Hangzhou

We made it through another night in Hangzhou! Last night was much better for Sydney and the rest of us as well. She only woke us up a couple of times grinding her teeth last night, so hopefully that means that she is relaxing a little more. We went for a walk last night in a park over by the lake. There were two ladies with a little girl about Sydney’s age, who stopped to say hello and ask how old she is….she is very hesitant around other kids. I thought she would gravitate to kids after being with them in the orphanage but she likes to observe them from her dad’s arms. Things are getting better every day that we spend together. She is cueing us more and pointing to things more frequently. She learns very quickly! The orphanage staff said that she is very smart and so far, without the aid of a formal IQ test, she seems to be pretty sharp!

We have been concerned about her cough and ear drainage. Last night she was digging at her ear again, and this morning she had more drainage. We asked our guide if we could take her to the doctor. She said it is a pubic hospital and there are many people so we could just show up this afternoon and wait to be seen. Another family here was sent with several samples of an antibiotic by their pediatrician, so they gave us a 7 day supply. We did some reading on the internet about a ruptured ear drum just to see if there was anything medically that could be done, just in case that’s what happened. We decided to skip the trip to the hospital for now and see if she improves on the antibiotic. We will still see a doctor in a couple of days in Guangzhou or we can go to the hospital tomorrow if she seems worse. Hopefully the antibiotic will clear up the ear infection and knock out the rattling cough that she and the other girls all seem to have.

Today we had breakfast in the hotel and left for a tour of a Buddhist temple (Lingyin). It was amazing and fun to see the monks. They smiled at the girls when we would walk past them. Our guide said that this is a very famous temple and monks from all over the world come to visit. Our camcorder battery died part way through the tour but we couldn’t take pictures in the temples anyway. It’s always humid and warm here and today was no exception but it was nice to be in the caves and trees. Alycia, Donny, and the other guys in our group climbed up some of the rock steps, while Sydney and the rest of the mom’s and kids waited. Sydney is such a trooper! She walked a lot and was carried a lot in the heat and never complained once. I’ve only seen her complain a couple of times so far. Today she cried and went limp when I tried to take her to the public bathrooms at the temple. I’m not sure why she reacted so strongly. They were squatters but she used one of those in a shopping market and didn’t complain. We’ll never know why it happened and she was perfectly fine using the bathroom when we got back to the hotel.

We went to Pizza Hut today and fed Sydney her first bites of American food. She had some spaghetti, fried shrimp, and beef with barley soup. It was my first “real” food after being sick for two days. I had a couple of bites of spaghetti and followed that up with yogurt and a banana when we got back to the hotel. So far, everything is staying put! Sydney is very similar to her big sister. She loves soup, does not like to be messy when she eats, and loves noodles! She asks Alycia to hold her and wanted to sit on her lap a lot today. On our way back from Pizza Hut today, I carried Sydney but she held Alycia’s finger the whole way back from the hotel. We discovered a Dairy Queen on our trip back from the temple and we’ll probably check that out tonight.

I also have to try on her new clothes that we found yesterday. So far she seems to fit the 2T clothes the best. She is wearing a little 3T skort today but the only reason it stays up is because she has a round little toddler belly, otherwise it would slide right off of her! Her little 3T shirt keeps falling off of her narrow shoulders and she doesn’t like that at all. She also doesn’t like some of the tags in her clothes……remind you of anyone else??!! She can wear the dresses that we brought but she’s not very “ladylike” when she sits and is definitely better suited for shorts!
We’re all excited that tomorrow is our last night here!