We woke up at about 7:45 this morning after going to bed at 8:00 last night! We are all very tired. We had breakfast in the hotel and then hung around here until lunch. Frankie has mastered the numbers 1-5 and 8-10, but he doesn't seem to like 6 and 7. I think they are hard for him to say.

Lunch was a "Mother Milestone" for me as Frankie had his first time out. He thought it was hysterical to dump his water into his food, etc. He is really testing me. I ended up turning his chair away from the table. He tried to "buy his freedom" by counting to 5 for me...."Mama, Mama, one, two, three..." Pretty hard not to laugh. I know it is hard for him. He is totally overstimulized and this is all so new.

By the way, my son loves meat! Yuck! His cleft palate hasn't stopped him from eating anything. I have cut up chicken heart and liver, de-boned fish and sliced through the fat of pork, all without gagging. Needless to say, I am pretty proud of myself.

After lunch, we saw the only other Forbidden City in China....the Imperial Palace in Shenyang. Although it was much smaller than the one we saw in Beijing, I enjoyed it more. Auntie convinced me to loosen the grip I had on Frankie and let him run around a bit. It was a good move, he really needed to burn off steam and the area was enclosed. It is hard for me not to hold on to him tightly in this city. There are cars and people everywhere here and he does think it is funny to run off a bit. He really keeps us on our toes! I think Vito will have met his match.

He has an incredible ability to charm adults. He talks to EVERYONE! God only knows what he is saying. I think he asks them lots of questions. He knows he is adorable and really plays it to the hilt with every doorman, waitress, clerk....you name it. He has managed to wrap our guide and our driver around his little finger. Almost to fault, though. The driver ADORES him and even encourages him to throw his dirty tissues on the floor of the bus! I tried to discourage this, but with the language barrier, I don't understand what they say directly to him. As you can imagine, it is very frustrating.

We did some brief shopping and saw the famous statue of Chairman Mao (very impressive) before dinner. We were back in the hotel by 6:00 and Frankie had a bath and was in bed and asleep (willingly) by 7:00. As he was drifting off he kept repeating, "I wowe wou, Mama." A dream come true!

We miss you all and REALLY look forward to coming home.