Day 1 afternoon visit

This afternoon we went for a walk with Annie and the social worker. We walked to a little cafe and had drinks at an outside table. Annie had been carrying a little package with her which turned out to be a croissant. The sw ordered banana nectar for her. She ate and drank with singleminded passion. Lol! She is serious about her food! The sw told us she likes everything except for fish. :) I am just amazed at this sweet, beautiful little girl. After she was done eating, I got out the color wonder coloring set I had brought. It worked okay at first, but then the tip of the marker started flaking off and pretty soon it didn't work... So I broke out the foam stickers I had brought. Note to self- I should have opened the bag of stickers and put them into small ziploc baggies so she would have had multiple bags and I could have just pulled one baggie out a day... She kept the whole bag of stickers, lol! At first she just handed me stickers she wanted me to stick on the coloring book, but then she started sticking them on herself. :) We never did get to her pulling the backs off, but I am not sure she can. She appears to be delayed in fine motor skills. She had trouble putting popsicle sticks into a bag, too, like she could use a bit of work on her hand eye coordination. No biggie. After everyone was done and we'd visited for awhile, we walked back to the orphanage, but a different way than we had come. Bulgaria is really amazing. It is SOOOO beautiful. I am constantly surprised by some things, though! Like the lack of handicap accessibility! Toni said there are laws, but they are ignored and not enforced. :( Also, there is some prejudice against darker skin, which we see in the states, too, some places more than others, but still there for sure. I guess it was a shock for people to see a blond woman carrying a child with darker skin. One woman even grabbed her child and pulled her away. I was a little perturbed at first, but then I realized why we were getting looks, but I was so thrilled with my little girl, I could not stop smiling and finally, one of the mothers we passed smiled back at me. :)
When we got back to the orphanage, Annie cried for me to put her down and she ran to her favorite caregiver and wanted nothing more to do with Mama. She did give me a hug when he told her to, lol, but she went right back to him. That was very encouraging! She is very much attached to him, it is very sweet. :) Overall it was a very good day. I am looking forward to tomorrow! Oh and when we got back to the hotel, we got some very good news, too! Toni had missed a call and when she returned it, she found out that one of her other families adoption had sucessfully gone through court! :) This family has been in process for quite some time and had many obstacles, so it is such a blessing for them that they are so close to coming back to pick up their kids!! :) :) :) Great end to a great day!!!