An Epiphany! (Wed 1/13)

I woke up at 4:45am this morning and just couldn't go back to sleep, too much on my mind.  I was feeling bewildered by the day before, which was evident in the tone of my post.  But I truly feel as though God heard all of the prayers.  When KaiLi's first tantrum today starting coming on, the thought occurred to me that she may be hungry. So I feed her a quick snack, no tantrum!  Then when her next tantrum began to come on, I gave her water and no tantrum!   After this second one, I remembered back to our Pathways training at Gladney way back in Nov 2011.  Many of these kiddos aren't able to self-regulate. They are unable to read their bodies cues, which tends to send them into tantrums over seemingly small things. (The tantrum is just the secondary reaction to the underlying issue.). I had completely forgotten about this!  If I am remembering correctly, there are three things these kiddos need: food, water, or movement (I can't remember the exact term for this last one, but it refers to movement of the head like jumping on a trampoline or rocking a baby.)  Once I remembered this, I specifically tried these during the onset of two more tantrums in the afternoon.  All of her tantrums today were avoided.  I am still in awe of God feeding me this info during the wee hours of the morning.  Praise be to God!

While lying in bed, I also came up with a theory that KaiLi was raised by an unregistered foster family, which is why it isn't listed on the paperwork or mentioned by anyone?  It just baffles me that any child brought up in an institutional setting would call out for MaMa, BaBa, and YeYe during such an emotional time at such a young age.  And the fact that she seems to know that she can cry to get her way.  But alas, I will never really know.

Brandon read an article on the plane that listed Nanchang as one of the Top 10 big cities in China with low levels of pollution.  So I was surprised by how much smog there is vs how clean Beijing was. Apparently, this is very unusual.  Beijing has had 2 days of 500+ air quality during January 2016, which is a red alert and schools are cancelled. Well, when we were in Beijing the air quality was only a 20!  Winds had carried in the cold front and had cleared out the air while we were there - score!  Nanchang's air quality has been around 200, while we have been here.  Apparently the pollution has gotten a lot worse in the last few years due to construction.  All kinds of buildings were going up, it seemed like all of the roads were under construction (like Dallas!), and a new subway is being built. Though this is a large city of over 4 million, it is a lot less Westernized and modern than the other cities we have visited.  (It is hard to believe that Dallas, Fort Worth, and the surrounding cities only total to 3 million people!)

Today we got dressed and headed to our daily breakfast.  KaiLi didn't eat as much as yesterday so we took some cereal to go. We met with our guide and the Albright's to head to a beautiful pagoda in the middle of the city. This is the building that Nanchang is most know for, and it was breathtaking!  This was built as a summer palace for the emperor's son. He used it for celebrations and parties, which seems so frivolous!  It was the tallest building in the region, overlooked the river, and had spectacular views.  Even though KaiLi feel asleep in the stroller, we were not allowed to use the elevator.  Only those over 70 are allowed...  So Brandon got to carry KaiLi in the stroller up to the 6th floor and back down. What a trooper!

The girls playing after breakfast.

MeiLin was pushing Sissy in her stroller before we head out

The Albright family - James, Courtney, Lala (7), Macy (6), and Nora (3)

The beautiful pagoda!

Our cuties!

KaiLi fell asleep for the majority of the tour...

MeiLin with her zodiac, the Rabbit!

Exploring the grounds

Family photo!

We needed a potty break, so we stopped at a nearby hotel. We just "acted like we belonged".  That allowed us the freedom to go to lunch at another Chinese restaurant by the pagoda.  This one wasn't as successful as yesterday's. Some of the food was too spicy for the girls but the adults enjoyed it!  I tried everything except the see through noodle dish. I was going to try it until James described it as a mix between a noodle and a gummy worm...I was out!

Our lunch destination!

We then headed back to the room for some R&R. I tried to get KaiLi down for a nap while the older girls went with the Dad's to get ice cream.  I wasn't able to get KaiLi to nap, so I had to send in Brandon and she was out in 5 minutes.  I need to think through that more, as I need to be able to get her down on my own...

We once again had a Hall Party with the other 2 adoptive families. (That has turned into one of my favorite parts of the day!)  We saw such progress in all of the kiddos this afternoon!  Yesterday the adoptive kids hung out with the Mom's while the other kids played.  Well, not today!  We brought all of the toys into the hallway and it was a field day.  MeiLin, Nora, and Magnus all joined in the fun and interacted with all of the kids. Nora even talked for the first time!

The little ones (KaiLi and Magnus) loved the ice bucket..he, he!

Coordinating outfits!

The toy station migrated in front of the elevators...

At 5 we disbanded.  I could feel a tantrum coming on and we needed to get food ordered. So it was room service for an early dinner, bath for the kids, and then time to get KaiLi to bed. Right after her bottle, she walked straight to her crib. She stilled whine for about 10 minutes with Brandon in there (we don't dare leave her in there alone since she crawled out) but then she fell fast asleep.  

MeiLin really struggled with KaiLi yesterday because of the tantrums. She wasn't able to understand why she kept crying and they weren't able to play since KaiLi kept getting upset.  Today was really great in that respect!  The girls were able to laugh and play.  MeiLin really like bath time with her Sissy, too!  Prayers that I become more in tuned with little KaiLi so I can help her to transition and us to bond as a family!

Bathtime fun!