Introducing Peanut Butter

We got PB when she was over 13 yrs old.  She came to us in late April 2011 and has only been home for about a month.  PB is very outgoing.  Even while still in China, people always commented on her being extroverted and not being afraid to talk to people.  She is also very social.  She has a long list of friends that she regularly wants to communicate with that she knew (or knows) from the orphanage.  Some of these friends are still left at the orphanage while others have forever families.  She seems to have a soft heart for those that have some special needs.  She knows Chinese sign language because one of her friends at the orphanage used it to communicate.  She seems to have no fears at least socially.  She seems comfortable in any social situation--even when she does not know anyone at the beginning.  While in China, she was not afraid to order for us when we were in a restaurant that only spoke Chinese.  In fact, on one occasion, she had ordered a fish that was taking far too long to arrive.  We were both full with the other things that she had ordered, so she called the waitress over to see how much longer it would before the fish would be done.  I gathered it was going to be a while, so she told them not to bring it to us.  We paid for the other things we had gotten and were on our way.

She constantly impresses me with her social abilities.  Now, this boldness has a negative side.  At Jelly's 4th birthday party, PB decided that she did not like one of Jelly's friends.  She repeatedly (and loudly) told me that she did not like this little girl.  In fact, this little girl's mom is one of my very good friends.  She even said it loudly in front of the little girl and her mom.  When we got home, she continued to rehash how much she did not like this little girl.  KC told her the little girl was tired which made her behave that way.  He repeated it every time she commented on how she did not like this little girl.  Another case was when we went to the doctor.  The doctor spoke Chinese, but was Japanese.  I guess she asked the doctor if she was Chinese.  When she said Japanese, PB said "I no like Japanese." She then repeated it over and over (both in and out of the doctor's presence).  Clearly this is something we need to work on!