After the past few days being spent with many appointments
and so intense, today was the perfect day to play and just enjoy one another.
And boy did we ever!
The day started with a bath for Christian. I was expecting lots of resistance after our
bath two days ago, but I needed to give him one – as cute and cuddly as he is –
he can be STINKY! So, I started the
water and let him play with the water as it came out of the faucet. He LOVED it, so I seized the moment and
undressed him and put him in with about two inches of water on the bottom. AJ and Abby love playing in water, but I don’t
think I have ever seen a child enjoy splashing in the water as much as this
kid. He splashed so hard and as a result
his face and my face were dripping with water.
Boy did he laugh. Belly laughing,
cheeks hurting laughing. He also likes
to stand up in the water, which about gives me a heart attack each time because
this kid is wriggly in general, but slimy + wriggly = trip to the ER, and we
don’t want that! We practiced sitting
about three hundred seventy-nine times, and eventually, for the most part, he
sat and played. We brought a few little
floaty boats from target and he loves to throw these in the water and watch
them splash, then slide around on his butt to get the boats. Very fun.
I also snuck in a packet of Aveeno’s oatmeal powder for skin problems,
which is good because poor guy has a rash all over his head, forehead, and
neck. Most likely this is from the heat
and his non-stop sweating, but he needed something on his skin and I had read
it suggested to pack something for this (along with about 200 lbs of other
items). Once he started to get cold it was time to get out, get dressed, and
head to the good ol’ buffet.
People are very friendly here. As uncomfortable as it can be at times
getting stared at nonstop by passerby’s, it really is pretty special. Most
people look with true excitement and wonder when the see a foreign family
adopting one of their own. Maybe it is
because they know that most children who are adopted have special needs. Maybe it is because they are happy for the
child thinking they will have more opportunities than they had. Maybe it is because he is so cute they just
want to look and smile. Maybe they
wonder our story. Maybe they don’t
really care and we are being overly-sensitive J
We met our guide at 9:30 and took a taxi ride to the
aquarium, which is about a thirty minute drive away. When we pulled up, before we were even out
the door, a lady was trying to sell us a light-up toy. It was only 10 yuan, which equates to less
than $2, and was super cute, but we didn’t even have time to think before she
put it in my hand. I said “No thank you”
and tried to give it back. I asked my
guide if it was free for coming here, and she said, “No, you have to pay or
give it back”. So I tried to give it
back to her and she didn’t take it. I
was about ready to set it on the ground when she took it and put it in
Christian’s hand. This made us upset and
we told her “No” more firmly and gave it back to her (we ended up caving and
bought one for him on the way out from a different lady). I did not care at all for that level of
pushiness. Fortunately he was so
confused by the whole thing I don’t think he realized he had a super cool
flashy toy in his hands.
The aquarium was awesome.
It was very clean and well kept.
We were able to feed the coi fish and could have fed sea turtles
lettuce. We saw a great sea lion show
and on the way out watched a Mermaid show where three people were dressed in
costumes and danced/ swam under the water.
It was beautiful and was done to music.
There were a ton of fish. The
gift shop was cute and very reasonably priced.
I couldn’t believe it, but they had tons of little turtles in plastic
containers that you could buy. If only I
could have gotten some of those babies in through customs, I totally would have
bought a baker’s dozen! We got a little
ice cream. We were going to give
Christian some, but Vivian told us that Chinese do not eat anything cold with a
tummy ache. I don’t know if I believe
this or not, but I have appreciated all she has done so much I wouldn’t want to
disrespect her by trying otherwise. So,
Adam and I ate ice cream and Christian got a cookie snack from our diaper
bag. We were all happy J
We came home pretty beat.
Christian took a three hour nap, which was awesome, but it also meant he
couldn’t fall asleep until about 10:00 at night – oops J When he woke up he was in such a wonderful
mood! We laughed and played so hard, it
was really just a perfectly marvelous day.
We played hide and seek (usually he hid in the same spot and would call,
“Mama!” so I could find him), Peek-a-boo (with anything covering his eyes),
daddy protect me from mama, blow the balloon and let the air out, spin mama in
the chair, spin the bottle in the chair, and see how fun it is when mom and dad
both kiss me at the same time! Even with
all this fun Christian also showed us what that twinkle in his eye means –
mischief! It is very appropriate for his
age, and adding in our language barrier and the fact that he can only utter a
few sounds due to his cleft palate, it makes sense that we are going to see
some behaviors. One thing he did a few
times when he was frustrated was pinch or hit.
Once we were cuddling in the rocking chair and out of the blue he
pinched me. I told him “nice” and rubbed
his face with my hand. He pinched me
again – kind of laughing, kind of frustrated.
I made a sad face and said, “no hit.
Nice.” And rubbed him again. When
he did it again right away he got his first time out with me. I set him down on the floor and ignored him
for about a minute. He cried so hard I
wondered for a second if he was going to remember to breath. I then picked him up and we cuddled. He seemed so sad, and as bad as I felt about
putting him down and making him sad, this is one thing I will be firm on. He snuggled close and didn’t pinch me again
(for a few hours at least). The next
time when he pinched and I said nice he gently rubbed my face. Smart little bugger!
In the middle of our play we did go back to the Small
Restaurant for dinner. This time we didn’t
have Vivian at our side to help us order, so we were on our own. We started off by asking for a coca cola, but
our waiter wasn’t sure what we were asking and we didn’t know how else to describe
it. I think maybe he knew the whole time
but got a kick out of our efforts trying to demonstrate what we wanted. Finally he flagged over a waitress who must
have known the most about English, which was more than we knew in Chinese, but
not much more. We did get two cokes. She tried to show us in the menu what she
thought what we would like, which happens to be the same thing we had the time
before. It was really good, but we were
looking to try something else. Adam
asked if we could look in the menu for a minute before we decide. She looked at him very seriously, smiled
politely, and said, “No.”. I think
something was lost in translation, but nonetheless, she was not moving from
that spot until we ordered. We ended up
ordering a few things and I couldn’t get enough – it really was all so
delicious (plus we had skipped lunch and just had protein bars for lunch). So good!
Adam did better with his chopsticks tonight too. Christian continued to shovel food into his
mouth from the time food was served until we pulled him out of his chair. We lovingly call him the Buddha because his
tummy gets so big after meals!
On the walk home we passed a lady walking her two dogs. Christian LOVES dogs. We have passed several dogs over the past few
days and every time he tries to bark and points and laughs. Good thing since I had no idea how he would
feel about Molly and Buddy. He is going
to love them (I think) and they will love him (I hope). She stopped and started talking to us in
Chinese – so I said, “English” and pointed to us. She smiled and said said, “Oh! English.
Dogs! J”
It was only a few words, but it was a great conversation. Plus it bought some more time for Christian
to see dogs. I wonder if he ever saw
dogs while at the orphanage and if he had a positive experience with them or if
he has never seen anything like it.
When we came back to the room Christian walked over to the
tub and started pointing excitedly, so it was time for bath #2 J He did better with sitting, but still makes
me nervous! We played until about 9:00
and then tried to settle him down for bed.
It took about an hour, but at 10:00 I laid him in his crib and he rolled
over and went to sleep. Crazy,
right? He slept like a baby, our baby J
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