Biding Time

Ah yes! We are in the stages of waiting. We have our consulate appointment this morning. This is when our guide goes to the consulate to finalize all of our paperwork. We have to stay in our room just in case something doesn't match up. It's one of the times when you don't want the phone to ring between 10:00am and 11:30am. If everything is kosher, she will call around 12:30pm letting us know that everything is in order. After that, we have our Swearing Ceremony at The Embassy on Friday...then it's time to head home! We are eager to get to Los Angles (one of our connectors) to enjoy a COLD Diet Coke. The closest thing they have to Diet Coke is Coke Zero....just not the same but it works for now. The little store outside our hotel is where we buy all of our beverages...some days drinks cost 2 yuan and other days 4 yuan...interesting scenario.
The past few days have been low key. Monday, we went to get Jace's TB test checked out at the same place he got his physical. Another hurdle cleared. The rest of the day was spent hangin' in the hotel as I was not feeling the greatest (hence the reason for no posts). Thankfully for the meds we have been taking, I was only down for one day. Jace didn't mind playing and hanging one bit. He and Daddy love to have tickle time. Jace will put his face inside the sheets as if he is hiding. That is Rob's clue to find him. Jace laughs and laughs!! Put him in the tub with his stacking cups and animals and he'll play for twenty-thirty minutes. While playing in the tub, he will sing and sing...so adorable! When it comes to nap time, he'll fall asleep within five minutes...something we are not used to. He still loves to be Rob's shadow.
Tuesday was another low key day. We did make a trip over to the Island. I wanted to check out the White Swan (where we stayed last time) to see if anything had changed. I was surprised to see no one in the playroom, which was always packed last time. We didn't even run into many couple with their newly adopted children (before you could barely walk through the lobby because of so many strollers). It must be a combination of the economy and the construction. We did meet a couple from Minnesota that is here until a week from Friday. Their daughter was in an orphanage around here so they went to Beijing first and now they're here (we skipped Beijing, went directly to Hohhot and now we are here). They looked like they were already to go home...its going to be a long journey for them. When we here last time, Rob thought it would be hilarious to have a shirt made that said MADE IN CHINA. Low and behold, when we were walking around the island, we found some shirts that had that saying. We had to buy one for each of the boys. Some may be offended, but we find it purely in good fun.
I need to make a few quick announcements before closing for the day: Faith, one of these days I will remember to put your email address in my computer. There is a book at our house that I need to have you look in to retrieve our United Airline Frequent Flier Numbers. Mommy's Group A couple people have sent messages that they can't get on our blog...can you send our a message giving our address: http://catchingupwithcrosbys.blogspot.com/ Thanks! Hope all is well with everyone. I have the song The Final Countdown (by Warrant I believe..hey now, gotta love the big hair 80's bands) in my head for the past few days!

Here are a few more tid-bits about our little one:

He loves to hand you everything he finds...toys, papers, slippers, books, etc.
Sings and sings when he is going potty on the toilet.
Loves to be chased (he is a good runner)
Enjoys riding in the backpack (points to it on several occasions, as if to say "let's go"
Likes stuff to be in order (he will put his shoes right in line with ours)
Can sign "more" and "eat"
Seems to be understanding a lot of English
When he is almost full, he will pick our the peas in his rice.
After only watching a couple episodes of The Wiggles, he already remembers most of the hand motions...another Wiggle Fan!
Loves to look at his "Who loves baby?" book.
Bananas and watermelon...yum yum!

Busy Day in the City

Our day began with a trip to the Folk Arts Museum which is 100 year old. One of the pictures is a man that paints using just the sides of his hands and his nails. The paintings are gorgeous. We also were able to see another person that was creating a painting on the inside of a tiny bottle. The entire city is getting ready for the Asian Games in November so everything is under construction making it difficult to get around town at times. We have a fabulous driver that handles the traffic with ease. Riding in the Chinese bus allows everyone to enjoy the sights. Did you know that an elephants trunk that points back to his/her body means good luck? The reason being is that the good luck comes out of the trunk and back to you (if facing back to the elephant). Pretty crazy!
Next on the agenda was the government store. They have higher quality tea sets, china dishes, chess sets, porcelain vases, clothes (actually saw a kids shirt that said Made in China but we were tired of shopping by that point) and lots of other goodies. For the boys, we purchased a chess set, a very durable tea set, and a brick scroll that has the Great Wall etched into the brick. The other family that we went with had a lot of difficulty finding a complete china dining set making our stay a tad too long. Jace was the smartest of all as he slept through all of it! We then headed back to the hotel and Jace continued to sleep for another two hours...long nap today!
Our guide stopped by to grab my paperwork that I got from Jace's orphanage so she can translate it for me...so excited to see what it says. I hope she is able to spend the night with her family tonight...she is a very busy lady! After Jace woke up, we walked to Shamien Island to pick up our laundry and purchase some fun little items for our Christmas tree. I think I only have one more shopping trip to the island and I have had all the shopping I need (crazy for me to actually say that!) Rob best describes our walk over to the island like this: It is something you would see watching Anthony Bordain...scorpions on a stick, starfish, seahorses, etc. The shops next to our hotel is like the day after Christmas shopping times 100! It is insane to see all of the people walking around and buying items in the stores. We enjoyed dinner at Lucy's where Rob had steak, Jace had noodles with eggflower soup, and I had a hamburger....delicious! The rest of our night consisted of walking around the beautiful Shamien Island. We are having a very adventurous time...so glad all of us are continuing to stay healthy. The weather continues to be hot (96 degrees with a ridiculous percentage of humidity) but everyone endures the heat and walks around with beads of sweat.
Jace continues to love riding in the backpack. He is getting really good at using the sign for more (have we said how much he LOVES to eat??). He is using his signature move (we call it the PanYu aka stiff arm) less and less. We are trying to teach him the sign for all done or finished along with eat. He loves to play with his Toy Story Woody doll which has a pull string and allows him to say various sayings. He will put Woody's arm in the pocket and "feed" himself. I love the fact that he enjoys looking at books (yes, a teacher's kiddo loves to read)! All of us sit around and play silly games with his stacking cups. He cracks up when Rob puts a cup on his head and it falls into his lap. You can probably tell by the pictures that he is still very attached to Rob. He did let me get him out of his crib, help him get ready for the bathroom, and get his clothes on!! He feeds himself so good....yogurt is a hoot as it is a thick liquid. Another favorite for him is milk that has pineapple chunks. He isn't going to know what to do when we get to eat at home every night...something we are very excited for. Another day brings a great day of attachment and bonding. I no longer fear the first day that Rob has to go back to work for Jace allows me to help him throughout the day.
Our agenda for tomorrow is very light. We have to have Jace's TB test reviewed and then the rest of the day we are free. We do want to go back to the Chinese restaurant so we are going to ask Helen to translate what we want to order.

A Mistake I Will Never Forget

So, do I have your curiosity brewing? This morning while we were hanging in our hotel room in Guangzhou I was trying to figure out how to copy pictures onto the hard drive of the computer. Yep, the worst thing possibly...I hit the wrong button and deleted every video since adopting Eli. Of course we hadn't figured out how to make a copy of the videos, so everything is gone...I was devastated to say the least!!
Moving on to better topics...Jace did fantastic on his first plane ride. He fell asleep midway through the three hour flight. So far, he is such a calm child. Arriving at the airport, we found out that we have the same guide, Helen, that we had when we were here with Eli. It has been great to chat with her as we are much more relaxed this time around and can ask a lot more cultural questions. She is so accommodating. For example, we received a memory book from Jace's orphanage and she offered to translate the pages for us!
This morning, we met a family from Wisconsin that was heading home as they adoption was finalized yesterday. We also met a family from Grand Rapids, Michigan that we will do a few things with as we have the same guide. They adopted a little boy about three years old. All of us met down in the lobby this morning to walk to Shaimen Island for visa pictures and medical exams. Jace passed the medical exam with flying colors. He refused to have a nurse pick him up to put him on the baby scale. Rob brought him to the big kid scale, he jumped up and stood there. Then, it was time for the shots....OUCH! He had to get three shots and his TB test. Being Rob's little shadow, Rob had the priviledge of holding him during the shots. Oh boy did our little boy cry...it may have had more to do with the people touching him than anything. After the medical exam, we walked to Lucy's and had an American lunch. We also went into a Chinese restaurant that had tanks of live fish, squid, snakes, various bugs just ready for someone to order. I took lots of pictures except for the snakes! The island is very peaceful right now as a lot of the construction is wrapping up. It was sad to hear that some shops had to close due to all of the construction hurting their business. During our walk back to the hotel, we walk through tiny streets with lots of vendors (I asked Rob what he would call that area and he said a shopping mall...yeah, not quite my idea of a shopping mall). The vendors sell anything from medicinal herbs, junk toys, clothes, fish, dried scorpions, an entire alley of fish and tanks, and lots of puppies (yeah, just grosses me out to think what might happen to them). It is quite a sight...something you wouldn't see on Shamien Island. Once we got back from the island, Helen came up to review our paperwork...big relief that we had everything in order!
It's bullet time:
* Jace is already starting to respond to his name.
* Loves to play peek-a-boo.
* M&M's and mango juice don't taste very good together.
* Started to play with his toys without one of us sitting by his side.
* Does a lot babbling.
* Loves to be tickled. He will even point to areas that he wants us to tickle.
* Enjoys baths and swimming pools (just not being placed in a floatie)
* Loves checking out the view from our window
* Weighs 24 pounds
* Only likes to have one thing on his plate at a time...he will push a plate to the very edge just to get it out of his sight
* Noodles, watermelon, bananas, hot oatmeal, and fried rice are his favorites to eat
Tonight we went as a large group for dinner at a fabulous Chinese restaurant. The sweet and sour chicken was the best I ever had! The soy sauce in the States is so different compared to here...much better here! Rob loved the the dim sum shrimp, beef, and the pork dishes. For dessert, we even had Dim Sum (?) for dessert. It had bananas, nuts, and some type of crust...looked scary but tasted great. Jace kept begging for the shrimp and fried rice!

A Day at the Museum

Today we visited the Mongolian Museum of History. The size of the building was enormous. Part of the museum had many different dinosaurs, which Eli would have LOVED! Jace's little finger was pointing left and right at everything. Throughout the museum, he had to step on all of the little electrical boxes that were on the floor. It was fun to watch him. When we entered one section, there were a few Chinese children (mostly age 9) that said hello to us. I ended up talking with them for 15-20 minutes. I had to sign all of their personal books. Being a teacher, this just made my day!
Construction, Construction, Construction... I think we counted 100 different cranes (probably many more) being used to build new buildings...the on-going construction is unreal. Our guide was telling us that the government came in and told a bunch of farmers that they were going to take their land to build condos....they were generous and gave the farmers a job as a taxi cab driver. Somehow going from a farmer to driving in the streets of Hohhot seems to be a drastic job change! Another thing that is unreal is the way they drive around here. The only way to explain it is mass chaos...cars, buses, bikes, and walkers going in and out of traffic like they were jumping waves. When a driver pulls out of a parking lot they don't even look for traffic, they just "merge."
Jace continues to slowly warm up to me. It is funny that Rob has to get everything for him...I am not used to that. We finally made it to the pool....it was quite the experience. We thought swimming was suppose to be enjoyable...stressful was more the case! To start things off, we had to "register" at the desk for the pool and they gave us a key. I didn't realize the key had a number so I must have set off two locker alarms before somebody showed me what I was suppose to do...I started to laugh and in walks a lady that wouldn't leave me side...argh!! Once we made it to the wading pool, we had to remove our robes and slippers. Jace had fun splashing...thank goodness after all of that. :) Both Rob and I were shaking our heads on the way back to our room.
Tomorrow we head to our next destination, Guangzhou. It will be bitter sweet leaving Hohhot. The guest relation managers have been extremely accommodating. Someday, we will come back to show Jace his roots.

Quiet Day

We didn't have much that we had to do today. I (Rob and Jace stayed at the hotel) was glad to have been able to visit a factory where they made leather products, cashmere sweaters (which was amazing to watch the process), paintings, swords, and many other products. It is astonishing how much hard work goes into making the various pieces. I bought several items: jerky (which was made there), sandals, a belt, a very cool purse (it was 50% off...sweet deal!), an adorable pair of shoes/boots for Jace and a couple other trinkets. The rest of our day was spent hanging in the hotel, playing with Jace. Jace is very, very attached to his daddy. He will give him kisses, me not so much. In time it will come. If he doesn't like something, he will give it a strong arm shove. He is getting feisty...watch out Eli, you have some competition! While I was gone, Rob and Jace were playing hide and seek and had a little tickle time. Rob got to laughing at him because he was being very silly.
Whenever he goes to the bathroom, he loves to sing and hum. It is so cute to hear him do his little songs. He also says the word Mama. He keeps good tabs on when someone isn't in the room.
We did receive his passport today. Tomorrow we get the rest of his paperwork and head to the history museum. We are excited to check out the museum! We are also going to attempt to take Jace swimming. He should really like the pool as he took a bath today and loved splashing around! He was even tossing water into his face and laughing. His little fingers and toes were little prunes by the time he got out.

What a Daddy's Boy

As I was typing today's entry, I could have titled it many things. I happen to choose this title as Pan Yu (Jace) is very attached to his daddy (ba-ba). He points every time Rob walks out of the room, has to mimic however Rob sits...it is so fun to watch. We began our morning with a huge breakfast at the hotel. Jace proved to be a great eater as he polished off rice, noodles, watermelon, congee (rice and water combo), and Honey Nut'o (better known to us as Honey Nut Cheerio's). The milk wasn't warm enough so he wasn't thrilled to drink it but he still tried it. After breakfast, we went for a nice walk through the park. We got a lot of looks as Jace was in the Kelty backpack that we use for hiking (a side note...Eli isn't happy that he doesn't fit into it anymore!) After checking out all the fun activities (even shook the hand of an one arm monkey), we started to head back and our little man feel fast asleep. We were a little nervous when his nap didn't last long, but he was a trooper.
At 2:00, we were to meet up with our guide, Sandra and she was going to bring us to the bank to exchange money. Rob (with Jace in the backpack), myself, and our guide covered a ridiculous amounts of ground in a very short time...we were sweating our booties off. We had a very short amount of time to get back to finalize some of the paperwork back at the hotel. Whew...we were only five minutes late! During the crucial paperwork, the orphanage assistant director tried to get Jace's attention. He didn't want anything to do with her. He clung onto his daddy (ba-ba) so tight. For this adoption, we have to follow Hague requirements. This required a lot more paperwork and red thumb stamps than the first time! We were a little nervous to how Jace would interact with the assistant director. There wasn't any fear when he attached himself to his daddy!
Once back in the room, did our little man's personality start to come out! He was Mr. Smiley pants. He also started to be a little turkey, pushing his toys on the ground, smacking his books, and at one point he head butted me (his head is about as hard as Eli's....yeah, that was a big OUCH!). He is slowly learning the word no. When he goes to the bathroom (yes, he is 100% potty trained...yippee!) he likes to unroll the toilet paper so Rob had to take them off the roll...he wasn't very happy about that! He likes to bring you all of his toys, then take them all back. He also loves to look at books (thank goodness as he has a ridiculous amount of books at home) and play with his stacking cups. He will pour things back and forth into the cups and giggle. While playing with his trucks, Rob noticed his little head falling down. Before we knew it, he had fallen asleep. He must have a busy day being outside and having two adults full attention! We thank God for bringing him into our family. He is a perfect fit into our family!
On a different subject, we would like to wish Mike and Lynda (my brother and sister in law) a happy anniversary (its a little late...oops)! To think it was a year ago that we tried to set off on a short hike by Mt. Rushmore...enough said!! We can't wait to the day you guys can meet your latest nephew in person. Even though we miss Eli like crazy, we feel it may have been a blessing in disguise that he stayed with Nana, Papa, and Unc Joe. Uncle Joe has been his little buddy the past few days!! My mom would be pretty proud that I actually had the guest relations manager personally give me her card. The staff at Shangri-la Hotel have been very accommodating, making our stay extremely inviting. Last night, I even received a phone call from Ming. She works for Adoption Associates and is the liaison for the China to USA.
Thanks for all the comments. We love hearing from everyone back in the states...it would be interesting to find out how many different states have people following us. My adoption yahoo group has been amazing and so informative since we started this process. Well I best call it for the night as I am sure it will be a early morning in our hotel room!

Gotcha Day!

Today was the day we have waited a long time for...we have enjoyed watching Pan Yu attach with us throughout the day. This morning, he was very sad to leave his care giver, but as I was finishing paperwork Rob took him to look at the lights. Pan Yu pointed to the water. Once there, he enjoyed watching the fountains. Today was very low key as we spent a lot of time bonding with Pan Yu. He is very fond of Rob and has slowly started to warm up to me. Everything takes time. He has great motor skills as he loves to twist the caps off of the little bottles. He has even smiled at times throughout the day...amazing how much progress we have seen in such a short amount of time! Tomorrow promises to be another great day...have a great day everyone!