Yesterday in an attempt to get Jun to walk more we bought him some balloons and guess what he did walk more. We went down the elevator and thru the hallway out the front door and outside, this is awesome we thought. Jun had the balloon between his teeth and was loving every minute of it. We had to get some currency from the bank next door so I walked up to the teller and started my transaction. A fellow adopting parent was there form NY and we started talking. Kim and Jun Jun were sitting quietly in the seats in back of us. Exchanging money takes a long time for some reason and I was talking to the NY guy when I felt a little taping on my butt. I turned around and Jun Jun was hitting me with the balloon. After having that bit of fun he went to sit with Kim again. We were ready to leave and their were steps going out of the bank so Jun wanted to be carried again. Ma Ma picked him up high and Jun held the balloon high to the low ceiling. All of a sudden we here this loud pop. The security guard almost drew his gun or hit the deck, he didn't know what to do but he was scared to death (and not impressed). Jun started laughing, and all us americans started to have a chuckle.
I have to tell you about all the amazing families here. We are actually a minority in the fact that we only have one child or one adopted child. We see families with two three kids all day long. I mentioned before that the White Swan hotel is where 90% of all american based adoptions end up. There is this guy from CO that has one deaf child which was adopted from the USA; he is now adopting a younger child (about 4) and and older kid who is 13 both of which are deaf. The 13 year old is so happy to have a family as he is at the age that he would be a life long orphan if he didn't get adopted this year. The Chinese adoptions are not like they used to be, from what we hear and see. A couple of years ago you could have a beautiful baby girl in good health in a short time period. Now families are waiting about 4 years average and most all the children have some sort of medical care issue. Mostly it seems that children have clef lips, heart problems or deformed limbs. Parents are also going solo and leaving the other parent at home. This is unbelievable to me but they are doing it. We have meet a lot of truly great people here and they are making a lot of kids very good homes.
Jun hales from Inner Mongolia, their are not many adoptions from this area. Our agency in NYC said that we are the first to have a child placed by them from there. In talking to a local street vendor that makes a living selling stuff to adopted families; he said that he would guess that we are about the 150th family to get a child from Inner Mongolia. Jun Jun is a real treat and he sure is a fighter. When we tell him no he will throw a fit, but he know better, but still cries. He is still testing us and for now we are giving him the benefit of the dout on most things. He is going through a rough time in his life. So we will pick flowers for him every once in a while. I mean, come on, flower was his first English word.
-Todd-
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Friday, July 30, 2010
Thursday, July 29, 2010
July 30
Yesterday we went to the Consulate office for the swearing in. -After all the paperwork and years of working on the adoption it was a bit of a let down because the entire process only took about 10 minutes to complete and was very UN ceremonious. -Jun was a little nervous once we got there, I wonder what he thought was going on because he seemed very relieved once we left. It was sort of an official looking place with lots of parents and children so it would make sense that he was nervous.
The Swearing In meant that Jun did not get his nap yesterday and that meant that he was very grumpy by the time we hit dinner. He started the dinner off by insisting he sit on my lap then he dumped his apple juice all over the 2 of us. It startled me so I jumped up, that scared him and eventually lead to lots of tears. We finally got him settled down and got the mess cleaned up when dinner came. The dinner we ordered for him must not have been what he wanted because he just pushed it around on his plate and screamed whle Todd and I tried to eat. Family dinners aren't allway fun, right? -Once we walked out of the restaurant Jun became his happy self and screamed with joy when the pouring rain started hitting us on the head.
I think I've mentioned that Jun Jun won't walk around town on his own 2 feet, he always want either Todd or I to carry him. -Last night he decided he would walk on his own, but he actually wanted to run on his own. Todd and I thought that was a good idea and smiled behind him thinking our arms would soon be free... but then Jun ran directly for the road and we couldn't make him understand that he has to stay OUT of the road. When the words of explanation failed we had to just pick him up and run out of the road so the car coming toward us wouldn't hit him. Our fear scared him and now he won't think about walking. -Oh well, we'll try again soon.
We have our down moments, but for the most part we're all doing well. We've only been together as a family for a little less than 2 weeks and the entire time we've spent in hotel rooms and eating in restaurants. In just a few days we'll be home. Todd and I are very excited to get back, but Jun Jun really doesn't understand what home means at this point. I suppose he probably thinks our hotel room is home. I hope he isn't too scared once we get there. He loves flowers and with any luck my flower garden will still have a couple flowers. Surprisingly, a lot of the flowers we see down here are the same flowers we have at home. Everytime we walk by a new batch of flowers he screams with joy so maybe on Monday morning when he sees our flowers he will scream with joy. I know I'll be screaming with joy on Monday morning when I see my flowers and then make my way to see Linda at the coffee shop!
The Swearing In meant that Jun did not get his nap yesterday and that meant that he was very grumpy by the time we hit dinner. He started the dinner off by insisting he sit on my lap then he dumped his apple juice all over the 2 of us. It startled me so I jumped up, that scared him and eventually lead to lots of tears. We finally got him settled down and got the mess cleaned up when dinner came. The dinner we ordered for him must not have been what he wanted because he just pushed it around on his plate and screamed whle Todd and I tried to eat. Family dinners aren't allway fun, right? -Once we walked out of the restaurant Jun became his happy self and screamed with joy when the pouring rain started hitting us on the head.
I think I've mentioned that Jun Jun won't walk around town on his own 2 feet, he always want either Todd or I to carry him. -Last night he decided he would walk on his own, but he actually wanted to run on his own. Todd and I thought that was a good idea and smiled behind him thinking our arms would soon be free... but then Jun ran directly for the road and we couldn't make him understand that he has to stay OUT of the road. When the words of explanation failed we had to just pick him up and run out of the road so the car coming toward us wouldn't hit him. Our fear scared him and now he won't think about walking. -Oh well, we'll try again soon.
We have our down moments, but for the most part we're all doing well. We've only been together as a family for a little less than 2 weeks and the entire time we've spent in hotel rooms and eating in restaurants. In just a few days we'll be home. Todd and I are very excited to get back, but Jun Jun really doesn't understand what home means at this point. I suppose he probably thinks our hotel room is home. I hope he isn't too scared once we get there. He loves flowers and with any luck my flower garden will still have a couple flowers. Surprisingly, a lot of the flowers we see down here are the same flowers we have at home. Everytime we walk by a new batch of flowers he screams with joy so maybe on Monday morning when he sees our flowers he will scream with joy. I know I'll be screaming with joy on Monday morning when I see my flowers and then make my way to see Linda at the coffee shop!
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
July 28
We just got the call that our Consulate appointment is over and everything went well. We didn't expect there would be any problems, but it's nice to hear it's all over. Now we just have to wait 'til Friday to get Jun's passport. -Then we are free to go. Unfortunately, we have to wait 'til Sunday to leave. The TA who booked everything for us told us we couldn't get a flight 'til then... 2 days doesn't sound like a lot, but I'd pay a lot of $$$ now to get a flight out on Friday night. I can't wait to be at home starting our "real life".
We just feel so lucky to have been blessed with such a wonderful little boy. I wish I could once again thank his caretakers. It's obvious they raised him with lots of love and care. I sometimes wonder if we're at all a dissapointment to him. I hope we can live up to his expectations of what a Mama and Baba should be. We try to give him lots of love because he can't really understand much of what we say. He seems to get frustrated with our inability to understand him at times, but for the most part we just do a lot of pointing and he does a lot grunting and things get worked out.
He is constantly concerned with food and he's eating a lot more than Todd and I are here. You should see him eat breakfast. He goes crazy for the sausage and dumplings! I'm afraid he's not going to be thrilled with our cereal and bagels once we get home. Yesterday I tried to give him a plate of fruit and a yogurt -he looked at me like I was crazy. Finally Todd gave in and brought him what he wanted. -I suppose we'll slowly have to encourage slightly better eating habits as time goes on.
This morning we had a minor meltdown when we were out walking. He had to go to the bathroom and doesn't understand that he can't just pull his pants down at any storm drain we pass. We try to let him know that we're heading back to a bathroom, but he doesn't understand why he has to wait. Some of that is language and some of that is what he's been used to doing when he's out and about. As Todd tells me, we're doing pretty well if that's the worst part of our day.
Now Mama and Baba need a trip to Starbucks for some coffee and a muffin. With any luck we'll make it through the trip without a muffin ending up in the coffee :)
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We just feel so lucky to have been blessed with such a wonderful little boy. I wish I could once again thank his caretakers. It's obvious they raised him with lots of love and care. I sometimes wonder if we're at all a dissapointment to him. I hope we can live up to his expectations of what a Mama and Baba should be. We try to give him lots of love because he can't really understand much of what we say. He seems to get frustrated with our inability to understand him at times, but for the most part we just do a lot of pointing and he does a lot grunting and things get worked out.
He is constantly concerned with food and he's eating a lot more than Todd and I are here. You should see him eat breakfast. He goes crazy for the sausage and dumplings! I'm afraid he's not going to be thrilled with our cereal and bagels once we get home. Yesterday I tried to give him a plate of fruit and a yogurt -he looked at me like I was crazy. Finally Todd gave in and brought him what he wanted. -I suppose we'll slowly have to encourage slightly better eating habits as time goes on.
This morning we had a minor meltdown when we were out walking. He had to go to the bathroom and doesn't understand that he can't just pull his pants down at any storm drain we pass. We try to let him know that we're heading back to a bathroom, but he doesn't understand why he has to wait. Some of that is language and some of that is what he's been used to doing when he's out and about. As Todd tells me, we're doing pretty well if that's the worst part of our day.
Now Mama and Baba need a trip to Starbucks for some coffee and a muffin. With any luck we'll make it through the trip without a muffin ending up in the coffee :)
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Worn out kid
Well we got our Papa John's pizza and it was awsome, Jun was so happy. He is starting to point to his mouth and gesture that he is eating when he gets hungry. This happens often. We all ate our pizza in the room where we have a small glass dinning table. We had to pick up the pizza in the lobby so we took Jun down there and he did not know what was going on but when he figured it out, boy was he happy. The last post I mentioned that we went to Jordon's gift shop and we bought Jun a hard plastic plane so he will be exceited to fly. While we were waiting for our pizza we were playing with the plane and he accidently flew the pointy end into my chin. It started to bleed a little and he felt so sorry for me that he held a napkin on my chin to stop the bleeding. He even kissed it to make it better. We can tell that his caregivers really loved him. Kim was looking thru the picture book that we sent to the orphanage for him and inside was a note to us from yet another caregiver asking us to send updated pictures of him in the furture.
After dinner we went for a walk around town as it was actually a nice night outside, this means that we didn't sweat until about a half hour of walking. We were walking around and we past our nightly eating spot called Lucy's, Jun started pointing to Lucy's then his mouth. Here we go again. We walked further and it was forgotten. I mentioned that he allways wants to be held, his new thing now is that when I switch arms he looks at the arm he was just in and if it is red and has sit marks on it he kisses it to make it feel better and switches to Kim to easy our load. But still doesn't want to walk. He fell asleep in my arms as we walked back to the hotel.
=Todd-
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After dinner we went for a walk around town as it was actually a nice night outside, this means that we didn't sweat until about a half hour of walking. We were walking around and we past our nightly eating spot called Lucy's, Jun started pointing to Lucy's then his mouth. Here we go again. We walked further and it was forgotten. I mentioned that he allways wants to be held, his new thing now is that when I switch arms he looks at the arm he was just in and if it is red and has sit marks on it he kisses it to make it feel better and switches to Kim to easy our load. But still doesn't want to walk. He fell asleep in my arms as we walked back to the hotel.
=Todd-
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Emperor Jun Jun
Our little boy eats like crazy. His normal day is breakfast at around 8:00 snak at 10:30, then mid lunch, then lunch, then snak then dinner. We can not beleive it. Today he had a breafast bigger than ours had some fried rice leftover, more fried rice leftover. While I was cleaning out a bag I put some mints on the table. After he was done with the second round of lunch he wanted a mint. Gave him one while we were coloring. He wanted another one and we said no. We stuck to our guns and had a crying baby with fake tears. We went for a walk with a screaming child and drew many stares. We went into a shop that we visited in the morning and he stoped crying as soon as we went in. We dropped our laundry to this guy named Jordan; he owns a store and his son's name is Jun, he was so exceited. He said Jun stands for handsome, we agree. We walked out with smiling singing baby, we did buy him a little plan so he will like flying again. We deceided to go out for dinner and tried to remember how to get to this one section of town. Jun was singing the whole way at the top of his lungs. Everyone was smileing at us. We never found a restraunt that suited us so we ordered Papa John's pizza, we don't even have that in Claremont.
We have heard that adopted chirldren want to eat all the time because they don't know when the next meal will arrive. This is sad and we don't want to starve him (we don't so don't worry) but we don't want to gorge him at the same time. Growing pains for us all.
He still wants to be held all the time and he is getting heavier. Good thing though is that he wants Mommy to join in the carring of the Emperor.
-Todd-
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We have heard that adopted chirldren want to eat all the time because they don't know when the next meal will arrive. This is sad and we don't want to starve him (we don't so don't worry) but we don't want to gorge him at the same time. Growing pains for us all.
He still wants to be held all the time and he is getting heavier. Good thing though is that he wants Mommy to join in the carring of the Emperor.
-Todd-
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Monday, July 26, 2010
Chinese medicine marker
Today we went to a local shopping area. Needless to say it's still hot but our tour guide and fellow adopting couple acted like it was nothing. The family we went with have allready adopted two childern and are here for their third girl. They are from AZ and the two older girls are reliving the past with a tour of what they went thru years ago. The shopping market had trendy little shops selling shoes, clothes, and toys in one section an animal section with many vendors selling goldfish, hampsters, cats, cute dogs. and tutrles and still another section selling Chinese medicine, the smells here ranged form plesant to awful. Bags full of spices, teas, snake skins, dried turtles, and things our guide didn't even know. Here the vendors let us take pictures knowing that we wouldn't buy much except the tea and spice vendors jumped with calculators in hand to type out the prices of the goods for sale. On the way back to the hotel we stopped by the local Starbucks and it felt just like being in the USA. I was telling Kim how perfect Jun Jun is and all of a sudden he dunked half of a muffin into my coffee. He laughed out loud and we tried to keep from laughing.
-Todd-
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-Todd-
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Sunday, July 25, 2010
Tweenier
Jun Jun is little enough to want a crib but too big for most baby cribs. He perfers to sleep in a big crib. When we arrived at the White Swan hotel they only had a little crib and we got the no head shake. So Jun has been sleeping between Kim and I. He tosses and turns until he gets comfy, this may take up to an hour. One position is to lay on top of our chests. Once asleep we wake up and try to write on the blog for everyone so please excuse any typos, as it's hard for me to see the keys in the dark. Jun Jun is a wonderful little boy, he has so much personality and everyone here wants to look at him, locals and the many American couples alike. We have only seen one kid to rival his cuteness. Note to my Mom-he can give eyes with the best of them.
Guangzhou reminds us of a little beach town with no beach or a summer resort town like Key West. It has plenty of palm trees and everyone is planting flowers, which Jun likes to pick. Where we are is actually on an island but it looks more like two rivers to me. It is so hot and muggy outside that Jun Jun goes from walking and clowning around to stopping right in front of us for him to be held. Once on board his head starts to bob and fall asleep. We go for short walks and head back to theh hotel to wake up. There is a park next to the hotel which has a nice view of the river and all the game playing and more dancing. Tomorrow we are going to a market to shop so we hope it's not too hot. Most retailers here know English and make us feel at home. Actually the White Swan hotel is where most of the USA familys end up because the U.S. consulate is here. There is plenty of markets and shopping cartered to Americans like Lucy's, there was a Maine licence plate on the wall that Kim sat next to. You can get a hamburger, grilled cheese, PB&J or any other food your used to.
-Todd-
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Guangzhou reminds us of a little beach town with no beach or a summer resort town like Key West. It has plenty of palm trees and everyone is planting flowers, which Jun likes to pick. Where we are is actually on an island but it looks more like two rivers to me. It is so hot and muggy outside that Jun Jun goes from walking and clowning around to stopping right in front of us for him to be held. Once on board his head starts to bob and fall asleep. We go for short walks and head back to theh hotel to wake up. There is a park next to the hotel which has a nice view of the river and all the game playing and more dancing. Tomorrow we are going to a market to shop so we hope it's not too hot. Most retailers here know English and make us feel at home. Actually the White Swan hotel is where most of the USA familys end up because the U.S. consulate is here. There is plenty of markets and shopping cartered to Americans like Lucy's, there was a Maine licence plate on the wall that Kim sat next to. You can get a hamburger, grilled cheese, PB&J or any other food your used to.
-Todd-
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Saturday, July 24, 2010
July 25
It is HOT in Guangzhou! It's hot and humid here, I think it may even be worse than summer in Baltimore!
Yesterday we had to take a short walk to get Jun Jun's picture taken for his Visa and then walked a little further to get his medical exam done. He was very tentative once we walked into the medical clinic, but he held tightly to his Winnie the Pooh snuggie (thanks Becky and Eme) and that seemed to help him help get through. -The only time he really cried was when we got to the room where they do the TB test. -Once he saw that siringe come out he was history. He took off running before we even saw what was going on. It took both Todd and I holding him before they could get the needle in safely. Once it was all over he insisted on having them wipe the little drop of blood him arm and then he was good to go. Todd and I are so impressed with his ability to handle all the things that are going on. He seems to recover quickly from things.
We walked around town a bit after that and then stumbled upon the Starbucks! -The coffee was wonderful! Todd and I each got a little pastry treat and Jun Jun ate a sausage filled pastry. -The kid cannot get enough sausage! I suppose once we get home we'll have to tame his sausage habit, but for now it's easy and he enjoys it so we're just going with the flow. For dinner we went to the famous Lucy's where Jun Jun ate every bit of his plate of food that consisted of chicken nuggets and french fries... after dinner he even ate a bit of icecream. He seems a little less impressed with icecream than sausage, he didn't even finish the bowl he had. He was more interested in feeding the icecream to Todd and I than to himself. At first we thought feeding us was a really sweet habit, but now we've come to realize that it's something he does when he doesn't really want the food that's in front of him.
Each day Jun Jun seems more and more comfortable with us. He's even learned a few English words: flower, tractor, and bye bye. His sense of humor is incredible and his smile is worth every bit of time and effort it has taken to get to this point.
Right now Jun's handing my shoes so I think he's finished resting and ready to head back out to the heat.
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Yesterday we had to take a short walk to get Jun Jun's picture taken for his Visa and then walked a little further to get his medical exam done. He was very tentative once we walked into the medical clinic, but he held tightly to his Winnie the Pooh snuggie (thanks Becky and Eme) and that seemed to help him help get through. -The only time he really cried was when we got to the room where they do the TB test. -Once he saw that siringe come out he was history. He took off running before we even saw what was going on. It took both Todd and I holding him before they could get the needle in safely. Once it was all over he insisted on having them wipe the little drop of blood him arm and then he was good to go. Todd and I are so impressed with his ability to handle all the things that are going on. He seems to recover quickly from things.
We walked around town a bit after that and then stumbled upon the Starbucks! -The coffee was wonderful! Todd and I each got a little pastry treat and Jun Jun ate a sausage filled pastry. -The kid cannot get enough sausage! I suppose once we get home we'll have to tame his sausage habit, but for now it's easy and he enjoys it so we're just going with the flow. For dinner we went to the famous Lucy's where Jun Jun ate every bit of his plate of food that consisted of chicken nuggets and french fries... after dinner he even ate a bit of icecream. He seems a little less impressed with icecream than sausage, he didn't even finish the bowl he had. He was more interested in feeding the icecream to Todd and I than to himself. At first we thought feeding us was a really sweet habit, but now we've come to realize that it's something he does when he doesn't really want the food that's in front of him.
Each day Jun Jun seems more and more comfortable with us. He's even learned a few English words: flower, tractor, and bye bye. His sense of humor is incredible and his smile is worth every bit of time and effort it has taken to get to this point.
Right now Jun's handing my shoes so I think he's finished resting and ready to head back out to the heat.
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Brave new world
Well we had a big day yesterday as Jun Jun had his first flight and we did not know what to expect. We packed up our belongings and took our taxi to the airport. Our guide Sandra was with us to see us on our way. Months earlier My in-laws and brother and sister in-law went shopping in Freeport ME for kids clothes. we bought so much clothes that I got a mini wheelie luggage bag for $15. Our guide Kobi in Beijing made fun of me as that was my carry on bag. This little dinosaur bag made Jun Jun feel like a world traveler. It looked like he knew exactly what to do and he pulled up the handl and walked right into the airport with us. Saundra took us to the tiketbooth and tried to get us our tickets. Something was going wrong and the agent could not print out the boarding pass because our passport numbers wern't on a certain form. So this whole ordeal was going on Jun was tiring to put his dinosaur bag on the belt but the agent would not let him, people were getting pushy from behind us and then Jun Jun had to pee. So off the the potty we went to try to avoid the eniveteble break down. By this point we had very little time as we still had to go thru security. This other guy knew what to do so he did it in what seemed like forever then we rushed to security. Jun Jun with luggage in hand rolled right up to the gate and onto the plane. We we in the second to last row and Jun keep pushing as he didn't know why it was taking so long. He was excited to fly and Kim gave him a cracker and I gave him the crash landing instructions. I think this is also the first time he has ever had a seat belt on. I buckled him up loosely and quickly and he made no real fuss. He wanted my arm around himand he at in the window seat. He sat up real straight and wanted to seewht was going on outside. Kim had to sit the row next to us but a quck shuffle of sats and she sat with u. Non-smokeing on a flight in China is only in teh main plane as about a dozen people went into the bathroom to smoke, gross. Jun Jun was scared but brave that day, he had to do a 1or2 so we went to the bathroom. once there he changed his mind, back to the seats. No crying mostly sleeping and my arm wrapped around him the whole flight. Same routine gettng off as he grabbed his wheelie and laughed as he walked down the aisle. Got the rest of the luggage fast and found out that our travel agent booked us a day later at the hotel. We are staying at the White Swan hotel wich is like little america in China. As soon as an employee found out that we were going to the W.S. she caled to transportation and booked room. I ought Jun a juice at the little shop as he is a hungry boy and we did not have dinner.He sucked it down like a man and gave me a sip. I took a little and when he swthat the juic wasalmost gone he could not stop crying. He keep lookin g at the bottle and tapping me on the back as to say "how could you?" Cheked into the room and Jun froze as he knew we were staying in another hotel. He saton the edge of the bed and we hedhim telling him everything would be OK.
-Todd-
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-Todd-
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Thursday, July 22, 2010
July 22
Can you say, "major meltdown"?
Jun woke up a little off this morning. As soon as he woke up this morning he wanted Todd and I to take him out of the hotel room. At first I thought he might be hungry, but then I came to realize he might have wanted us to help him look for his caregiver... He was very clingy this morning, but we got through the morning without incident.
After lunch we took a short cab ride to check out the Buddhist Temple that's in the area. That's when the major meltdown occured... He totally lost it! He cried, pushed us away, pulled us closer, wanted something to drink, pushed the drink away, wanted food and then REALLY lost it when we pulled out the snack we had packed and he saw that it was all crushed and smooshed... The snack was something that his caregiver had packed for him when she dropped him off with us. We saved it for a time when he seemed to need it. The time had come only it was totally destroyed! Big mistake on our part because it sent Jun into a total meltdown. There was nothing we could do but try to hold him. Our guide showed up later and he told her he really like his mommy and baba, but he missed his caregiver today. Poor little guy, I wish there was something I could do to make it better.
Kim
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Jun woke up a little off this morning. As soon as he woke up this morning he wanted Todd and I to take him out of the hotel room. At first I thought he might be hungry, but then I came to realize he might have wanted us to help him look for his caregiver... He was very clingy this morning, but we got through the morning without incident.
After lunch we took a short cab ride to check out the Buddhist Temple that's in the area. That's when the major meltdown occured... He totally lost it! He cried, pushed us away, pulled us closer, wanted something to drink, pushed the drink away, wanted food and then REALLY lost it when we pulled out the snack we had packed and he saw that it was all crushed and smooshed... The snack was something that his caregiver had packed for him when she dropped him off with us. We saved it for a time when he seemed to need it. The time had come only it was totally destroyed! Big mistake on our part because it sent Jun into a total meltdown. There was nothing we could do but try to hold him. Our guide showed up later and he told her he really like his mommy and baba, but he missed his caregiver today. Poor little guy, I wish there was something I could do to make it better.
Kim
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Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Attractions around Huhhot
Inner Mongolia is part of China but not created equal; it's kind of like Puerto Rico to the USA. Mongolia is, of course another country. The Chinese built the great wall to keep the Mongols out. If you look at a map of I.M. it looks like an eagle and Jun Jun was born in the far north around the eagles head. This gives him his adourable round cheeks. Huhhot is further south so when they see Jun they see a beautiful northern Mongolian child, at least that's what we think they are saying. The local people in this area fall into these groups. First: the girls and women that walk around with umbrellas, high heels (navigating some dirt roads is fun to watch), nice silk dresses and designer bags. These women keep their skin porcinlin white and they are the only ones to wear sun glasses. Second: The kids that want to be American. They look like any kid you would see in your town that is Asian but some times their American style t-shirts don't make sense if you read them. Third: everyday people. Around here they have hard tans and usually squat down then they smoke. They are usually nice but when they get behind the wheel they can't help but honk the horn at what appears to be nothing then vear in the next lane; somehow the car next to them moves just in time. But it doesn't matter what group they fall into when they get old they goto the park everyday and play a vicious game of cards, excercise, dance, sing, and chat with freinds.
Today on our drive to this weird mill, we past a small town where native people live. It was a little more dirty then the center of Huhhot but their were street vendors selling produce a mile long (no lie) The apartments were close to the road and their is no river or lake close so the Chinese people consider this a place of no fortune. Just like all of China the majority of people still use the bike to get around. They don't wear helmets because they are for "sissys" some do wear face masks though. some girls ride their bikes with silk lace arm sleeves to shield the sun.
The mill we went to made all sorts of different items including: lether products, cashmere clothes, hand painted cashmere scarfs hugh swords, and combs made out of billy goat horns. It's a maze to get thru so you have a hard time leaving. you first go thru the factory that in no way pass any kind of safty inspection. Almost all of the items made in China that we saw were truly hand made by very skilled artists that don't get paid much. After you tour the factory you get channled into the sales floor and unlike america if you want items in different parts of the floor you have to go pay, then return with the receipt to pick up what you bought then go to shop some more. You get personal shopping assistants everywhere you go.
-Todd-
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Today on our drive to this weird mill, we past a small town where native people live. It was a little more dirty then the center of Huhhot but their were street vendors selling produce a mile long (no lie) The apartments were close to the road and their is no river or lake close so the Chinese people consider this a place of no fortune. Just like all of China the majority of people still use the bike to get around. They don't wear helmets because they are for "sissys" some do wear face masks though. some girls ride their bikes with silk lace arm sleeves to shield the sun.
The mill we went to made all sorts of different items including: lether products, cashmere clothes, hand painted cashmere scarfs hugh swords, and combs made out of billy goat horns. It's a maze to get thru so you have a hard time leaving. you first go thru the factory that in no way pass any kind of safty inspection. Almost all of the items made in China that we saw were truly hand made by very skilled artists that don't get paid much. After you tour the factory you get channled into the sales floor and unlike america if you want items in different parts of the floor you have to go pay, then return with the receipt to pick up what you bought then go to shop some more. You get personal shopping assistants everywhere you go.
-Todd-
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July 21
Wow, what a 2 days it's been! We heard Jun call us Mommy and Baba (daddy) for the first time, we got our first kisses, had our first meltdown, and finally got a first bath accomplished -oh yeh, and we got our first total change of clothes under our belt.
For 2 days Todd and I thought Jun was the perfect child in every way -including his eating habits. His caretaker told us he would literally eat and enjoy ANY food on the table. Our hotel has a large buffet for dinner every night so we built him a plate of food that included lots of veggies, fried rice, and a bowl of soup that had some pork in it. He ate everything on his plate including the veggies so we figured he liked it all. Then yesterday it occured to me that we could let him point out which foods he liked and then we ould cook successfully for him at home. So, with his assistance, we piled his plate full of fried rice and sausage and a few veggies (mommy's choice for him). He ate all the sausage with gusto and only ate the veggies when they were the last bit of food on the plate... At breakfast this morning he ate more sausage... Somehow Todd and I have found ourselves parents to a child who would be happy eating nothing more than sausage! (His Dziadzio will be happy)
We have discovered a few more things Jun Jun likes. -He loves animals of any kind, but most especially horses. I suppose that is a fitting animal for him to love so much since he a child of Inner Mongolia and the horse is so important to the culture here. When he sees animals on TV, on a poster out in the city, or in the museum he screams with joy and points at it wildly until Todd and I notice it properly. Jun also seems to love flowers. Everytime we see flowers in the park he runs over to take a closer look. Picking one for him is a sure way to make him smile. -The only problem comes in that it is so hot here it doesn't take long for the flower to wilt once it's picked. Hopefully Jun likes our flower gardens once he gets home.
All in all I think Jun is doing pretty well. It seems he's a bit scared and is very afraid that we will leave him. He seems to enjoy my company and likes to have me near him, but he must have Todd with him at all times. Poor Todd, Jun will not let me carry him, but will not let Todd NOT carry him for much of the day. He's a bit old to be carried so much, but for now we are happy to carry him and feed him as he wants because it will help us all with bonding.
It's funny how quickly you can get used to seeing new things. I was walking around the city today and realized that it was only about 6 days ago when I saw my first "adult playground". Not sure what they are really called, but there are all sorts of small areas outside where there is equipment for adults to use for excercise. To me it looks like a playground because all the equimment is painted playground colors. The best part of it is that everytime we pass one of these areas there are people using the equipment... Maybe we should have things like this in America. It's sort of fun to use.
-Oh yeh, and the women carry around parasols to sheild them from the sun... again, maybe not such a bad idea.
Tomorrow is another day in Hohhot and then it's off for the final leg of our journey. I know it's too early to say this, but I'm excited to head home so we can really start to live like a family.
-Kim
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For 2 days Todd and I thought Jun was the perfect child in every way -including his eating habits. His caretaker told us he would literally eat and enjoy ANY food on the table. Our hotel has a large buffet for dinner every night so we built him a plate of food that included lots of veggies, fried rice, and a bowl of soup that had some pork in it. He ate everything on his plate including the veggies so we figured he liked it all. Then yesterday it occured to me that we could let him point out which foods he liked and then we ould cook successfully for him at home. So, with his assistance, we piled his plate full of fried rice and sausage and a few veggies (mommy's choice for him). He ate all the sausage with gusto and only ate the veggies when they were the last bit of food on the plate... At breakfast this morning he ate more sausage... Somehow Todd and I have found ourselves parents to a child who would be happy eating nothing more than sausage! (His Dziadzio will be happy)
We have discovered a few more things Jun Jun likes. -He loves animals of any kind, but most especially horses. I suppose that is a fitting animal for him to love so much since he a child of Inner Mongolia and the horse is so important to the culture here. When he sees animals on TV, on a poster out in the city, or in the museum he screams with joy and points at it wildly until Todd and I notice it properly. Jun also seems to love flowers. Everytime we see flowers in the park he runs over to take a closer look. Picking one for him is a sure way to make him smile. -The only problem comes in that it is so hot here it doesn't take long for the flower to wilt once it's picked. Hopefully Jun likes our flower gardens once he gets home.
All in all I think Jun is doing pretty well. It seems he's a bit scared and is very afraid that we will leave him. He seems to enjoy my company and likes to have me near him, but he must have Todd with him at all times. Poor Todd, Jun will not let me carry him, but will not let Todd NOT carry him for much of the day. He's a bit old to be carried so much, but for now we are happy to carry him and feed him as he wants because it will help us all with bonding.
It's funny how quickly you can get used to seeing new things. I was walking around the city today and realized that it was only about 6 days ago when I saw my first "adult playground". Not sure what they are really called, but there are all sorts of small areas outside where there is equipment for adults to use for excercise. To me it looks like a playground because all the equimment is painted playground colors. The best part of it is that everytime we pass one of these areas there are people using the equipment... Maybe we should have things like this in America. It's sort of fun to use.
-Oh yeh, and the women carry around parasols to sheild them from the sun... again, maybe not such a bad idea.
Tomorrow is another day in Hohhot and then it's off for the final leg of our journey. I know it's too early to say this, but I'm excited to head home so we can really start to live like a family.
-Kim
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Monday, July 19, 2010
Break thru day
It's 10:30 am and after Jun woke up from a deep sleep he pointed to the door to go eat. So he got filled up at breakfast and then we went for a walk to the park. Huhhot has a wonderful big park; we walked around for two hours. I carried him for at least one hour, feels like it anyway, there were lots of people in the park. Most of the people were doing their daily exercise including dancing, singing, playing music, and rollerblading. We stopped at this one vendor because Jun Jun wanted to see the (real) stuffed hoarse. he was so happy to sit on it and we had our picture taken. He has started to talk to us now and of course we can't tell what he is saying. We do have a way of communicating that usually includes pointing, shaking of the head and the slight pout. We are feeling happy that we decorated his room with animals, he loves to see birds or any animal, especially horses. He wanted to stop to pick some flowers, we grabbed a flower and he held it all day until he found a better one, he said Ba Ba to give the old flower to me. To day we a are going to go with our translator to the Inner Mongolia museum to see all the sights there.
-Todd-
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-Todd-
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Day 2 of Parenthood
After a shakey start things went pretty well yesterday.
Yesterday was the day we did another round of paperwork. There are 5 families staying in our hotel who are all adopting children from Inner Mongolia -Jun is the only one from Baoutou. Jun woke up happy, ate a good breakfast, let us dress him up in a Red Sox shirt and then it was time to go to the meeting room to complete the paperwork. As soon as we walked into the room Jun Jun burst into tears, he sobbed for several minutes and would not sit near Todd nor I. The assistant director of his orphanage was there, but his primary caregiver had not come. We were told later that he expected to see the primary caregiver as she had told him yesterday when she left that she was only leaving to make cookies to bring to him today... poor little guy, he was really counting on seeing her. -He seems to really care for the assistant director so she sat with him and explained to him that Todd and I are now his mommy and daddy and that we would take good care of him. At the end of the paperwork she took us all aside and presented Jun with 2 gifts. One of them is a piece of jade which is now wearing around his neck and will not take off and the other is a mongolian ornament that he added to his collection of items he carries around with him. I believe he was very well taken care of in the orphanage. They seemed to care as deeply for him as he does for them.
Jun was a bit upset after that so Daddy had to carry him around for most of the morning, but then after that he calmed down and we spent the rest of the day walking around the city, going to the park, and shoe shopping. By the end of the day we had even gotten him to share many smiles with us. -The only time he really cried was when we tried to give him a bath... seems like something most kids do so we didn't worry about that.
Today we are going to the Inner Mongolia history museum. I'm told they have lots of dinosaurs and history on Gehngis Kahn (I've got to learn to spell that).
The New Busy is not the too busy. Combine all your e-mail accounts with Hotmail. Get busy.
Yesterday was the day we did another round of paperwork. There are 5 families staying in our hotel who are all adopting children from Inner Mongolia -Jun is the only one from Baoutou. Jun woke up happy, ate a good breakfast, let us dress him up in a Red Sox shirt and then it was time to go to the meeting room to complete the paperwork. As soon as we walked into the room Jun Jun burst into tears, he sobbed for several minutes and would not sit near Todd nor I. The assistant director of his orphanage was there, but his primary caregiver had not come. We were told later that he expected to see the primary caregiver as she had told him yesterday when she left that she was only leaving to make cookies to bring to him today... poor little guy, he was really counting on seeing her. -He seems to really care for the assistant director so she sat with him and explained to him that Todd and I are now his mommy and daddy and that we would take good care of him. At the end of the paperwork she took us all aside and presented Jun with 2 gifts. One of them is a piece of jade which is now wearing around his neck and will not take off and the other is a mongolian ornament that he added to his collection of items he carries around with him. I believe he was very well taken care of in the orphanage. They seemed to care as deeply for him as he does for them.
Jun was a bit upset after that so Daddy had to carry him around for most of the morning, but then after that he calmed down and we spent the rest of the day walking around the city, going to the park, and shoe shopping. By the end of the day we had even gotten him to share many smiles with us. -The only time he really cried was when we tried to give him a bath... seems like something most kids do so we didn't worry about that.
Today we are going to the Inner Mongolia history museum. I'm told they have lots of dinosaurs and history on Gehngis Kahn (I've got to learn to spell that).
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Sunday, July 18, 2010
Things are going great
Well is't day two as parents and today we had to sign and pay to officially be parents. One of his caretakers was there and he wanted to know where his primary caregiver was. He was so upset, he started to cry. She encouraged him that we are his parents now and everything will be alright. He loves to be outside so we went for a walk and he would not let me put him down. We had a short walk to a nearby park where we drew stares and smiles from every bypasser. I must say we do stand out like sore thumbs. The terrain here is much like Las Vagas (totally flat with jagged peaks in the back ground). This is the largest city in Inner Mongolia and their is tons of shopping here. You have to haggle for everthing. Last night we paid $25 for diapers and today we paid $6 for: 2 bottled waters, ice cream and a bottle of coke.
Jun Jun is so cute. He really wants our attention and never is out of touch with us. He always holds our hand and sits on our lap and just kind of stares at us. Already his personally is coming out as he was laughing when I sat him on the horse statues outside (he sat on all 10 of them). It's nice to finally be a dad except for the sore back.
There is an Inner Mongolia museum close by that we want to goto this week.
-Todd-
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Jun Jun is so cute. He really wants our attention and never is out of touch with us. He always holds our hand and sits on our lap and just kind of stares at us. Already his personally is coming out as he was laughing when I sat him on the horse statues outside (he sat on all 10 of them). It's nice to finally be a dad except for the sore back.
There is an Inner Mongolia museum close by that we want to goto this week.
-Todd-
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It's 5:45AM on what was to be our "gotcha day", but I'm sitting in our hotel room looking at my son sleeping in his crib...
When we arrived in Hohhot yesterday at noon we were told that our son would arrive at the hotel at 3PM, We had heard that this often happened so we weren't totally surprised. We thought that would give us a couple of hours to freshen up and prepare for the practical things. While we were getting checked in to our room we were told that a mistake was made in the timing and Jun Jun was already in the lobby waiting for us. At that moment I turned around and saw Jun Jun being walked toward us by his caretaker. After 7 months of looking at his picture and imagining, he was finally real... that is a moment I will never forget.
So many things to say and so many thoughts to share, but it's nearly 6AM and I hear Jun Jun moving around so I think my time on the computer is limited. For now I can say that, although it is obvious that our little boy is scared, he is doing very well. -We've even managed to grt a couple miles out of him an he has now slept for 9 hours straight. I hope he's having good dreams.
Kim
The New Busy think 9 to 5 is a cute idea. Combine multiple calendars with Hotmail. Get busy.
When we arrived in Hohhot yesterday at noon we were told that our son would arrive at the hotel at 3PM, We had heard that this often happened so we weren't totally surprised. We thought that would give us a couple of hours to freshen up and prepare for the practical things. While we were getting checked in to our room we were told that a mistake was made in the timing and Jun Jun was already in the lobby waiting for us. At that moment I turned around and saw Jun Jun being walked toward us by his caretaker. After 7 months of looking at his picture and imagining, he was finally real... that is a moment I will never forget.
So many things to say and so many thoughts to share, but it's nearly 6AM and I hear Jun Jun moving around so I think my time on the computer is limited. For now I can say that, although it is obvious that our little boy is scared, he is doing very well. -We've even managed to grt a couple miles out of him an he has now slept for 9 hours straight. I hope he's having good dreams.
Kim
The New Busy think 9 to 5 is a cute idea. Combine multiple calendars with Hotmail. Get busy.
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