Finally in Guangzhou

We made it WITH OUR WHITE FOLDERS to Guangzhou. No real incidents this time, except that I stupidly packed all our liquids (ALL the girls' medicines, which we have been using and needing), hair-care products, etc. in my carry-on so we got it all confiscated, of course. I begged the guy for the antibiotic and he relented, but only after making me chug some. Fine with me! Chug, chug, see?

We have a large group and we met everyone this morning. 7 families, one from California, and the rest from Michigan. We all had to have our medical checkups today and little bobble head Gracie had to get 5 shots. Out of nowhere I just started sobbing right along with her, it made me so sad that she's been cut and poked so many times in her little life. She did seem to not blame me after, however :) She gave everyone in the room her stink eye and just clung to me like a little monkey.

I have to tell the funny story about her pictures from when we sent her a cake for Chinese New Year that I posted on her blog 6 months ago (the one with cake SLATHERED on her face, ha ha). I spent months telling my friends how happy I was that she looked happy and at peace with her foster family. I pegged her Gramma, her foster mom and her "older" sister. Come to find out, the foster Mom was the woman who gave her to me on Gotcha Day, an unknown woman to Grace from the orphanage, the Gramma was the Orphanage Director and the older sister was another nanny. Ha ha.

Grace has a very good sense of humor. She about dies laughing when you drop anything and she loves silliness and therefore, she and her Dad will get along just fine. HOWEVER, Kevin, she is stubborn and likes to hit her big sister. We are working very hard to show her gentle, gentle, no hitting and I must say, Frannie is a champ. Today, Grace slapped her across the face in the van on the way to her medical exam and about 4 seconds later, a toddler from behind grabbed a fist-full of her hair and she just squeaked.

Difference No. 9765 from the US: people in the US, as a general rule, do not SCREAM at parents when their child is screaming on a plane during takeoff and landing and parents of screaming children do not GENERALLY smack their 18-month olds for screaming. I wanted to physically harm that horrible man, but.... international incident ....

My favorite Frannie lines from this week:

1. After waking up on the airplane, lying on my stomach, she blinked at me, stuck two fingers up her nose and said "Mom, I have two nipples."
2. After days of hearing Frannie say "Look Mom, I'm shaking my bum bum," and I finally said "Frannie, that is enough. We don't need to hear that anymore" to which she responded "Yeah, all the other girls would be jealous."

WWKS, Guangzhou, China, September 19, 2009

The jewelry market in Guangzhou, I hear, is closed for the rest of the month of September. I hear it's a dangerous place anyway. All the jewelry is fake and so I think you shouldn't waste your time there....use this time to practice the Gator chomp with Grace and play the Florida fight song for her while she sleeps.