[Long post today .... I'm trying to keep a good record of what we do each day... It's so easy to forget!]

 

It felt like a busy day today although, on paper, we didn’t do that much.

 

Alyssa woke up crying at about 6:30 but quickly calmed down a bit when I picked her up. She seemed dazed and seemed to revert back to how she was when we first met her. She was a bit limp and fairly non-responsive. This whole transistion has been quite a shock to her system. After about fifteen minutes she started to come around and then she gave quick smiles most of the rest of the day.

 

Linnea took the morning off and stayed with my parents at the hotel while Dave and I took Alyssa for her medical check-up.

 

After breakfast this morning we walked a block away to have the babies’ passport pictures taken at a local photo shop. [There are 5 couples in our group and 6 babies since one couple received twins.] Then we walked about six blocks away to the Health Care Center for the babies cursory medical exam. On the way we had to walk right through the middle of a group of about 50 young soldiers of some sort who were practicing their attack/defence skills on mats laid out right on the sidewalk in a central boulevard. We decided not to risk taking any pictures.

 

Alyssa passed every test on the medical exam although it wasn’t very thorough. Our group just had to wait a short time for the exams to begin since we were the only ones there at that time for adoption exams. One of the families in our group who adopted another child several years ago remembers waiting for almost two hours because there were so many families there that day. The first of three stations we went to today was for basic measurements. Alyssa had fallen asleep on the way to the medical center and she woke up shortly before the exam. She was still trying to figure things out when they took her temperature but by the time they put her on the scale she was not a happy camper. She screamed while on the scale, then mellowed a bit when they measured her height. Our second station was the ENT room. The hearing test (a musical toy and a squeaky duck toy) seemed okay to her but then she screamed again when the nurse (?) looked in her ears, nose and mouth. She was not thrilled about being poked and prodded. I donít blame her. There wasnít much preparation or soothing, just quick jumps from one thing to the next. The third station was a visit to the doctor for an external exam. He looked quickly over her whole body and she had a chance to scream again. I felt sorry for her but at least it went quickly.

 

A few of us stopped off at the local Starbucks on the way back to the hotel. The lattes are good and it is also one place where it seems to be quite safe to have iced drinks. We can’t drink the tap water in our rooms so we need to use bottled or boiled water for any drinking or brushing teeth etc. So far (knock wood!) we’ve all stayed quite healthy other than some allergy irritation for Dave and a bit of a sore/dry throat for me.

 

We had rolls for lunch in our room and Dave took Linnea for a short swim before the rain started falling. Today they got to swim for about half an hour which was an improvement over yesterday’s ten minute swim.

 

I tried to get Alyssa to take a nap while the room was quiet but she wasn’t interested at all. She had slept on the walks to and from the clinic so she wasn’t that tired. I think she is also very wary of falling asleep in the room right now. We did play some fun games including “stack the cups” and “throw the ball” which led to a game of “throw the cups” which I had to put a stop to. Alyssa’s favorite game right now involves Cheerio’s or other small snacks. I sit her in front of me and have her look at me and then I say “Mama gives one to Hui-Hui (pronounced way-way or why-why).” Then I hand her a snack and I say “Now Hui-Hui gives one to Mama.” This is her cue to quickly pop the snack into her own mouth and giggle hysterically. [She made up this last part all on her own. She loves games and has a good sense of humor.] I then hand her another snack and say “Now Hui-Hui gives one to Mama” and I gently direct her hand toward my mouth and I get the snack. This has been a good game for bonding since it involves a lot of eye contact and interaction between us.

 

After all this fun it was time to get back in the shuttle bus and drive about twenty minutes away to a police station to hand in paperwork and sign a few more papers to apply for Alyssaís chinese passport. We had to sit in a waiting room for a little while but it only took about two minutes to meet with the official. Then it was back to the bus and the drive back to the hotel.

 

We hung out for a while in our room… actually our two rooms since my parents have an adjoining room and we keep the connecting doors open much of the time during the day. The rooms each seem pretty good sized (partly because they each have just two twin beds) but it is nice to have extra open room for the kids to wander around and play.

 

My parents splurged and took us out tonight to one of the nice restaurants in the hotel… partly because the weather has turned a bit stormy and we hear that a typhoon is passing fairly nearby. The restaurant we ate at specializes in northern Chinese cuisine and we had another great meal. We started with chicken corn soup, then had tofu with mixed fungus (interesting mushrooms), crispy chicken in a bed of hot-looking red peppers, pork with cabbage, mixed greens, and soy noodles (recommended by the waiter but not that memorable). Alyssa also got a bowl of millet congee and she sampled the soup, tofu and rice. We’re having a hard time getting her to take a bottle now that she has started eating so much table food.

 

We were celebrating Alyssa’s first chinese meal with us in a restaurant so we also got dessert. We shared some mango ice cream and chocolate ice cream then had a real treat that I remember from my childhood: toffee apples. Each person got a bowl of ice water and a plate. The dish of apple pieces in hot toffee (melted sugar) was then placed in the center of the table. The trick was to transfer the pieces quickly to the bowls of ice water before the toffee hardened too much on the plate. The dunk in ice water hardened and cooled the toffee apples so that they were sweet and crunchy on the outside and warm on the inside. Delicious!

 

 

Back in the room it was time for bed. I put on a recording of Chinese lullabies to try to create a soothing atmosphere. Linnea asked to sleep next door in my parents room which made things quieter. [She actually pushed Alyssa's crib into their room this afternoon and asked if they would like to have a baby sleep in their room tonight. Linnea's adjustment to this change is also coming along slowly with its own ups and downs.] I held Alyssa and walked/rocked for about half an hour. At one point she got down and grabbed her pair of squeaky shoes, that she was wearing when we met her, and didn’t seem to want to let go of them. I’m guessing that this is because her shoes are one of her only connections to her former life that are tangible. She also wandered around a bit like she did last night. She finally fell asleep in my arms and I put her in her crib. Hopefully she will now sleep through the night as she did last night.

 

I’d better also head off to get to rest. We don’t have any appointments or scheduled activities tomorrow so we will probably do some shopping locally if the weather isn’t too bad. It will be nice to have time to just play and get to bond as a family.

 

Thanks again for all the support from back home! It is nice to know that so many are sharing this journey with us.

Health Clinic

Waiting for the exam

More prodding

Moments before more screams

Don’t weigh me!

Guangzhou Starbucks

Water bottle toy

Daddy and daughter