Guangzhou at last!

Let me tell you about Friday.  Larry was up half the night with food poisoning, violently throwing up everything he ate for the past 7 years or so.  So on Friday, he stayed at the hotel while I took the kids to the Shaolin Temple/ Monastery with most of our group.  Very lucky for me, I am traveling with some great people, so when I needed to comfort Abigail after she hit her head or run to the bathroom, someone was always able to help me with Joseph.  I was wearing him on my front, and a day pack on my back and Abigail did really well not whining about having to walk the whole time.  The place was huge and there was a lot of walking, but it was very pretty in the mountains.  Anytime someone commented on my 2-kids-on-my-own situation (it was exhausting), I said it was better doing that than having Larry's problem.  Since my hands were full, I gave Abigail the camera for the day.  Here are some of her highlights:

Here is how babies ride in vehicles in China
No car seats.  No seat belts.
Good for building core muscles.

An Abigail special

If you give a 4 year old the camera for the day...

At the Temple entrance (taken by someone in our group)

Early this morning (it is Saturday in China), we flew to Guangzhou.  It was a smooth and easy flight.
Once here, Joseph napped while Abigail checked out the play room and playground.  She is excited and much happier here than in the hotel in Zhengzhou.  (Well, we all are, actually.)  Then after that, our family took a taxi to Shamian Island.  It almost felt like home there!  We bought Joseph some squeaky shoes (which he LOVES and they have already increased his walking by about 5-fold) and then went for a Happy Birthday Larry/ Happy Mother's Day Me/ No Food Poisoning Celebration Dinner at Lucy's.  Then we let the kids play on a play ground and walked around, enjoying the island, the breeze, the views, and how wonderful the island is before taking a taxi back to our hotel.

Saying goodbye to Yisha

Waiting at the airport.
We have an almost identical pic of Abigail doing this
with her Baba at the same airport several years ago

Abigail wanted to use the camera again.
I think she was trying to get Joseph to take selfies.

In Joseph news, on Monday when we met him he was a baby with skills of a 9-month old.  But he is learning rapidly and catching up, achieving milestones on 10-12 month old lists.  Many things he needed to be shown how to do, and then he just took it from there.  Other things he is showing us that he can do.  He waves at EVERYONE like a super-friendly crazy person.  He walks while only holding onto 1 finger and tries to "run" a few steps.  He identifies me as "mama" and cries when he is hungry.  He is cruising all over the hotel room getting into everything and doing goofy things like hiding on the shelf in a night table.  He likes to tease us with games he makes up.  He has an irresistible personality and is really a lovable little guy!

Happily playing with stacking cups and teasing me with them.

OMG, when do we get to leave Zhengzhou!?!!??!

Of the 3 cities we spend much time in while in China, Zhengzhou is never the favorite for Henan families. Other than being the city where you meet and adopt your child, there is not much redeeming about it.   Half the people are sick from food or water here.  The Internet is prohibitively slow (the 2 posts I have managed from this city both took around 2 hours to do).  Besides walking 20 minutes to Chinese Wal-Mart to buy more diapers and baby treats and strolling through a park there isn't much to do. Yesterday afternoon and today, we found ourselves having hallway "parties" with our kiddos, counting down the days until our flight to Guangzhou in a few days.

Abigail is awesome.
She did, however, ask us to leave Joseph here in China.

Larry and I are both kinda' sick with flu-like symptoms (aches and pains and touchy stomachs), so I'll just post some great pics of my kiddos, which is the whole purpose for being here! 

Hall party in the Crowne Plaza

Joseph has started exploring on his own.
This onsie from his Aunt Kim is comically large!

At the park near the hotel there is a beautiful rose garden.
Actually, this city and Beijing were just covered in roses.

Carrying Joseph on my front was making my
back hurt after a while this morning, so Larry
volunteered to take him since Abigail was
walking and not wanting to be carried.
37 seconds later...

We have a pic of Abigail eating a
pancake here a few years ago.

In China, toddlers wear split pants.
Here is how they work.
Look out where you step!!!

Adoption Day

Until this morning, we have only been Joseph Li's guardians.  This is because there is a waiting period in Chinese adoption, during which, you can "disrupt" or return the child and say "no" and walk away.  (This almost never happens.)

 But today, the adoption is official, we are Jo-Li's official family.
(Okay, maybe not "Jo-Li"... I was just trying it out!)

The kids had us up at 1:30 AM this morning and we have been up since, so I'll just add a few pics and call it a night.

It is official!

This was taken right before
a very hot, long 1-hour walk to
find a new restaurant.
It didn't work and we ended up hot
and exhausted at Burger King :(

Abigail was getting Joseph excited before bedtime by
teaching him how to pop bubbles!

JOSEPH LI DAY!!

It has been an exciting day; we are now a family of 4.

Abigail's reaction when Joseph was
brought to the adoption office place.

First Family-of-4 Picture

"Playing" together

CCAI is a wonderful agency that really prepares its families for what it is like to adopt a child who has spent their first months and years in an institution.  For example, for every 3 months in an institution, a child can lose ~1 month of development.

When Abigail was put into our arms, she was 13 months old.  By 14 months, she was reaching milestones of 15 or 16 month old children and has always been ahead of the charts in abilities and milestones.  Abigail was in a very, VERY good orphanage, had a caretaker who loved her and doted on her and took her home, and it was evident the care and love she received because she was pretty much like any 13 month old.

Our son was not as fortunate.  At 16 months, he is more like a 9 month old, very much a baby, not a toddler.  We don't think he left his crib much, if at all because he has the muscle tone of a cooked Ramen noodle.  His 12 month clothes and size 3 diapers are falling right off of him.  He doesn't seem to know how to play, but Abigail is quickly teaching him.

We are starting to see his personality.
Like when he decided it was funny
to wear Abigail's snake as a hat.

He has a lot of catching up to do, but he is definitely *in* there and we love him very much.  Today, much with Abigail's help, he was giggling, playing, crawling, eating like a linebacker, and following her every movement.  He adores her.  Abigail has been a perfect big sister!

Sibs

Genki Sushi

I was not planning on double-blogging today, but we stumbled upon a Genki Sushi restaurant.  We LOVE Genki sushi and haven't had any since SushiFest 2006 (aka: our 3 week Japanese trip in 2006).

If only we had known about this last night we wouldn't have gone to Gross Noodle Shop by the hotel for dinner!

Abigail even ate eel sushi!

I don't know why the Genki logo
is always frowning.  His sushi is delicious.

Trying the eel

Sushi on Parade.

(For future traveling adoption readers:  If you love sushi, you MUST go to Genki Sushi for dinner while you are in Beijing.  You can order off of the menu which has pictures and English or you can do what we do and grab sushi off of a sushi train/ conveyor belt that goes around the restaurant.  Different pieces cost different amounts and they are on different colored plates which correspond to their costs, but tonight we got about $80 USD of sushi for less than $27.  If you want to go, it is on the 5th floor of the mall on the walking street, enter in the Apple store.)

 

Great Wall Day

Best. Day. Ever.
We could not be more proud of our little climber.
Blue sky.  Mild weather.  Tenacious four year old.  (Throngs of Chinese people on holiday.) One of the 7 wonders of the world.

The last time Larry and I climbed the great wall, we got to the 10th station up in the time we had (there are 13 possible from this location).  It was also 12 degrees and very few other people were there.  But doing it this time for Abigail, our goal was the 4th station up because she is 4 years old.

She did almost the whole climb up without any help or being carried.  (There was a really crowded spot where it would have been dangerous for her to climb with all the pushing people and she was carried through that part and one very steep part where the distances between the stones were a few feet.)

 At the 4th station up, there was a souvenir stop.  We told her she could look around.  She was immediately drawn to a small statue replica of a section of the wall.  I don't know what it is made from, but it weighs a ton and is not plastic-y crap so we told her that she could have it.  Then we bought her a popsicle and climbed back down.

While we waited for other members of the group to finish, we browsed around the parking area with all of the baubles and trinket stands. Larry really wanted to buy Abigail an "I climbed the great wall" tshirt, but all she wanted was a rubber snake toy for a dollar.  The snake has since been named "Stanley" by Abigail and her new BFF Caroline, a 13 year old daughter of another adopting family.  Caroline has been super sweet to Abigail. On the long bus ride back to the hotel, we heard both of them laughing, and Abigail squealing the whole time, something about Stanley trying to eat all of their Pocky and going into time out for 50 years.  I know Abigail has LOVED her new Big Friend.


Okay, time for everyone's favorite part of the blog:

The arrow shows how high Abigail
climbed in about 50 minutes of time.

Part way up with Baba

What a beautiful day.
This kid melts my heart!

My parents would freak out to know
she is this far away from us.
Look at her go!!!

This was when Larry yelled
"Abigail!  Do not lean over any further"
as he grabbed for the back of her shorts!

Looking for Huns

On the bus, Abigail declared that she wanted
to sit by herself and have quiet time.

A pic of jade horses Abigail took at the jade factory

Beijing Tour

It is hard not to compare our last trip to China with this one.  It is only natural to think, "The last time I was in Tiananmen Square... " or "The last time I rode a rickshaw through Hutong..."

And we need to say: IT IS INFINITELY BETTER TO DO THESE THINGS IN MAY WHEN IT IS 70 DEGREES THAN IN DECEMBER WHEN IT IS 12 DEGREES.  (Fellow adoption friends, take note.  Plan your paperwork to travel in beautiful weather!!)

Right now is a national holiday, a 3-day weekend, in China so the tourist sites are extra packed in many places.  It makes Times Square at 8 pm on a Saturday night look empty.  But there is so much energy here.  Rural Chinese people who have never been to their capital city are here now on vacation, our guides said.  They loved asking members of our adoption travel group to be in pictures with them because some of them have never seen a non-Chinese person in real life before.  Abigail was also asked to be in several pictures.  She started to get into it and would make funny faces or strike a pose (vogue!) when people wanted their picture with her.  We were very proud of her because not too long ago her shyness would have been quite a disability today.

When we arrived at Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City, it was packed with people, student groups, tour groups, and families.  And every child had a Chinese flag.  We hadn't been walking 30 seconds before Abigail begged for a Chinese flag of her own.  I was wearing Abigail in a backpack carrier and I could tell she was trying to not be whiney or ask too much, but every now and then she would sigh or whimper about how much she wanted a flag.  We told her we would buy one at the end so we didn't have to carry it, but she insisted that she would carry it.  When our guides happened to pause by a vendor, Abigail asked her Baba to PLEASE go and buy her a flag before they run out!  She was delighted and she really did carry for about 2 hours!

I know all most of my readers really want is pictures, so here are some of my favorites from today (that aren't edited yet):

See the crowds?

She was so happy to have a flag.  Only 2 RMB (33 cents)

Family pic with General Mao

She did this on her own.  She must be Asian. 
Or she noticed others doing this.  Chi-zu!
(Well, actually our guide said it means "victory" in China.)

Where Mulan fought the Huns.
A very important spot in Chinese history according
to our 4 year old.

I LOVE watching her run.

Have I mentioned before how much I love to
watch her run.  She is so graceful and playful
at the same time.

A girl and her Baba in the Imperial Gardens.

A little unsure about the rickshaw ride