5/5 - Did I tell you that she is BEAUTIFUL? She has a full head of hair, cowlick on the top of her crown, thick eyebrows, long eyelashes, soft brown eyes, button nose and the cutest little smile! Last night was ROUGH, to say the least. Yesterday's post ended with a couple nightmares. Those continued all night long and got stronger and longer. In her sleep she would roll her head back and forth and flail both arms and legs. Many times we got it in the face or stomach. She started in bed with us with a bottle. We carressed her back and front to no avail. Dan picked her up, held her and walked the room for an hour. It continued off and on in his arms. At one point when she was quiet he woke her up. It continued after she went back to sleep. He put her in the crib for the remainder of the night and it still continued. Once she was in the crib I got some sleep; I think Dan stayed awake all night with her. The books have said this is all part of the grieving process, but we feel awful for putting her through this. Early to rise and off to breakfast. I put food on the plate for everybody and Dan fed. I don't think he ate much himself, but she had a full breakfast of congee (hot rice cereal), rice, appricot, banana and apple juice. Vickie was waiting for us in the lobby and we headed back to the Adoption Center to finalize the paperwork. At one point there was an exchange of words between Vickie and the Notary Official. The Chinese people have a different way of working with each other - everybody is in a hurry and they push to the front of the line. What we would perceive as rude is routine here, but nobody takes it personal. They can have an arguement and walk away laughing about it. The notary's fee was $350 USD and we only had $100 bills. Our version of the story is that he said, "too bad, get me a $50 or I'll keep $400". The same thing happened to some of the other couples we found out later in the waiting room. Vickie ended up going to the bank next door to make change and took care of everything. We answered some questions, had a family picture and that paperwork is final. When we came back Dan jumped on the computer and I took her to the playroom. There was an older girl, about 7 that was on a bike and riding up and down the halls. Kimberly took off running after the girl, who was also adopted this week. The girl spoke some Chinese and so did Kim-Kim. She was not interested in sharing toys when we went back to the playroom. Everything the other girl had, she tried to take away. We've been playing with nicknames for her and she doesn't always respond to Qin-Qin. I'm guessing that we are not saying it with the correct tone. She seems to look at us when we call her Kim-Kim, but maybe it's in my head. For now, that is what we are calling her. I think a night of restless sleep was catching up to her and Dan. He took her down to buy some steamed rice for lunch and brought it back to the room. She had a mini breakdown in the restaurant while they were waiting. Back in the room, she ate a little and started throwing the rest at Dan so we said time for a nap. She had a long restful sleep of 3 hours with no terrors; so did he. About 4 we woke her up and played in the room. We ventured out for a walk to the local Wacko store - a mini supermarket. I took some pictures of the people, street and hotel. She was heavy in Dan's arms, but the sidewalks were too busy to put her down. In between people, there were bikes and scooters weaving in and out. Vickie said Changsha is considering outlawing motorcycles. Instead they use electric scooters here. Vickie also told us that the Hunan Province is famous for the spicy style of food. The girls here are called spicy girls because they usually have a temper and are strong willed. At the store I bought some noodle bowls (which are spicy) to mix in the hotel room. We wandered back to the hotel and walked around the shopping areas. The hotel and night lights remind us of Vegas. We stopped back in the playroom for some pictures and then our room for dinner. She ate most of the steamed rice, 1/2 banana, some cereal and some cut up noodles - which she loved. There have been a couple of wet diapers, but nothing else. We've been told she is potty trained, which means she poops in the squatty-potty, but only when they hold her over it after breakfast. Since nothing has happened from that end, I tried to hold her over the western-style potty. She got the scared look again so we switched to a bath. This time we put her in the empty tub and let her play with some bath toys. That's where it happened. After a cleanup and she was comfortable in the tub Dan turned the water on slowly. She splashed around in the tub and had a good time. She let me bathe her, but we haven't tried to wash her hair yet. Pajamas and a few good books and she was asleep 30 minutes later. I read to her, but she really thought it was more fun to turn the pages on the book and look at the pictures. We haven't figured out a common language yet, but we are communicating on some level. For a little girl that speaks no english, she really is easy to read. The day was successful and we are growing stronger as a family. She was much more accepting of me, but still can't take her eyes off of Dad. If he gives her a funny face, she breaks out in laughter. We believe that we made the right decision to adopt from China and that this little girl was meant for us.