Getting Sydney - Day 11

We've had our little angel for a week now...what a transformation. When we first got her she couldn't drink from a sippy cup...we had to suction juice from a straw into her mouth. Now she's using a sippy cup just fine. She started out so serious and quiet...now she's laughing and cackling and smiling at people as we pass them in the streets. She was unable to crawl and now she's able to crawl fairly well. She wouldn't put food in her mouth on her own, now she'll feed herself. She has her "2 year old moments", but she is a very sweet child. It may have been an accident, but she said "Hello" today when someone walked up and said hello. She'll pick up the phone and say "lala?" and then hand it to us.


Today we went for the Chinese physical. This is a formality that is required before they can be released and leave the country so there is a little anxiety involved. Our 1st stop this morning was to get her passport photo taken...here we are leaving the passport photo shop


The examiniation clinic was right down the street



It was a very busy place with lots of locals as well as adoptive parents there. There were 3 stations that we had to go through and Sydney wasn't happy at any of them. Here was the 1st station where she was weighed and measured:


She weights 22 pounds and is 78 centimeters tall. At another station they checked her heartbeat and breathing, and finally they checked her hearing and her throat. She checked out fine at all stations and we were quickly on our way. As we were walking back to the bus we passed a group of older Chinese folks playing a "hacky sack"-like game. Earlier we saw a group of really old folks doing Tai Chi with fans...it was very graceful and beautiful. I would have taken a picture but we were in a hurry.


After the exam we went to the Guangzhou zoo where we experienced a couple of things that are required during all summer zoo visits in the deep south...extreme heat and PB&J sandwiches


Heyyyy...I think I like this!


The zoo was very beautiful. Since Guangzhou is very tropical it is also very green.


Here is a bamboo forest...when the wind blows through the leaves it is quite peaceful and sounds beautiful.




They have exhibits that are different from what I've seen at zoos before. For example, a gold-fish area where they had tank after tank of various gold fish species. Here's a weird one




And the kids were very excited to see a hippo come out of hiding and slide into the water



It was so hot!! But we were all very glad that we left Beijing last weekend...this past week it has reached 108 degrees there. Although with the heat index here we've been feeling 100 degree temps. After we got back to the hotel the girls all went to the pool. Sydney actually played around in the water up to her chest. She's not so scared of water now so you'd think bathtime wouldn't be so bad....wrong. She cried and cried when Ginger bathed her this afternoon. All that crying, and the heat (and the PBJ) wore Sydney out:


After her nap went shopping at the friendship store and dropped off the disposable camera (that we had sent to her orphange) at a camera store and picked up some fries and chicken from McDonalds. For those of you (like Ginger) that are scared to try new foods...don't worry...there are American restaurants all over...even a Subway. But you should definitely try the Guangzhou fried rice...it is delicious and has big chunks of shrimp and pork in it.

Sydney put in a full day...here she is zoning out right before going to bed


I can't believe we only have 3 days left before we head home...we're very homesick and ready to come home; but we're scared of the plane ride though. Pray for us Thursday night as you go to bed...it will be Friday morning here and we'll be starting our long journey home.

Videos:
Oops...no videos today and she's already asleep. Sorry!