In Guangzhou

We have made it to Guangzhou and it feels like a completely new experience. We are staying in luxury, as in platinum five star luxury. Nothing like I have ever experienced. This is the Garden Hotel which my agency places families in as they wait for the US consulate appointment. Back in 2002 when I adopted Katelyn, the hotel of choice for adopting families was the White Swan. The Garden makes the White Swan look like a simple 3 star hotel. Luckily there are other adoptive families here as I worry that a stray marker mark would tarnish the hotel appearance.
Mia handled her first airport experience like a champ. Of course, our flight from Nanning to Guangzhou was delayed. We arrived at the airport with 30 minutes before takeoff only to find that there was some type of "air traffic" problem. Delayed for one hour. Dinner time. Newly adopted child, obsessed with food, prone to tantrums. But God is good and vats of noodles were everywhere along with boiling water. Mia was in her glory. We chose a vat of noodles, prepared it, only to find that she wanted the red vat of noodles. We bought the green vat. But, I have learned that there is no sense reasoning with the child who wants the red vat noodles. I decided to spend the 50 cents to get the red vat. No tantrums, happy child.
Mia found security in her stroller in the airport. She rides in the stroller with her shoes off. Each time she needed to go to the bathroom, she would happily put her shoes on only to remove them again as she climbed back in. I have used strollers before through airports when my older girls were younger. It is nice to bring them right to the doorway of the plane, and then have it waiting when leaving the flight. So, we head down to the plane, Mia gets out, causes a line as she sits down to put her shoes on. We get ready to go on board, and I ask the attendant where to leave the stroller. He gestures to bring it on the plane. What? Yes, wheel it on the plane. We find our seats and the flight attendant helps to put it under our feet. So, we all buckle up, put our bags under the seat in front of us, and put the stoller under our feet. The flight itself was uneventful except for the fact that Mia does not like seat belts. She has never used them before. She humored us all for about 20 minutes before deciding it needed to come off. Luckily, the flight attendants came by frequently and made sure it stayed on. Also, I think the 10 pieces of gum helped. We discovered she loves gum. The good sugarless gum we brought from home. If she began to fuss about the seatbelt, I would quickly pull out the gum and she would forget about the seatbelt. Now we cannot even say the word gum as she knows what it means.
We are settled in this fancy hotel for the next week, before making the trek home. I think I will need to find some more gum!