Circle complete

Today is our last full day in China. We are scheduled to get Hannah's visa this afternoon, and will be leaving for Shanghai first thing tomorrow early (before daylight). I booked an overnight flight from Shanghai, China time, in order to help Hannah with being able to sleep on the flight home. She proved that she can, in fact, sleep on airplanes while on my lap on that infamous flight from Nanning to Guangzhou just a few days ago. I am hopeful that she will do well, or at least as well as any 2 year old who is confined to a large, moving piece of metal suspended in the sky for 16 hours. Who likes to move around. We are all feeling ready to get back home to our routines. Hannah seems to like hotel living, and I fear she thinks that every morning will be a 16 course breakfast like they serve here. Over the past few days, she has slowed down in the eating department. She has discovered her favorite breakfast food is....sugar. Ah, I can see my mother rolling her eyes even as I type it. So, I usually have a packet of sugar in my morning tea. Hannah has watched this for the past 10 days, and a few days ago decided it must be something good. So, I give her the end of the sugar packet, after I put it in my tea. She loves it. Tiny sugar crystals. The first day she put it on her chicken congee. The next day, right on her plate. It is likely less sugar than in cereals or juice, but there is something about eating plain sugar. At least there are no packets just calling to her on our kitchen table at home! Hannah is getting better with sleeping, or I should say we have established a routine which she knows, anticipates, and finds some comfort in. She no longer cries silently when she knows others are getting ready for bed. She follows me to my bed, and climbs up onto my lap. She will continue to sit there, on my lap, looking at me with her beautiful brown eyes. Pretty quickly, her eyes start to close, and she leans forward to put her head down on me. She then falls asleep. My thought is that once home she will not be sleeping in her beautiful crib anytime soon. Which is ok by me. I know that it goes by way too quickly. The older girls have all loved being in China. They love everything about it. They love the people trying to talk to them. They love the food. They love the buildings, the parks, the smells, and trying to cross the street like a human game of frogger. Hannah is afraid of water, as in pools of water. I am sure it is something she has never seen before she met us. She will watch her sisters swim and splash, and is content to do just that. Most days, she refuses to put her swim suit on. Even when we head to the jacuzzi, she is happy to just watch. We have been bathing her in the sink, and she is still tiny enough to fit. She is a great walker, just like her big sisters. We walked a good mile today, her little legs following right along. Even if I offered to pick her up, she preferred to keep on going. It's hard to believe that almost 2 weeks ago we came here as a family of four, and are leaving as a family of five. As a friend wisely said, "circle complete". We are coming home!