Christmas Card 2010

Holiday Berries Christmas 5x7 folded card

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Long Overdue Update

Cai is doing very well. It’s amazing how much English he speaks already. He is learning new words everyday and is now speaking English in sentences. I wish there was a way we could keep his Chinese too.
Cai and his sister, Avery, are now good buddies. They still fight, but they play together just as much. Their favorite is to take all the cushions off the couch and build a fort. They bring a bunch of toys in there and play. They also ask their Dad to play monster so they can hide in the fort. The other night Cai and I were playing on his bed and I was hiding under the covers. He decided to be a monster and made the funniest “scary” face and roared at me. I almost died laughing.
Cai loves baby dolls. He loves to carry them around or push in a stroller. He is also really into zebras, Shamu, and books. We took the kids to Sea World in October and since then, Cai just loves Shamu. Every night, he sleeps with Shamu, 2 zebras and his favorite baby doll.
Cai is such a happy boy. Even if he is upset or mad about something, it doesn’t take much to turn his frown into a smile. I think it’s just his nature to laugh and be happy. He loves to snuggle. He’ll pat the seat next to him, and say “I want to snuggle, Mama”. Then he’ll get as close as possible, pop his thumb in his mouth and snuggle away. I love it. I tell him I love him every day and every night and he always says it back to me. A couple nights ago he came up to me and said it first. It was so sweet.
The little things give him so much joy. When he sees the snow falling, he gets so excited and yells, “Snow Mama! Snow!” If he finds a zebra in a book, he can’t wait to show someone. We read “Goodnight, Gorilla” all the time and he loves finding the banana on each page.
Music and dancing… this boy loves to dance. Any time he hears music that strikes his fancy, he flings his arms in the air and starts moving to the music. He also has a good head bob going.
Cai started school when I went back to work. Although he still cries at drop-off, it only lasts a few minutes. He makes so many neat art projects at school, which he is so proud of. Actually, he is so proud to go to school in general. Every night when we first see each other, he proudly announces, “I went to school!” He even tells me that when I am picking him up from school. He and Avery both go to Primrose. They are in different classrooms, so I don’t’ think they get to see each other much during the day. His teachers say he is friendly and happy every day.
We were expecting a rough transition, and it has not been that at all! We are so thankful that we have the opportunity to be Cai’s parents. He is a joy.

Going Private

I'm not sure I'm going to keep this blog going -- but if you wan't access to it while I decide, shoot me an email or comment and I'll add you to the list. I'll probably go private next week.

Red Couch Photos

Cai started out happy, but by the end of the "photo session", he was very unhappy. From these pictures, he has been nicknamed "the chairman". The resemblence is quite strong. Hehe.

Going Home

We leave for home tomorrow. I have some red couch etc photos to upload... will try to do that during our layover in Seoul tomorrow. We arrive in LA on Saturday night and spend the night there and fly home to Denver early Sunday morning.

Thanks to everyone for your comments and emails -- sorry we haven't had a chance to reply to everyone.

We can't wait to get home and get back to real life. It's been an awesome trip -- but very exhausting.

I will do my best to do a real update tomorrow.



Here's a picture to tide you over.

Medical Exam

Yesterday (Tuesday) Cai had his medical exam which allows him to get a Visa to enter the US. It went fine, except he cried when any doctor approached him.

Visa Photo

We also have taken the kids to the pool at the White Swan a couple times. At first, Cai was terrified to get his face wet. If he got splashed, he wasn't happy at all. By the time we left the pool, we was jumping from the side of the pool to Dave. He seems to really love the water now.

In the Playroom at the White Swan

Chen House

After the Buddhist Temple, we visited the Chen House. All the carvings on the building were amazing.

Our GZ Guide, Grace, with the kids

Starting to understand why the beds in China are so hard.... check out the porcelin pillows they used back in the day.

Cai and Avery are still fighting like cats and dogs. Although they are also starting to play together too. They both have a hard time sharing, so I guess it will just take time.

Cai is not used to hearing the word NO or being told NO. He throws tantrums all the time when he doesn't get what he wants. Funny though, he must remove his shoes before he can begin the tantrum in earnest. He must've been spoiled at the orphanage, which is better than being neglected. So he is challenging us a lot. He is also very stubborn. He is still learning that we are in charge and we set the rules. He is very affectionate and likes to hold hands and snuggle. He is giving us kisses when we ask for them.

The language barrier is not a big deal. He is already saying some things in English and understands many things I say to him. (Like get your shoes, put on your shoes, throw this in the trash). He uses his right hand all the time and people barely seem to notice his little hand.

Avery is very ready to come home and to see her dogs and her friends. She is very excited to go back to school. Actually, we are all ready to come home. Living for 3 weeks in hotel rooms is tough. And eating out 3 meals a day with 2 toddlers is not too much fun. We are looking forward to all the comforts of home.

Buddhist Temple

After we finally arrived in GZ, we settled into our hotel room and then went to Lucy's for dinner with another couple and their girl. We had hamburgers, but by my 4th bite, something tasted off and I stopped eating.

The next morning we went to the Buddhist Temple. It was pretty cool. Since it is the Moon Festival Holiday here, it was super crowded and busy.

Our last day in ZZ

Our last day in ZZ was filled with drama and stress. Our bus driver who was supposed to take us to the airport showed up about 30 minutes late. So the whole way to the airport, our rep was telling us we had to really hurry etc. She still had to go buy all the newly adopted kids airplane tickets so we were in charge of luggage. She collected all our passports and we were all ready to roll. We were less than 5 minutes from the airport and all of a sudden I saw this moped go flying. This old man carrying vegetables on his moped had hit our bus. Our bus driver had changed lanes to avoid him, but the old man was coming right at us. We were on quite a busy street (maybe a highway?) and we couldn't understand why he didn't see the bus. Well, I'm sure you can imagine the scene... moped vs. bus. Yisha and the bus driver jumped out and ran back to check on the old man. And Dave soon followed. The guy couldn't get up, but he was OK. Dave thinks he probably broke some bones. A few minutes after the accident, a police car drove by, slowed down to look, and kept on driving. I guess about 5 police cars drove by without stopping. Finally a ambulance showed up and took the guy to the hospital. By this time, we knew we had missed our flight. All these passerbys who had stopped were yelling at Yisha and getting in her face. I imagine she was telling them that is wasn't the bus driver's fault; the moped had hit us.
Another bus came for us and we quickly transferred all our luggage and children to the new bus. Yisha told us she had called the airline and they were holding the plane for us but we had to hustle. Of course, all the security people decided to give us a hard time and were inspecting every piece of carry on luggage. One lady was actually smelling my Benadryl cream and my chapstick.
We finally made it through security and literally had to run to our gate. I was carrying Cai and pulling a carryon. Not fun. By the time we made it on the plane, I was a sweaty mess. But we made it out of ZZ and into Guangzhou. Our GZ rep talked to Yisha who reported the old man on the moped was not seriously injured.

Avery just woke up and is sitting on my lap, so I'll tell you about GZ in my next post.