All's Quiet on the Eastern Front

Quiet, because she's snoozing now! (It wasn't quiet just a bit ago - although we had a great day today, she still grieves a lot at night and still calls out for her earlier caretakers.) But for the most part, we've had a great day today and continue to make progress. Keira seems to trust us more and more. We had so many firsts today - first day waking up without crying, first diaper change with no crying, first real crawling (K-style), and first pulling up to standing and then walking while holding hands! She's also been babbling and smiling more and more. She likes to say guh-guh, guh-guh...which is the Mandarin way to say "big brother". She must remember from when we look at Q's pix. Well, at least that's my story, and I'm sticking to it.
We had a fun time at breakfast this morning, where she ate her favorite: congee. I'm going to have to figure out how to make this stuff when we get home, although I'm giving serious consideration to substituting Quaker instant oatmeal to see if she notices. Ha!
Here she is, happy to be dining:
And later, playing in the room. She loves the Elmo phone, things that make noise, and the ever-so sophisticated empty water bottle.

Warning: pictures from another park to follow. A different park this time. But read on at your own risk!

This morning, we went on a little jaunt to Qingxiushan (Qingxiu Mountain Resort). It was lovely there, although we didn't get to see all there is to see. We did get to hike up to this pagoda, and then climb the 9 flights to the top, where we had a great view of Nanning and the surrounding area. I'm glad we had K in the Baby Bjorn carrier, instead of in a stroller. It made navigating the hike much easier!

A view from the top - you can see the mountains and some of Nanning in the background.

Here's another view from the top. This time a look at the Yongjiang (Yong River). Nanning was named Yong city wayyyyy back when, before it was given its current name. (Nan means south, ning for peace; as in peaceful, southern city...so sayeth our guide.)

You may notice the, um, haze in the photos. Not camera trouble this time. Just how the city looks from high up. Pollution, I think, although Guangxi province, in general, isn't as industrial as other provinces, but still...It was, however, much worse in Beijing.

Another Guangxi tidbit: it is one of the top 10 sugar-producing areas in the world (the top in China). No wonder we've got such sweetie! Other than sugar cane, other important crops in Guangxi are bananas and other fruit, spices, and rice.

Tomorrow we will visit the Minorities Museum here in Nanning. This province is actually not technically a province but an Autonomous Region - the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, so named because it has a high percentage of minorities living here. Not over 50%, but very high compared to most other areas.

Tomorrow afternoon, the babies' passports should be ready, so we can leave Guangxi and head to Guangdong province, to the city of Guangzhou. We will fly out on Saturday morning. K's first plane ride in about 36 hours. So, I'll be signing off now to look up the dosing of Benadryl....which I may or may not be joking about.