Day 5 - People's Park City of Nanning

Well, today was an interesting day.  Siena slept a full 9 hours again which is great.  Deb was showering and getting ready, so I decided to take Siena down to breakfast and get her started.  She ate 1.5 hard boiled egg whites and 1.5 bananas and a bunch of cheerios.  About as good as we can expect.  She got a bit restless, so I walked her around the lobby a bunch.  At 9:30, everyone met in the lobby and we walked over the People's Park.  This park is an urban park with a whole bunch of amusement rides for all ages, as well as museums and libraries, etc.  Quite a big facility with lots to offer including meticulously manicured gardens and landscaping.  Oh yeah, and a large pond with you guessed it, lots of ornamental carp to feed.  You can also rent boats to tour around the pond including some that are shaped with animals heads, etc.  We walked around the park with strollers which was nice.  Siena really likes to be strolled around and she waves at everyone passing by.  Our group was definitely very popular with the Chinese.  Our facilitator handled questions from some locals asking if we had adopted and they indicated that they were happy to hear.  There are various groups of older women singing opera over loudspeakers as well as dance lessons, both Chinese and western, regular folk singing with instruments, tai chi, and people exercising.  Lot going on.  We had a blast and by the end, Siena was asleep in her stroller.  We took her upstairs and put her down for a 2.5 hour nap.  She woke up not by crying, but by rising out of her crib, looking around and making noises.  She smiled and was quite pleasant.  We played in the room for a while, and then got Siena into her bathing suit and went to the pool.  Siena had a blast playing on the steps in the water with her stacking cups with Deborah.  I played with some of the other kids in the water and got some swimming in.  It was like 94 with about 94% humidity, so even though the water was about 80 degrees, it felt great.  Siena had a great day and was very loving and pleasant for the most part (except for some minor hitting incidents).  Everyone went upstairs and we decided to grace the local restaurant we have become regulars at one last time.  All the families went all out and got a lot of our favorite dishes.  Noodle soup, fried rice, pancakes, dumplings.  Sorry, no marinated duck beaks or pan fried river snail.  Siena did great and she was eating noodles, rice, etc. by herself using a large spoon.  She made a mess, but she was having a blast.  This was all great until she starting spitting food and throwing her spoon.  We removed the food from her and she decided to cry quite loudly.  We decided a crowded restaurant was no place for this behavior and decided that we would remove her from the table.  Well, she decided to have an absolute meltdown right on the restaurant floor, so I scooped her up and brought her outside to cool down.  After about 10 minutes of kicking and screaming and flailing about (and lots of stares from passers-by), I decided she might be ready to rejoin the table.  She walked in holding my hand smiling as if nothing had ever happened, back in her high chair and stuffing noodles and broth back in her mouth.  Interesting to get our first major tantrum out of the way.  Let's hope she does not pick the plane ride tomorrow to Guangzhou to have a repeat performance. 

J