A Roller Coaster Day...

Today started great. Anna Lin was more loving than she ever has been. We stopped into a friends' room and AL played with her two kids. They had a good time. Anna Lin fell in love with Maryn's Cinderella cell phone. Thankful she was very good and gave it back. But I knew that meant more shopping in the very near future. They had lots of toys, with sounds and lights, which, uh, we don't. So, I kinda sank a step in AL's opinion of me. :-) We did carry on only, so we only have the bare minimum. But she does have stuff, just not their stuff.

So, once again life was good. ...Then the director came, along with our guide. They came in the room. AL did not rush to the director or embrace the fact that they were there. However, she did rush to Jane. (It's not her fault. It's totally natural, but still hurts.) The director wanted AL to sit on her lap and she would not. She sat on Jane's instead. I was OK with this. It was a touchy scene. They gave us the passports. ...Then asked us for our phone number and address. ...Yeah, you read that right! I wrote a make believe address and number down. Neither Ric or I had a good feeling about this woman. Not that she was terrible, but apparently this is a big NO NO with the Chinese government and we couldn't believe she was asking for this information. All went well until they left. AL started crying, but not because they were leaving. She thought Jane was leaving. Well I can deal with that. She settled down after they left and we decided shopping was in order. It was too early for a nap and I had a cell phone to buy (Barbie cell phone to be exact. Thank you Parkson department store.). We bought the phone, a wooden xylophone, and a wooden puzzle of China for $10. Yes!

It was good to get out and buy a couple of things. However, Anna Lin still tries to ignore us when we are out and about with other people. Jane was adament that she hold my hand and that helped. But my patience is wearing thin, especially because of lack of sleep. I have a real hard time being nice and patient to a little girl when we buy her something and then she is mean to us. Oooo! The mommy comes out in me. I don't mess around with my kids about manners and such. She started throwing a fit about holding Ric's hand or mine and I told Jane, "You tell her we're going back to the hotel if she can't behave." The idea got across to AL, but there were other hurdles to jump over, or fall on as the day went. I won't go into it. I started this post on Friday, but it is now Saturday and with time between this and that I just won't revisit it. We survived the day and that is good enough for now.

-Angi