Day 6 continued and Day 7

The night in HCMC and the flight to Hanoi on Day 7.

We finished the long bus trip to HCMC and went to our hotel. The girls were still clinging to N. for support. The next few hours were going to be rough. We had two rooms, one for me and the girls and one for T and P. We had the entire luggage sent up in T and P’s room. N took the girls to our room and quickly left. Needless to say, the girls freaked out and got very upset. They were crying and rocking. It was very sad. Eventually, Van went to P and grabbed on with all her might. Vy soon followed and P was not going any where without the girls.

I pulled out my bag of toys with added new ones and the girls settled down and started to play. The smiles and laughs once again appeared. It was so nice to see. This time the new toy was stacking cups. The girls love them. Van was the first to start tacking the cups. She was able to stack 8 out of 10 cups right away. Of course Vy could not let her sister bask in the light to much and she knocked all the cups down and they both giggled. The airplane and little people were again a big hit.

When it came time to go to sleep P and the girls sat on the edge of the bed and rocked for about an hour and they started to get sleepy. P slowly moved back so the group could lie down. They were reluctant to let me even touch them. Van was very insistent in pointing to the floor. I picked up many items and she would say no in Vietnamese. Finally, I picked up the purple crocs and that is what she wanted to sleep with. The girl loves her shoes and knows the purple ones are hers and the pick crocs are Vy’s. P, Van and Vy cuddled up and slept for then night. P wished he had brought some clothes and brushed his teeth before the action started, but he could not leave their sides now.

The next morning Y, P, T, Vy, Van and I would fly to Hanoi. This was their first plane trip and another ride in the taxi. The girls woke up promptly at 4:30 in the morning. We had some Yo Most (a yogurt drink) with us. They drank in the morning, and we could give them a sponge bath. A shower seemed like too much for them at this point. We went down for breakfast. The girls ate a little, but would only take food from P. If I offered them food they would say no, in Vietnamese, but P could take the spoon from me and they would just open their little mouths and eat. They each had French bread and yogurt. They followed P around like little ducklings. Very cute. They played a little in the morning, but were still just coming out of their shells. Van went to the suitcase to find her clothes. She likes to pick out her clothes and gets upset when she gets dirty.

Our flight to Hanoi was at 9:30, so we had to leave the hotel by 7:30. We went with Y to the airport in two taxis, since we had luggage and so many people. The girls were still following P and would not go with me to the airport, so Y and I rode in one taxi with the luggage, and P, T and the girls rode in the other. As with the bus, Van got sick in the taxi. Vy, however, did not. The first order of business when we got to the airport was to change Van into some clean clothes and wipe down P’s pants as much as we could. Using the Vietnamese documents we had to prove we were the parents of Vy and Van, we had no problem checking in at the airport. Since the plane was full when we wanted to travel, we had to fly business class. It was not much more, but very much worth the expense. We had to purchase a ticket for each of the girls, but they would not sit in them. They both wanted to sit on P’s lap, but the flight attendant said only one child could sit there. I sat next to P, and we had the flight attendant tell them that they had to sit on either my or P’s lap. Vy was quick to scramble onto P’s lap. Van stood there. When the flight attendant tried to pick her up, she cried and pulled back. I reach down and put her on my lap. She was not happy, but also did not cry for more than a couple of minutes. P and I each had air sickness bags open and ready for use.

The flight was great. Both girls fell asleep on our laps for almost the whole 2 hour flight. This was the first time I held my baby girl Van. It felt so good to finally hold her. The only time they woke up was when Van pointed at the overhead bin where her potty chair was and told us in no uncertain terms that she needed it. We quickly got up, took the potty chair and the girls to the toilet. Thank goodness Vietnam Airlines has big toilet facilities. We put the chair down and both girls went. Their Pull Ups were both dry. It was nice that P and I also got some rest since we had been up since 4:30.

When we got to Hanoi, we took a large shuttle van to the hotel. It is about an hour drive. The girls sat next to P. The driver was great, he would slow down whenever there was something interesting for T to photograph, like 10 piglets in little cages on the back of a scooter. T had a great time. The girls did well in the van and did not get sick. In public they are pretty shy and reserved. When we got to the room, it was a different story.

As soon as we got into the room, we started to pull out the toys to play and also pulled out the potty chairs we brought with us. The girls went potty and then got silly. We decided to start introducing their American names to them more frequently, so we started calling Sophie “Sophie Vy” and Lilly was “Lily Van.” They started chattering (N and Y told us they were saying a few Vietnamese words, but were generally just making sounds to make noise) and playing with the toys. Soon it was time for P to leave and go to the Vietnamese immigration office to apply for the girl’s passports. When he left, it was tough on the girls. It was also naptime, but the girls would not lay down with me, but they were happy to lay down with T and were soon fast asleep. P was only gone a couple of hours. We would be able to pick up the girls’ passports next Friday.

When the girls woke up from their naps, it was time for supper but before we would do that we would drop off our laundry across the street at a little laundry shop. Y met us in the lobby and showed us where the shop was and helped us with translation. As the shop lady was counting the laundry Van noticed that her pink love was in the wash. These are the loveys we sent to them when H made her last trip to VN. It was apparent that the nannies gave them the pink loveys because it was very important to them. Van kept pointing to the loveys and them to her head to the loveys and then head and speaking in Vietnamese. Yen translated for us and said she was asking for a hat. Vietnamese keep their head and skin covered from the sun at all times. Van had remembered when we did not have a hat when we got off the bus in Phan Thiet the nanny covered her head with the small pick blanket and that is what Van wanted to do. She wanted us to cover her head like nanny instructed. Show this kid once and she never forgets. We could not retrieve the pink loveys because it had gotten thrown up on during the travels so for the next 30 minutes while we walked the streets of the Old Quarter looking for a hat. Van would ask for a hat and point to her head. Finally we made it to a Vietnamese type mall that maybe we could buy two hats and two strollers. We found hats and as we were leaving we found two strollers. Vy would have nothing to do with the stroller she was still stuck to P like glue but Van would again be the first to ride in the stroller and enjoyed it.

Y went with us to supper at a Vietnamese buffet. On the drive to the restaurant I asked Y what the children at the orphanage called the nannies. I always thought it would be the Vietnamese word for nanny. I was wrong. The children all call the nannies Me (It is pronounced “May” and is the word for Mom). The more I thought about this them more I thought this must be confusing for the girls and all the older children in the orphanage. Going from 7 Me to one Me. Would they think I would disappear too? So we talked it over and decided Mama would be what they are to call me from now on. P would still be Ba (Vietnamese for Daddy).

The restaurant was a drive from where we were staying, but the food was great, and not expensive. When we pulled up at about 6:00, they asked us if we had reservations. We didn’t, but they still seated us right away. The girls were still glued to P. When we sat down, we pulled two chairs together for P, Vy and Van. Vy (Sophie) would not sit anywhere but on P’s lap. Van (Lily) sat next to P on the chair. P stayed with the girls and fed them. They ate fruit, bread, yogurt, and soup. Van ate well, but Vy needed some coaxing to eat. They both drank fruit juice and water. Since P was busy, I fixed him a plate. It was a great family restaurant.

After an uneventful trip back to the hotel, it was time to try to get the girls in the shower. They were still glued to P, so we decided to use that to our advantage. P put on his swimsuit and sat in the shower. He turned on the shower and soon the girls were in the shower laughing and playing in the water. The shower time was great fun. I was able to bathe them and P just had to play. At bedtime, each girl got on a side of P and went to sleep. It had been an eventful day.