Two's Company, Three Draws a Crowd

Believe what you read about a Caucasion couple with an Asian baby drawing attention in Nanning. We get stares everywhere we go. Yesterday in the nearby park, the three of us stopped to talk to another couple in our travel group who was also enjoying that park. A couple stopped to watch us, and the other mom showed him the card our guide made for each of us. It explains, in Chinese, that we are Americans who are adopting the baby (includes baby's Chinese name), and that we will bring her home to live with us and we will love her. After reading the card, the man smiles and tells us in broken English that we have big hearts. Americans love girls he says; most Chinese prefer to have a boy. We just smile and says thank you, but we know that we are the real lucky ones to get to bring these bundles of love home with us.

Then today, the really big scene! I wouldn't have believed it if I wasn't in the middle of it all. Our group was swarmed by about 30 Chinese, all looking at the babies, smiling and patting the babies' cheeks. Some parents were getting "scolded" for not having the jacket zipped up far enough. It was all friendly and curious, but really very interesting. (Keira missed out on this group of fans - she and daddy stayed back while I made the group venture to WalMart. She slept late and therefore hadn't had breakfast by the time the group was leaving. We choose sleep over bring ready in time for shopping. We wanted this girl as well-rested as possible!)

Anyway, enough talk. Here are more photos.

Yesterday at the People's Park, near our hotel:

....OK - only one pic for now. Blogger is being irritating, so I will try again with more photos later.

A few quick notes on Keira, if you are interested: She is getting more and more comfortable with us each hour. Yesterday, she was basically irritated with us unless she was eating, sleeping, or moving (a la walking in park as above). Today, she actually seems to be more content. She reaching for me more (yea!) and not just Chris (although tonight at bedtime, it was daddy only!). She is showing us more smiles. She loved her bath - we thought she'd cry taking one; she cried when it was over! She had her first french fry today - at MickeyD's no less - and loved it. Who wouldn't? And she had her first taxi ride today too. It's great fun getting to know her. Who knows what she thinks of us, so it is good she speaks no English yet! ;-)