Contortionist

Though she cannot crawl and is just learning to sit up, Pan Pan is a
contortionist in her crib. Last night she slept all night sideways at
the end of her crib with her feet propped up on the side of the crib.
Every time they would fall down, she would move them back up in her
crib. This will be helpful when it's time to clip her toenails. Last
night we did her fingernails after she fell asleep. I was getting
welts on my arms from where she would hold on (even the nannies
commented that she holds on very tight when you carry her). One of
her hands was sticking out, so we tented her crib with a blanket, then
I donned a headlamp and Davis snipped.

She woke up this morning around 5am. I tried to get her back to
sleep, but she kept lying in there moving her legs around and then
clapping. So cute. So right now she's out taking a walk with Davis.
She adores him because of all the silly games he plays.

She's just getting used to being on a bed. She's not used to having
something so soft under her, so gets frustrated when she wants to move
or turn. But we've taken an occasional nap with her in the bed.

We are still calling her Pan Pan but I think Rikki will suit her very
well. In the orphanage, they supposedly speak Mandarin. I say
supposedly because the nannies' mandarin was barely intelligible to
me. But the office workers who also spend some time with the kids all
speak Mandarin. Sometimes I think it helps that I am speaking
Mandarin with her because it's familiar-sounding to her.

Right now she only speaks baby talk. Da-da-da is a favorite, so it
sounds like dada, but we have been calling Davis the Chinese baba. Ne-
ne-ne-ne-ne is what she says when she is not happy about something.

Yesterday she started to be able to sit up partially on her own. We'd
been sitting straddle-legged with her between our legs, and yesterday
all of a sudden she started leaning forward totally unsupported by
me. It's amazing what this much attention can do for a kid.

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