautiful day, but the water was freezing! Hanna actually went in the pool, the rest of us played in the water from the side. Rylee was not terrified of this pool, so maybe it was the darkness of the pool at the Galactic Peace Hotel that scared her so much. She did not seem bothered by the coldness of the water, just at how deep the pool was. She was perfectly happy to plop down in the foot disinfecting pool though - I guess it's "disinfected" but still I gave her a very thorough shower before we left!

Today Rylee went to great lengths to explain to me that she does not need to wear pants because she has beautiful panties on underneath. she does not seem to want to accept that panties are not outerwear! She was positively giddy when we got back to the room and I FINALLY said yes to the pants coming off! She ran around celebrating like she had just been set free.

She is starting to trust that we will not let her run out of food and that we will provide that for her. She no longer feels the need to pack her purse full of snacks every chance she gets and for the last two days has not even taken it with her when we have gone out. She still has to tuck a couple of things in her pockets and watch to make sure we have food for her in the backpack. Today she even got tired of having the rice cookies in her pockets and handed them over to me to put in my pockets. She is also starting to eat a little bit less. She still eats pretty much all the time, but not the excessive quantities that she did the first few days.

Hanna has a little bit of a hard time understanding why Rylee gets to have a snack whenever she wants, so we had a talk about how we are teaching Rylee that she can depend on us to give her what she needs and that it is one of the ways that we are helping Rylee learn that she can trust us. We also talked about how there are some behaviors that we are letting go for right now because for one, these are things that she has either been taught or had to do to get attention, and two she doesn't understand us completely yet. One of these is that Rylee is very skilled in spitting and wants to impress us with this great talent. It is impressive in the sink while brushing teeth, but not so much for us everywhere else!

We visited Six Banyan Temple today and Rylee slept through the entire tour. She is doing really well with us and each day shows big improvements. Today she was much more affectionate with us and I even got my first real kiss from her! She was calling me Mama today and pretty much makes sure she can see me at all times. Unless of course we are with our guide. Rylee would happily walk away from us right now if she could go with Connie - she absolutely loves her! Connie is very good with this and when she saw that Rylee was starting to reject me for her she talked to Rylee about it and made sure that she did not let Rylee hold her hand and walk with her or sit on her lap anymore. Rylee wasn't too happy about it, but it didn't take her very long to get over it.

We went to a very beautiful park this evening before the dinner cruise and the girls had fun playing there. They climbed on all the cow statues (there were many) and played a little hide and seek together. Hanna was back to feeling good today and is looking forward to going back to Shamian Island tomorrow.

The Pearl River cruise was very beautiful and it was a perfect night for it. We went on the 6:00 cruise and were the only adoptive family there, which meant that we got a lot of stares and attention. One lady asked if we were here for holiday, and I said we were here for our daughter. She said what do you mean, so I said that we had adopted her. She looked Rylee up and down and said "Her?", I said "yes". She said "now?", I said "yes". She shook her head no - I shook mine yes, she stared at me, I nodded again - she did not look convinced at all. I guess maybe it's because Rylee is not a baby...

After the cruise we were walking out and three older ladies were walking beside us. They were talking about and to Rylee. One of them held out her hands, but Rylee clung to me and said no (sounds like boo yah) so the woman snatched her out of my arms and started walking fast with her talking to her. Rylee was whining and holding her arms out and stretching towards me and calling Mama, Mama! It's a good thing that I had read about this happening and had been warned by my agency or I might have knocked the women over! I remained calm but kept my eyes on her and stayed right up with her. Out of the corner of my eye I see Hanna dodging around from behind me and Pat pushing between me and the women and I realized this was one thing I had forgotten to warn them about. So I smiled at the woman, took Rylee back and told her to have a nice night. When we found our driver and got in the van, I hear "WHAT was that?!?" from both of them. I'm not sure which one would have pounced on her first!

Overall we had a fantastic day. Someone said to me "Could you be any happier?" and I was thinking about that today as I watched Rylee and Hanna running together, laughing and playing and when I felt those little arms holding tight around my neck, and when I got my first genuine kiss, and when her eyes lit up after nap when she saw her whole family here in the room and when she stretched her arms out and called Mama, Mama... And my answer is - how could I ever be any happier than right now as we are living out daily what we have been dreaming of for so very long? It is beyond happiness!