Monday, June 2nd

Meiting and MeiLi cuddling on the couch. MeiLi was adopted from the Beijing Children's Welfare Institute at the same time. All the other 16 families from our travel group are adopting from a few other Provinces and have travelled to get their children. We are the only 2 families left in Beijing from our travel group.
This is the Bell Tower. This picture was taken at the top of the Drum Tower.

The Drum Tower performance.

The largest drum in the world.

The Hutong alleyway. Jeff, Meiting and Dennis are in the picture.

Things have been much better these last 2 days. We have made some adjustments in how we handle her and it is working wonders. She needs consistency and not a whole lot of over stimulation. It is amazing how much she has learned in less than a week. She has a silly personality and likes to giggle. She is VERY verbal and speaks to us in Chinese with a random English word thrown in. She gestures more and more and somehow we are communicating quite successfully. She is a fantastic eater. She eats more than I do! We are amazed at the amount of food she eats with her tiny little body. She prefers fruits and vegetables, but likes noodles and a very little meat. Dumplings are one of her favorites. She is an excellent sleeper and even takes a nap each day. She seems to really need it(and so do we).
Yesterday was Children's Day so we went out for a nice dinner. We have had many wonderful meals and have tried many new things. Chinese food in China is VERY different then Chinese food in the USA. It is very fresh and delicious. I was a little afraid of the food at first, but not any more. One of Meiting's favorite words is "yummy", which she says quite often because she LOVES to eat.
Today we visited the Drum Tower. It is also near the Bell Tower. We climbed to the top and got to see the giant drums. We got to see the biggest drum in the world and I posted a picture of it. The Drum Tower is significant because there used to be one in all major Chinese cities. They were beaten to mark every hour. We got to hear the 10:00am performance. About 7 people beat the drums and it was very beautiful. Meiting was very scared because she had never seen a drum before and it was very loud. We then strolled along the Hutong alley. There were many stores and restaurants. The Hutong seen outside our hotel window is more residential. Dennis explained that it is quite expensive to live in one because of its location. The Hutong we visited today has a man made lake in the center. It was very pretty. We passed an area where you can rent boats. Dennis asked Meiting if she had ever been in a boat before. Of course she hadn't and didn't seem like she wanted to. I am not sure what she is going to think of the beach and the water. The swimming pool in the hotel made her afraid because she had never seen one before. It is amazing how preserved the Hutong are considering how very old they are. Many developers are demolishing these historic buildings. We saw many that were already torn down. It is such a shame.
Tomorrow we will visit the zoo. Meiting has never been to a zoo so we are curious about how she will react (and a little scared). She told Dennis she was excited to go. I am looking froward to seeing the giant Panda's.