Day 8 ~ Shopping on Shamian

Today was a low-key and fairly uneventful day.  We returned to the medical office this morning for the kids to get their TB tests read and they were all fine.  Then we had some free time for shopping on Shamian Island.  We first went to an herbal market.  There were lots of little open air shops with bulk items for sale to use for cooking and medical remedies.  There were various garden grown items, dried sea creatures (seahorses, snakes, starfish, shark fins, turtles, shellfish) and live scorpions!!  I watched a woman sitting at her large open basket of big black scorpions as she casually picked them up individually (by their tails) to place them in plastic bags to sell!  Creepy!  Many of the shops had a cat or two sitting out front, all tied to leashes.  Pets?  Not sure.
We then hit the tourist shops where we checked out lots of fun trinkets.  There are no price tags however.  We had to "negotiate" for bargains. Those smiling little Chinese saleswomen were not to be underestimated!  They were bound and determined to make a sale!  They would ask if you liked something, and if you dared say yes, they would start writing you a receipt and wrap it up!  I kept telling them that my husband had the money and they would set off to find him!  In the end, Don was not eager to negotiate on my behalf and I had to fend for myself.  I haggled a gift for Kellen down about $10 and was pretty proud.  I'm sure that saleswoman laughed all the way to the bank. :)  Wu Yi was pretty bored by the shopping and had started pulling on my hand to leave.  She also provided me a good excuse to get out of the stores.
This afternoon, we hung out in the hotel.  Don wanted to go out and explore, but Wu Yi gets tired and bored of walking around so we girls hung out.  I redressed and combed the hair of the Barbies and Polly Pockets, colored in the Ni Hao Kai Lan sticker book, and played some preschool computer games while she watched from the edge of her seat.  She refused to join in the "fun", but at least she didn't ignore me while I played. We are getting SO CLOSE! :)  She mostly watches videos in the room.  She likes the Tinkerbell movie.  We weren't able to get our computer to Skype home today, but we were able to QQ the orphanage.  Wu Yi chatted with one of the nannies for awhile and then wasn't even interested in making her usual phone calls.  If its true that these kids usually bond with one parent first, then Wu Yi has chosen me.  Today she definitely always reached for my hand first when we were out, and she tries to sit near me when we are at a table.  She tolerates me hugging and touching her as much as I want.  She still doesn't want me messing with her clothes and she doesn't want to be picked up. 
Last night, when she was asleep, I took off her zip up sweatshirt, put it away, and put a clean one on her bed.  This morning she got up and quickly put on the new one.  I feel a little guilty about doing this, but at least we avoid tears. Tomorrow we have her appt to swear her in as a US citizen.  I really want to completely change her clothes. (Purple sweats and red snow boots especially).  I am torn between letting her have control in dirty clothes, or forcing the issue.  What do I do??  She also needs a bath. I am grateful that she is easy about most things, but I guess we have to face these issues eventually and I might as well do it here, where I have no other distractions.  Wish me luck . . .