We've got laughter!

Last night we went to a great restaurant serving all kinds of Vietnamese food. The tables were in the center and there were stalls around around the perimeter, each cooking up something different. You could walk around to see what looked good, but your waiter takes your order and brings it to the table. Maya thought it was great fun. For the first time she stood up on her own chair and looked around instead of sitting on our lap. She also chowed down on 3 or 4 rice crackers that came with the green papaya salad. There was a tarp over the table and she would point up at it. When Matt lifted her up to touch it we got our first laugh out of her! Of course, we had to do that a dozen more times. She also played the "drop the toy on the ground and watch Daddy pick it up over and over" game.

She fell asleep at 8pm and slept until 6am! Each night she seems less restless.

This morning we reached a truce: toothbrush okay, but NO TOOTHPASTE!

Daddy and I were bonding big time this morning. I pulled his glasses off and put them on. I put his hat on his head. I put my hat on his head. We played hat swap for quite a while.

Now I think I'll give him a great big hug.

We've made tremendous progress this morning. Maya went from taking a few steps across the hotel room to running up and down the tiny aisle from the door to the window. She is also testing limits by hitting Matt with her paddle and rubber ball on a string that she brought from the orphanage. I told Matt the first year is for spoiling and the second year is for setting limits. She seems to be growing by leaps and bounds, moving from infancy to toddler in a day instead of a year! We never dreamed she would adjust this quickly. Unfortunately, she is now too busy playing to eat, which is not good when you are 2 1/2 and you wear 9 months size baby clothes.

She is quickly turning into one of my children: too busy to eat or sleep!

We check out of our room in 30 minutes. We'll spend the next four hours out and about. At 4pm we take a taxi to the airport and catch our flight to Hanoi.