September 12, 2007 Our Third Day with Esther...

Again this morning we started our day with cuddling for about an hour before we got up. She is such a sweet girl. Our sleeping arrangements are one, great big bed... all the beds pushed together.
Jacky asked us to meet him in the lobby at 9:30 this morning for sight seeing... he took us to an embroidery museum first. There were many beautiful peices. We learned a little more about the history of embroidery and the importance of it in Chinese culture. Hunan Province is known for the best quality of embroidery in China. The most fasinating to me are always the two sided works of art... on one side is an image and on the other is a completely different picture... impressive!
Next Jacky took us to the "crazy market", as he called it... many vendors under one roof, several stories high. The bottom floor was completely shoes, I'd say 50 small seperate stalls with only shoes for sale. We bargained and found three pairs of shoes for Esther, two leather and one sneakers. For all three it was about $20.00 Shoes were really the only thing she was in need of since all our kind friends and relatives had given shower gifts for her. This was probably the first time Esther had ever been taken shopping for something for her and her alone. It is hard to pick things out for her because she likes everything you show her. She was very proud of the purchases and wanted to carry the bags herself.
For lunch Jacky took us to another restaurant near our hotel. We had another excellent meal. I wish I could bring home a menu... the most unusual things are offered (see picture of one of the pages of the menu). We had a dish that we had before when we were here in 2006... fried shrimp. You eat the entire shrimp, unpeeled, with head, legs, eyes, tail, everything... I love them... guess who else loves them? That's right Esther! (see pictures)
Esther seemed to warm up more to Jacky today... I think she has been unsure of who he is and what role he plays in this whole thing... maybe she thought he would try to return her to the orphanage, I'm not sure. But she has been hesitant to talk with him when he asks her questions. I think by now she has figured out he isn't a threat and she's not going back.
After lunch Baba and I wanted to take a nap... the girls wanted to swim... so Jacky offered to take them to the pool while we took a quick rest. About an hour or so later we joined them at the pool and I couldn't believe it! Esther was in a floaty ring kicking all over the pool by herself! She puts her face in the water while plugging her nose. She WOULD NOT let us take her and hold her in the water anymore. Yesterday she would not leave the stairs without us and she clung to us nervously. She has made tremendous progress in just one day! We swam for four hours today. I can't wait to see what she tries tomorrow!
We met Wendy and Kent at the pool and told them about the great restaurant we had had lunch at and they wanted to go for dinner. So after swimming we all met in the lobby and we took them out to dinner. They liked the shrimp also!
We came back to the room and the girls got ready for bed and then colored... I got picture after picture from my girls... they colored until they fell asleep.