Toddlers and Teng Wang

Today the two-year-old emerged. Full force, full-fledged, tearing loose from her depression coccoon and tearing loose everything else in reach, too. It started with breakfast, where she made a lavish mess of her meal and Karen's, capped with a broken plate. In our room she tossed her toys in all directions except the ones where Karen or I happened to be sitting. She threw an imperial fit when Karen grew tired of carrying her and I had to take over ... Karen reached her famous "I'm done" point when Cheerios were spilled all over the restaurant floor. That was only at lunch. Of course she hasn't done any of this stuff for the camera, so not much of it shows in the pictures. We get the toddler; all of you get "cute."

If you recall from other parts of this site or the introductory e-mail the description of Ellie provided by her orphanage, you may remember "obstinate." We have seen "obstinate." We've also seen "active," "playful," -- I believe I can add "cunning" -- and we've seen the famous smile. She is talking more -- only babbling, but doubtless it is "talking" to her. She is breaking away from Karen from time to time to look about herself. She is still screaming when I pick her up in public, and fussing when I pick her up in private, but she mugs with me freely the rest of the time, playing and giggling and sharing food. Thanks for your concern, everybody, but it's not a problem -- Tori was the same way at first.

A double shot of pictures this time, to satiate the complainers. In fact I have gone back and added more 'tourist' pictures to three other posts -- I won't tell you which ones; you have to hunt for them. Today we played 'tourist' again, visiting the famous Teng Wang Pavilion: a palace, I suppose is the closest equivalent, built by a semi-exiled emperor's offspring who was unsatisfactory as a warlord but a great patron of the arts. The building is a symbol of Nanchang City and an architectural treasure (although it has been rebuilt several times, our guide tells us.) Carol will remember much about it, I'm sure. The "laughing Buddha" laughs no more, Carol; the statue remains but there is no more tossing coins to it. Ellie was fascinated by the gift shop. We saw performances of Chinese song and dance, including a stirring rendition of "Oh Susannah" produced for our benefit on ancient instruments. On the way out, we encountered a rarity, for Nanchang: an elderly Chinese gentleman and his lady, who spoke very good English. They congratulated us on Ellie and thanked us for adopting her.

Good news: Ellie's passport arrived, a whole day early! So that minor worry is set aside. Tomorrow is our last day in Nanchang; we will shop for porcelain, and probably go out to the countryside. Then we will need to pack and prepare for early departure, for Guangzhou, on Saturday. So there may be no post tomorrow!

My cold is fine, thanks to those who asked. A couple days of treatment took care of it.