Day 4

Today started off with a bang. Ava rocks herself in her sleep, and she rocked herself right off the bed. She never woke up even as we carefully picked her up and put her back. 

Todd and I aren't sure if the rocking is to self comfort or if she is having nightmares. When Todd touches her, she relaxes. 

Ava, (we are calling her Pan Yi), enjoyed breakfast very much. She smiled constantly at her daddy and excitedly watched a young boy. She also kept the other patrons entertained by shouting "mama!" at Todd. 

We soon met our guide for a trip to the park. Sylia is a college student studying English. When she graduates, she wants to become a tour guide for Chinese people who travel abroad. 

The park is HUGE. We compare it to Central Park, maybe? At the entrance, retirees were taking their morning exercises: dancing, tai chi, and a sword "dance" similar to tai chi. On tables, groups played cards and mah jong. 

We stopped at a pond to feed the fish. Ava loved it, and we attracted a lot of attention. A woman with a young girl sat next to us and spoke to Ava. Ava looked at her with a bit of confusion, but happily accepted a bag of treats. So Ava continued feeding the fish and herself as people milled around us. 

We continued through the park.. Beautiful flowers, bridges, and buildings. They have an amusement park with a roller coaster, Ferris wheel and other rides and games. 

Ava laughed as I skipped around and walked backwards. She daintily alighted from the stone walkway to the grass to the dirt and would look to us for approval. Our guide said she thinks the children in the orphanage only go outside a few times a year. 

After the park, we visited an embroidery shop for a couple of items to frame for our house. 

Next, we went to a shopping mall (very western!) we passed an Apple Store and Samsung (Samsung is very popular here). We stopped at Pizza Hut and enjoyed cold glasses of peach tea with chunks of real peaches! It was delicious! As we waited for our food it became clear that Ava was exhausted. Our guide had our order packed up and guided us back to the hotel. 

After a quick lunch and a nap, we got back to bonding. We saw our first tantrum: she REALLY doesn't like taking off her shoes. We aren't going to fight that battle since she has not had control of anything else, she can control her shoes. She is sleeping in them now. 

We hung out in our room and played. She started opening up to me.. Giving me her big grin and even some hugs and kisses. 

We decided to give her a bath and all was well until we started to fill the tub with water. Ava went into full blown panic mode. Luckily, our training kicked in and recognized that she had retreated inside herself. There just aren't words for how heart breaking it is to see a child that scared. After about an hour of attempting to comfort her, she lay on the floor gazing  into nothing, I started to brush her hair. 

Slowly, her spark came back. She smiled again. She knocked over her stacking cups and giggled. The best part was after changing her diaper, she grabbed a doll and pretended to change the doll's diaper. She looked to me with a nervous grin and I cheered for her excellent mama skills.