Just Because He's Cool Like That

So it's been over a month since I have posted on this blog and during that time Jack has been plenty busy.  We spent the month of October enjoying the beautiful fall weather and getting ready for Halloween by trying to accustom poor Jack to the idea of wearing a costume and asking strangers for candy.  No, I'm not a big Halloween person - as a matter of fact I really do very little with it outside of Trick-or-Treating and am totally G-rated during the event, but I also didn't want Jack to enter the night of festivities completely clueless to why hundreds (yes, hundreds!) of children were wandering around base wearing funny clothes and knocking on all the doors of our neighborhood.  So, we planned ahead.  Thank you very much Mickey Mouse and Word World for all of your help, by the way.

One of our first adventures for the month was the opportunity to serve as volunteers at the Show Hope table when Steven Curtis Chapman visited Lancaster, PA.  It was an all evening affair by the time we drove three hours there and two hours back (lots of traffic going up!), but it was well worth the time.  I wasn't sure how Jack would do but as soon as he saw David Trask (Donor Relations, Show Hope) Jack was all joy.  He spotted David across the room and literally went running into his arms.  It was AMAZING to see.  And after that there was no turning back.  Jack spent the rest of the non-music periods of the night either glued to David's side or asking where David was.  He spent the first half of the actual concert dancing his heart out to every song, and after David took him up on stage at intermission Jack spent the second half of the concert alternating between dancing and begging to go back up on stage.  The words, "No, I'm sorry, Steven is working right now," simply didn't seem to mean much to Jack at that point - he simply wanted to get back up there with the evening's star.  I guess that's what we get for letting David take Jack back stage before the concert and get love from Steven Curtis Chapman himself.

Jack also had the opportunity to spend a full morning at the lake here on base playing with his sisters and our wonderful neighbors.  Loving that my God-sent neighbor volunteered to give me a few hours of "alone" time I did not join them, but I have been given numerous beautiful pictures of the day.

October also found us spending a full day at the apple orchard-pumpkin patch having some Fall-fest fun and playing in the hay.  Jack was not only overjoyed to see the great big pumpkins, goats and tractor, but also thrilled with the chance to stick his face through all of the picture boards.  He also rode on his first hay ride and picked a few apples, and I had the chance to get some great pictures of the kids together.  I was personally thrilled to also pick broccoli and Jack, Ellie and Sophie made great broccoli spotters. Of course, I think the freshly picked apples they were eating fueled them on.

And, of course, we finally came to Halloween.  Being the early-shopping, deal-hunting, leave-as-little-to-the-last-minute kind of person I am Jack's costume was Mom-picked as it was selected before he had any clue what a Halloween costume even was.  I guess I did a fairly good job of selecting though because he LOVED his construction worker outfit.  He was very disappointed when I made him try it on on Friday night though only to find out he had to wait three more days before he could actually Trick-or-Treat.  But once he got started on the candy collection there was no stopping him - he fit right in.  And I admit after he had climbed about 20 different sets of porch steps at top speed and without complaint I did point out to him that I did not want to hear any more whining or complaining about navigating our two front porch steps. =)

October also brought along the first of many doctor's appointments for Jack.  He had his first visit with the pediatrician and even got to go back a second time.  He had lots of blood drawn for testing and began a vaccine schedule to trump anything he may or may not have received in China.  It was determined that he did indeed bring home a few intestinal friends (a.k.a. giardia) from China, but that has been remedied along with a couple other blood-test related discoveries.  He also received the necessary referrals to visit both the pediatric cardiologist and pediatric dermatologist - both of which he will see this week.  Hurray!

And now we are headed into November.  This should be an interesting month as Jack will be meeting a large number of family members as we travel to Tennessee for a week and also as we journey further south to Florida to visit Mickey Mouse, Shamu and his favorite friend of all - Katie Green!  So, keep your eyes peeled for another possible update as I am sure we will return home with many new pictures because, honestly, Jack is just cool like that.

The Face of Determination

I have hesitated to blog anything about this topic before because I am a bit afraid I will come off as cold or callous, but I also know that it is something that needs to be documented so that Jack can look back someday and appreciate how far he has come.  So, hopefully anyone reading this will not think I am pointing out someone's faults as much as celebrating our child's success and will remember the old Chinese Proverb - "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."  I promise each word here is posted with the utmost love and support for a child making fantastic strides to assimilate from institutional life to family life at the age of four.

The fact of the matter is that Jack struggles with an "I'm helpless.  Do it for me." disposition quite regularly.  Watching him over the last six weeks I have run the gauntlet of thinking that this attitude is expected regression in response to drastic life changes, learned helplessness from whatever experiences he has had before in his life, a lack of self-confidence in his own abilities, and/or a case of just plain stubbornness.  What have I concluded?  And which of these do I see daily?  Well, I would say it is a bit of all of them.  As Jack continues to settle into his new surroundings, however, the frequency of each seems to be shifting a bit as his comfort level rises, but they are all still there and active.  And we (Jack, I, the girls, family friends, etc.) are working to address them all.  Well, okay, maybe not all of them - Jack really seems to like the whole stubborn part and doesn't really seem too happy about giving that one up, but that's pretty much the definition of stubborn, now isn't it?  =)

Of all these areas of progress, however, it is the area of self-confidence that I would like to address here.  This blog was inspired by the one most monumental Jack-did-it accomplishment to date. Yesterday's Triumph.... drum roll, please.... Jack built a dinosaur!  By himself!! And that is a HUGE deal for several reasons.

1.  It means he actually engaged himself in a somewhat challenging activity (building with K'nex) and didn't just sit on the wall while someone else created.

2.  It means he looked at a picture of what he wanted to make and selected the K'nex pieces he would need rather than sticking out his bottom lip and pouting because I would not pick them out for him.

3.  It means he used his fine motor skills and arm muscles to line up and push together the K'nex pieces rather than throwing them down when they didn't slide together easily and I didn't swoop in to rescue him.

4.  It means he tried and tried and tried again until he successfully got the dinosaur's legs all facing the same direction so his creature could walk even when I would only fix the first one to show him how.

 5.  It means the smile on his face when the dinosaur was fully assembled and held up for me to see was 100% earned by Jack.  Along with the very loud trademark Jack "Ta-Da!"

You see, this may seem like a very simple task for a four-year-old boy, but for Jack every bit of this endeavor was a challenge.  We take this same set of blocks with us every Tuesday so that the kids can play with them while Sophie goes to gymnastics class.  Each week Jack has shown interest in the blocks and tried his hand at putting pieces together, but each week he has also given up when something didn't happen easily, thrown up his hands and thrown down his blocks when I would not pick out pieces or slide things together for him, and basically sit and pout once one child built a creature of some sort and he still had nothing but random pieces in his hands or on the floor by his feet.  The fact that he made the choice to actively participate, put in the effort needed to follow through, and follow my lead rather than wait for me to do for him is absolutely a HUGE deal.

Now I know that you are not here, and I know that it may come across wrong in writing when I say I wouldn't  help or refused to do things for him, but I refer back to the give a man a fish thing.  Jack is a wonderfully sweet little boy, but if given the opportunity he would very often rather sit and let someone else do just about any physical task for him if he could get away with it.  Unfortunately for him, he now lives in a family with four other children and one available parent so expecting the butler, the maid and the servant to arrive and cater to his every whim will ultimately only result in a very long wait.  And in reality, Jack is fully capable of everything I have asked him to do and he has come a long, long way in the course of just a month at home. Let me see if I can't paint a better picture of his progress by listing just a handful of his successes in this realm...

1.  stepping onto or off of the front porch unassisted  (he still fights me on this one, and did so just this morning - ha!)
2.  descending a flight of stairs in public by himself  (he conquered the stairs at home on day one)
3.  jumping off a curb (1...2...3...jump!)
4.  finding the other shoe in the same "shoe box" by the front door where he found the first shoe with no trouble
5.  climbing into his bed using the drawers as "stairs"
6.  putting his own pants on (after happily putting his own underwear on with no trouble)
7.  hooking two Thomas train cars together (hook on one connected to circle on other)
8.  buckling the top harness section of his carseat (insert tongue into groove)
9.  stepping down out of the minivan to street/floor level
10.  walking more than a block without begging to be carried
11.  opening the door from the garage into the house after exiting the car (no trouble opening it to get to the car...)
12.  building a dinosaur!

Now, as I stated before there are many issues in Jack's life that are legitimate regression events, perfectly normal and actually a healthy part of bonding with his new family and be assured I am not talking about these instances in this blog.  I am strictly talking about situations where he has the functional capability to accomplish a task in a healthy manner but has repeatedly addressed the situation with the body language of defeat, verbal complaints at being asked to do, and lack of effort to accomplish.  The same tasks that when he successfully completes one elicit an ear-to-ear smile that makes his entire body radiate joy.  As tiring as it can be to continually remind him that "Yes, you can step up by yourself," or "Yes, you can put your pants on," day in and day out - every single, "Yes you can" is worth it when he really does do something and the fact that he is able to registers in his head resulting in that huge Jack grin and cheerful "Ta-da!"

So, again, some of these may seem like small insignificant tasks, but each one is something Jack has spent a good deal of time refusing to do, looking convinced that he is unable to do, or simply not putting forth any effort to do so each success if definitely worthy of celebrating as a true victory.  And it is only within the last ten days or so that I have actually begun to see a look of determination appear across his face when trying to accomplish a task that he perceives as difficult.  As I sat and watched him build his dinosaur yesterday I wished so badly that my camera could pick up just a hint of that look in his eyes.  I saw it the other day as he worked so hard to buckle the bottom latch of his car seat and again last night as he struggled to attach two train cars together.  For fleeting moments that aggrivated look of "I-can't-do-this-Mom" will disappear and be replaced with a look of sheer determination, a set jaw and focused eyes that shouted "Get in there!  I'm not giving up!" and THAT my dear friends, is a victory all within itself.

For whatever reason, Jack is in hand-to-hand combat with the I Can't Do It Monster every day and by the grace of God and through his own hard work and perseverence he is beginning to win more battles than he loses.  Jack is one tough cookie, and I guarantee you God has great things in store for his future.  And in that vein, I have no doubt that it won't be long before that darn I Can't Do It Monster decides to duck its head and run away with its tail between its legs.  Jack may be struggling with that self-confidence thing now, but he is getting there, by golly, and he is learning more and more that he can do anything once he sets his mind to it. So, look out world - because someday you might just hear a voice singing... "Here he comes to save the day, Jack-a-Roo is on his way!"  And it won't just be his mother announcing that he is coming down the stairs in the morning.  =)

One Month Later...

Wow!  One month!  How time flies!!  On Friday morning Jack went with me to Becca's school as I attended a mandatory volunteer orientation meeting and in the middle of that meeting I suddenly realized that the day before had been the one month anniversary of Jack's Gotcha Day.  Now, please don't think less of me that I didn't realize the date until the day after his "anniversary" - it's been a crazy week and I was really sick on the actual day so I will beg for your forgiveness of my tardy celebration.  All that said, however, we are one month in and still going strong.

Checking out the lake on base with all his sisters.

The biggest announcement I can make at this point is simply Jack's ever strengthening language abilities.  His comprehension of English has astounded me from the beginning, but his acquisition of workable vocabulary continues to floor me every day.  Some of you may remember my facebook post a little while back about Jack sitting at the kitchen table teaching himself the English colors and numbers using foam stickers.  He has always been curious about what the English words are for things, but each week he gets more vocal about asking for terms and is more and more putting these words to work for himself.  He still loves to point out every airplane he sees (which is a lot as we live by the airport!) but he has started using the word "airplane" instead of just "Mama"or pointing with lots of vigor.  He also loves to tell me every time he sees anything the color blue and has begun using a full palette of other color words too. 

Learning those numbers and colors

I've been waiting for him to start talking while playing alone with his toys and really expecting to hear his Chinese come out at that time, but that is not what has happened at all.  He has begun to make his toys "talk" to each other or whisper away as he flies a toy airplane or drives a toy car, but he is almost always doing this play talk in English sounds or phrases!  I'm not convinced that he has begun to fully think in English terms as he still talks to me in Chinese fairly regularly, but his usage of English is growing exponentially and quickly becoming a constant throughout the day.  I think one of my favorite things is when we come to a store cashier and Jack is quick to shout out "Heeeeello!" in his cheery Chinese accent.  It makes me laugh every time!

Jack's new car seat came in a very large box - soon it was Jack in the box!

Well, other than language, I'm not sure what else to tell you.  Jack is simply doing great.  I watch him throughout the day and just marvel at how he has settled in, but when I get here to type I never know what to say.  I wish I could just video tape a twenty-four hour period and let you see him for yourself.  He laughs, he sings (even broke into the ABC song in the car the other day!), he loves the dog, is still fascinated by the cat, loves the sandbox, begs to take baths, enjoyed his winter-weather shopping spree immensely, and has discovered that climbing into bed with mom and the other five-hundred children in her bed every morning is a wonderful thing.  He kissed a bearded-dragon through the glass on her cage the other day, refuses to touch a worm, eats like a horse, doesn't like mustard, has little tiny feet, wears 24 month size jeans, can't wait to ride in the car, and rode a bike like a pro this week.  Overall, I just love him and wish you could all just come and hang out with us to see him in person.

Cars helmet on, ready to go!

I am also very excited that in just a couple weeks I will have the chance to show him off as he is all signed up to volunteer with me at the Show Hope table at the Lancaster, PA, Steven Curtis Chapman concert.  I know that he is little and I know that even though he will have a lot of fun he probably won't understand the significance of his volunteer effort, but I also know that someday he will be happy that I took him.  I just think it's cool that last time I volunteered at their table Jack was there in spirit on the front page of the newsletter they were distributing and this time I get to take him in person. So for anyone who might be attending, be sure to seek us out.  Hurray! 

Show Hope newsletter last December...

Jack on the playground here at Fort Meade (Sept)

On a separate note, I wanted to let you know that I have decided that this blog will no longer be the stomping ground for any of my personal analysis monologues.  This blog was created as a journal of our Journey to Jack and now that Jack is home I truly feel that the story is now in his hands to tell.  I will continue to post here with updates of his progress, milestones, funny encounters, etc., so that you can see how he continues to blossom into his role as son, brother, grandson, nephew, cousin, and so much more, but I will no longer post my own musings here as I ponder the wonders of God's actions in my life, the adoption world, or children in general.  I have started a new blog, however, for those of you who find me entertaining enough to want to continue to read about my chaos and crazy walk.  There isn't much there yet, but I'm hoping to change that soon.  You can find me at:  http://talesfrommycorner.blogspot.com.  But there's no pressure, of course.  =)

And now I will simply leave you with some photos.  One month later, and here we are...

Catching a ride around the lake.

Sleeping in his very own bed.

Playing the drums at the playground.

Waiting for Winnie-the-Pooh to start - first movie in the theater.

One the computer for the very first time - getting lots of directions from big sister.

Unless the Lord had been my help...

Dear Lord and Heavenly Father,

Thank you so much for seeing my need and providing us the child exactly right for our family and situation at this time.  This is not our first adoption and I know the road of transition can be a truly rocky one, but You have provided such a smooth path so far and such feelings of well-being that Your grace is the only explanation.  I know that things will not always be this easy and I wake each day praying that I am prepared for when the other shoe may drop, but Lord, You have been so generous, so kind, and so in control of this entire endeavor that I can in no way doubt that You have each of our best interests in Your sights.

Today I read the following words and they spoke so directly to my heart.

Unless the Lord had been my help,

my soul would soon have settled in silence.

(Psalm 94:17)

This road You have placed before me is one that most people regard with unbelief.  So many respond with shock, amazement, disbelief, and even pity when I answer their questions of "How many?", "How old?", How long?"  Five children, deployment, no local family, multiple preschoolers - none of these things are what other people might envy.  But I do not view my life from any of those perspectives.  This is who I am and this is what You have provided me through Your mercy.  Even when I am at my lowest point and struggling just to make it through to "pajamas, potty and bed", I trust in what You have promised and know that You will never give me what I cannot handle.  Is this life hard?  Absolutely.  But in reality, whose life isn't?  And more importantly, I can do hard.  We can do hard.  If success for this mission wasn't possible, You would not have brought me to it for You know far better than I what I am truly capable of acheiving.

So, I thank you, Lord, for each day You grant.  I give thanks for each of the daughters you have granted me the honor of mothering in Your stead.  And I thank You again and again for the little boy You chose to create on the far side of the globe so that You could bring him home to our family, not through some act of charity or miraculous circumstances but because our family would never have been complete without him. I am humbled each day to witness his kindness, his love for us and his genuinely joy-filled heart and know that even though I am his mother I can take absolutely no credit for the young man he has already become.  You are in control, and You have been all along. You have created such a masterpiece that it is a blessing to each one he meets to catch even a glimpse of the purity of his soul.  And it is such an honor, as his mother, to merely stand by and watch.

My soul glorifies the Lord 

and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 

for he has been mindful 

of the humble state of his servant. 

(Luke 1:46a-48)

The truth of the matter is I am not worthy of having five children to raise, to nurture, or to teach Your ways.  I make mistakes daily, lose my temper, drop the ball, forget to pray, spend a lot of time feeling overwhelmed and often lead by example in the wrong direction... And yet You have chosen me to take on this challenge and to guide these children in the way You have directed.  I do not understand how exactly You have this planned, but I rest in the assurance that it is Your plan indeed.  For

Unless the Lord had been my help,

my soul would soon have settled in silence.

(Psalm 94:17)

So, I shall raise my voice and shout Your praise and lean not on my own understanding.  I will ride the highs and navigate the lows and hold onto Your hand as if for dear life as truly several lives depend on it.  I am open to Your leading, Lord, and I am trusting You to guide me.  For You never promised easy, but You have certainly promised hope. May I be reminded each morning and every evening that I am right where You want me to be and I have gotten here only through Your grace.  And it is only through Your grace that I shall succeed.

Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; 

He is the faithful God, 

keeping His covenant of love to a thousand generations 

of those who love Him and keep His commands. 

(Deuteronomy 7:9)

 In the name of the Father, and the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

12 Days and Counting...

For the past week or so I have been in a bit of a dark place - a completely kid and adoption unrelated dark place, but one which has made blogging extremely hard and unproductive.so for that I apologize.  I know that there are many of you out there who have been waiting (mostly) patiently for any Jack-at-home update I might post, so hopefully this will hold you over for at least a little bit.  :)  Things for me seem to be moving back into the light for the most part so now that everything ordinary is not being dealt with through a melancholy fog or exasperated by jetlag and timezone differences I will hopefully post a bit more often again and you can share in Jack's accomplishments and adjustments as I document them here in blog-land. 

Before I go any further, however, I do need to put one more apology out there... I unfortunately don't have tons of pictures to share with you as that is one major downfall of the mom-alone-with-five-kids lifestyle.  All picture taking falls upon my shoulders and if I forget the camera or I simply don't pull it out we end up with nothing.  But I will try to do better with that too.  No promises though, I am after all a woman willing to acknowledge reality.  =)

Okay, so let's begin...

Jack has now been home in Maryland for 12 days.  Our flights home from Hong Kong all went smoothly and Jack was a real trooper.  After I woke him up at 5:15 a.m. Friday morning to head to the airport he made it about half-way through our first 4 hour flight (and half-way through Finding Nemo) before falling back asleep. Our first lay-over was in Japan and really not very long.  We had time for a potty stop, a quick meal from McDonald's and a little bit of people/Tia-chi watching and then it was back onto an airplane.

The second leg of our journey was a nine-hour flight to Salt Lake City and it is somewhat ironic that I just typed "leg" because Jack spent about half of this flight sleeping with his legs kicking Katie in her legs, side, stomach, etc.  He handled the flight well though and was very patient as we waited for the Immigration Officer to process his paperwork.  Then, it was off to find our next gate and wait, wait, wait.

We had about 4 hours to kill there in Salt Lake City which unfortunately meant more sitting.  Well, that and watching the weather reports as Hurricane Irene was pretty much the only news making the air waves that day.  Jack did decide he had had enough at this point, but after a brief meltdown he gathered himself back together and stuck it out.  And finally it was time to board that last flight.  I actually nodded off for a few minutes and missed most of the safety announcements, but when I woke up (just in time to hear the flight attendant sign off) I found Jack already out which is exactly how he stayed until I woke him up at the gate in Baltimore.

And then it was time to head home.  Of course our plane parked at the very outermost gate so at 11:30 p.m. a very tired me got to carry a half-asleep Jack about a mile-and-a-half to the baggage claim area.  My mom met us as we came through security and Jack smiled and waved to her like he'd known her forever.  My dad, who was waiting closer to the baggage carousel was met with a similar greeting, but it was the stroller my mom had brought that made Jack smile the brightest.  (And I have to admit it was a welcomed sight for me as well.) 

It took almost 30 minutes for our luggage to turn up, a reality I really don't understand as there was not another single airplane along the entire concourse I traversed to get to baggage claim, but it was what it was and around 12:15 a.m. we finally headed out to the car.  My dad let me drive home which I am sure seemed strange to Jack as we had been letting other people drive us around for two weeks now.  And we finally arrived at our humble abode at approximately 1 a.m.on Saturday morning - a full 32 hours after I woke Jack up in Hong Kong to start this journey.

Since arriving home Jack has been doing great.  I wasn't exactly sure what I was going to do about the sleeping arrangements once we got home, but Jack pretty much took care of that for me.  We had been sharing a bed in the hotel so the first night we were home I figured that was the easiest thing to do.  Well, that and I wasn't sure he was going to go back to sleep since he had slept so much in transit, but we finally hit the hay about 2 a.m. and he did not waste anytime conking out.  We were both up early the next (same?) morning though so I'm not sure how that happened.  Saturday afternoon at resting time, however, when given the choice of sleeping in my bed or his own Jack made it very clear he wanted to sleep in his own bed so that is where he has been ever since.  This seems amazing to me as I have heard so many stories of kids needing to stay in the master bedroom for long periods of time to work through night terrors, fears, etc., but other than the occasional (and typical) 4-year-old anti-nap regalia we haven't had any sleep issues thus far - Thank the Lord!  But it does help that even on the occassions that Jack fights going to bed, once he is out he is O-U-T.

One of my other mild concerns about our homecoming was our dog, Charlie.  I knew from our two weeks together in China that Jack is a huge dog lover, but I wasn't quite sure how he was going to respond to sharing space with an actual living dog.  I needn't have worried, however, as Jack fell in love with Charlie the minute he saw him (at 1 o'clock in the morning!) and still gets extremely excited when they are close to each other.  I'm not exactly sure why Jack feels the need to point the dog out to me everytime he (the dog) is near, but lo and behold, if Charlie shows up I am always made aware by a very excited smiling little boy.

We also have a cat which I figured I didn't need to worry about because she is terrified of her own shadow and I figured it would be weeks before Jack ever caught a glimpse of her, but I was WAY wrong there.  The very first night (yes, that 1 o'clock time again), there she was standing at the bottom of the stairs just as cool as a cucumber.  And if you got the impression that Jack was excited about the dog, well, he about came out of his skin when he saw our cat.  I couldn't believe she didn't go running for cover when he squealled and pointed and told me repeatedly there was a cat, but there she stood and she even lets him pet her.  I'm telling you, as excited about animals as he is and as friendly as they are toward him I can definitely see veteranian school in his future. 

And then, of course, there are the animals of another nature - Jack's sisters.  It has been interesting to watch them with Jack as you would never know he just got here.  From the very first day they met him (NOT at 1 o'clock in the morning!) they have included him in everything.  Jolene dotes on him as if she were his mother and decided early on she was going to teach him English right away.  Luckily for Jack she has backed off of this ambitious decision a bit and is allowing him to think for himself rather than be her puppet.  They play beautifully together, however, and Jack is quick to give her a hug as soon as he sees her each morning.  Becca and Sophie have taken right to him as well.  They are pretty fixated on playing with ponies and Barbie which really aren't Jack's toys of choice, but that doesn't keep me from finding them curled up together watching tv or playing together in the sandbox outside.

And then there is Ellie, roommate extraordinare.  Before Jack's arrival Ellie was always the easiest to put to bed and the first to go to sleep, but not so much anymore.  She absolutely adores having Jack in her room and somedays it is next to impossible to get her to stop talking to him after lights out.  They have also become bath buddies which is hysterical as they pour water on each other and splash and splash.  They other night I was trying to take their picture as they are just so silly in the tub and they put on quite the show.  (I'm not really one for posting the whole tub shot scene, but their smiles are just priceless so they will have to forgive me.)  It is also not uncommon to catch the two of them chasing each other back and forth across  the living room giggling up a storm.  They definitely have their disagreements, usually over a toy both wants, but there are way more smiles than arguments going on.

As for the little day-to-day things, Jack is doing quite well there too.  He is picking up more and more English and I've gotten a few impromptu words out of him.  He can say a lot more than he is willing to say and every once in a while he gets frustrated with me for making him say "More, please" rather than grunting in my general direction, but we are getting more words out of him slowly.  The past couple days he about drove me mad as he decided that "Ma-Ma" could be used to relay absolutely any piece of information he wanted to get off his chest - I'm hungry; I need to go to the bathroom; I want to wash my hands; more please; look at that!; I want this; I don't want that; open my window; are we going in the car?; are we going now?; an airplane!; Charlie!; no; yes; etc., etc., etc.... It ended up being about 48 hours of straight "Ma-Ma, Ma-Ma, Ma-Ma" and I was very happy when he woke up this morning and didn't start in again.  I don't mean to sound ungrateful, I am blessed beyond measure that he has learned this word and feels comfortable calling me Ma-Ma, but one can only hear that word said so many times in a given period without going insane, and that doesn't even include the numerous times my other children use the term.  Needless to say, by dinner time on the second day I very clearly announced that for the rest of the evening I would only be responding to the phrase "Mother, Sweet Mother." 

And then there are the little successes...  Things like going to use the bathroom without feeling the need for a motherly escort.  This may seem a silly thing to be excited about, but ask Katie - Jack has come a long way in this department.  He still hasn't learned that he doesn't need to stop and get my permission before going to the restroom, but we are getting closer there too.  The funniest part is that when he does take care of his business completely unassisted he will inevitably come out of the bathroom to give me a thumbs up and a smile when he is done.  I am always quick to respond with some version of "Yeah!  You did it!", but I also have to throw in some form of, "Now go put your pants back on, Silly Boy."  Definitely not a problem have had with my girls.

We also have the "J" success...  We have a set of alphabet magnets that Jack has loved since he discovered them.  For the first few days, however, he would bring me any letter he picked up and ask if it was for him.  (For "Jack" that is.)  Each time I would tell him what the letter was and if it was not a "J" I'd send him back to find "the blue J".  Yesterday he found it more quickly than on previous days and today he came into the kitchen with the "J", held it up for me to see and then held it against his belly with one hand while pointing to himself with the other.  All with a huge smile on his face.  Aw, the sweet smile of success.

Jack has also conquered his fear of climbing on the backyard toys, absolutely loves to ride in the car, made it through his first Bible Study/childcare experience this morning, and for the first time today got excited about looking at a book.  He has played in the sandbox and the water table, visited a petting zoo, joined the Phineas and Ferb fan club and even shucked corn.  So... all of this to say - things are going great.

 

 We've had a few bumps in the road, but nothing that hasn't been expected and nothing that any other 4-year-old wouldn't deal with as well.  I'm sure that more bumps are coming, but we will take those in stride and Ma-Ma will do her best to address them with a good measure of patience and a lot of prayer.  Thank you again for each prayer you say in our stead, we couldn't possibly be doing this with even half of much success if it wasn't for the prayer warriors I know we have in our corner.  Please keep it up, we've got a long road ahead of us and I for one desperately need you to hang in there with me.  Please just don't call me "Ma-Ma" more than 100 times within any given 90 minute timeframe and all should be well.  Thanks!  And I will try to post more stories soon.  =)

Day 7 - More Shopping

Today we really did have a day off.  We could have gone on a tour of a local Buddhist temple and the Chen House, but we decided to opt out of the organized activity and return to Shamian Island for a bit more shopping.

We started our day slowly by simply not getting up early.  Yeah!  Literally, the alarm went off, I got up to turn on the computer so my girls could Skype at 7:30 and then I went back to bed until they did.  And even after that we just took things slow.  So slow in fact that we were almost too late for breakfast since the breakfast buffet closes at 10 am.  We made it in though and happily gobbled up some fruit, eggs, yogurt and other yummy things before heading out to catch a cab.

To make things easy we took a cab from our hotel, the China Hotel, to the White Swan Hotel which is located on the island right at shopping central.  Once we arrived Jack immediately led us back to the fish that he so greatly enjoyed yesterday.  After spending some time there with the fish we headed back to the little shops to knock out a bit more shopping.  We really haven’t done a lot of gift and souvenier buying until now so both Katie and I had a list of things we were hoping to acquire.  After a couple hours of walking and looking we were both fairly successful and we called it a day so we could get Jack back to the hotel in time for a good nap.  And may I just add in here now how proud I am of Katie as she was willing to put her life on the line by stepping off the curb to wave down a taxi – a feat that should not be attempted by the faint of heart at anytime here in China.

Our cab ride worked out perfectly and we arrived back at the hotel in time to grab a late lunch from the neighbors – McDonald’s.  And let me just say that in and of itself was quite the adventure.  We have been in this McDonald’s twice before, once to grab a snack after arriving here in Guangzhou late at night and a second time to get ice cream last evening.  Both times the McDonald’s was fairly empty and we were able to get in and out in just a few minutes.  Today , however, I learned that lunch time at McDonald’s is not the same as the after dinner hours.  When I walked in the door I was met with lines streaming from every cash register all the way to the door.  The place was packed and literally buzzing with the sounds of Mandarin.  I was successful in acquiring lunch, however, and we enjoyed  a nice little picnic in our room.  Followed by a nap!  Hurray!

While Jack slept I went to meet with our guides and other parents to fill out the paperwork needed for the US Consulate.  Some of our families have their Consulate appointment tomorrow which will allow them to head home as early as Tuesday, and other families have their appointment on Tuesday or Wednesday.  Ours is on Wednesday due to Jack being “older”.  Typically the infant appointments are done early in the week with older children going on Wednesday or Thursday mainly due to the fact that children over 2 years old require a TB test which is given on Saturday and not read until after the weekend.  The paperwork is fairly straightforward –name, birthdate, etc. for parents and child – along with organizing all of the other adoption items that need to be submitted – birth certificate, adoption decree, passport, etc.  Needless to say the meeting was fairly short so I was soon back in the room.

Thankfully Jack slept the entire time I was away as we were not exactly sure how he would react to my being gone when he awoke – he loves Katie but likes to keep me in his sights.  He woke up about three minutes after I walked in though so all was well.  And he quickly had me sitting on the floor with him building the knock-off brand Lego-type airplane we had purchased today on the island.  It went together fairly smoothly and when I was done I got a beautifully spoken “Thank you” from Jack’s sweet self.   I had jokingly told him I should earn some major Mommy points for choosing this particular undertaking as our first mother-son creation, but hearing him say those two simple, ENGLISH words made my day so no other brownie points needed.

 Well, after Jack played with his lego-type airplane, jeep and boarding staircase for a while we headed out to find dinner.  Neither Katie nor I were really desiring the McDonald’s plan again so we figured we would explore a bit.  We had a seen a sign for “Food Street” earlier in the day so figured that might be a good place to start our dinner hunt.  Unfortunately, Food Street turned out to be the name of a hotel restaurant, not actually a street full of food sources, so that was kind of a bust.  Not giving up, however, we headed to the other side of the hotel building and walked through the “Shopping Arcade” in search of dinner fare.  Surprisingly, this came by way of Starbucks.  Yep, Starbucks.  We didn’t purchase any coffee but we were able to acquire a chicken ceasar wrap, a ham sandwich, a fruit cup, a scone and two pieces of chocolate cake.  I won’t share how much that total bill was as it was a bit more costly than a trip to McDonald’s, but it sure was worth it.

And after that we just settled in for the night. We brought our food back up to our room and turned on the TV in hopes of finding something entertaining.  After a few minutes of watching some man try to convince the viewers that a man killing electric eel was on the prowl in a South American river we decided maybe we should keep flipping the channels and ended up watching “China’s Got Talent.”  Granted neither Katie nor I have any desire to watch any such show in the States, but given our choices this was definitely the winner of tonight’s selections.  Interesting might not be the correct descriptive term, but it was definitely different. I can honestly say I  have now seen someone perform Chinese rap music, a woman play the piano with all of her fingers missing from one hand, and a 50-year-old Chinese woman dance to a Michael Jackson medley.  As I said, definitely different.

And now it is 11:41 p.m. and I should have been in bed long ago.  Jack is finally asleep after rolling around, talking to himself, challenging me to make him stay in bed and keep his head down, trying to sneak toys in and out of his bed, and doing whatever else he could think of to keep himself awake until 10:55 so we’ll see how that all plays out in the morning.  Right now, however, I am the only one up so I am going to head to bed.  I won’t get this posted until tomorrow, but at least it is written and ready for pictures and posting.  Whew!  One more day that I am not behind and needing to catch up on.  Yeah!

Day 6 - First Day in Guangzhou

Today we sort of took the day off, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t do anything.  Actually, quite the opposite is true.  We somewhat ran Jack ragged and had very little “down” time, but we also had a lot of fun and pretty much just did whatever we wanted to.

Before we could start playing, however, we had a little bit of business to take care of.  First stop, Visa photos.  Each child in our group had to get his/her photo taken for the paperwork we will submit to the U.S. Consulate.  Jack was more than  happy to do this, and I must admit that I was a little bit worried he might put his fingers up in the "peace" sign once he realized there was a camera.  Luckily he did not, and his photos came out great. 

Next Jack and I had to report to the health clinic for his official medical examination.  This sounds kind of impressive and like a big deal, but it is pretty much just one more hoop we have to jump through to get his U.S. Visa.  The clinic is a rather small building, perhaps the size of the ballroom in a U.S. hotel, and it consists of a front desk/reception area and several smaller offices and waiting rooms.  

The physical examination required for Jack involved four stations – a temperature/weight/height check, a general wellness check, an ear-nose-throat check, and a TB shot.  Well, I guess I should say it was supposed to involve four stations, but that didn’t include the extra station we got to visit when the general wellness doctor (who decided to show up for work today in his lab coat, polo shirt and shorts!) freaked out about Jack’s scabby knees and elbows and demanded to know what was wrong with his skin.  (FYI - Jack’s scabs are a result of his documented skin condition which should not have been a problem at this point.)  Luckily I had gone one step more than just following CCAI’s directions and brought all of my medical check-up paperwork for Jack, not just the latest report sent to us as apparently all of this Chinese writing didn’t make much more sense to the shorts-wearing doctor than it does to me.  After sifting through all of my paperwork, however, the doctors were finally satisfied that Jack really did have all of his medical paperwork in order and we were swept away to the next station.  I would like to interject at this point that while in this next station (the ENT spot) our guide asked me if I wanted to take pictures of how well Jack was doing stating that “He is the best behaved of all of them.”  Proud Mamma I am my only response to that is, “Well, of course!”

Our group had traveled to the clinic, which is located on Shamian Island about 10 minutes from our hotel, by bus but we were given the option of returning by bus at noon or staying on the island to shop and walk around and taking a taxi back later.  Katie and I had decided early on to stay and shop so after Jack and I finished our business at the clinic we headed out to do some shopping.  Several families joined us on this jaunt and it was fun to be back on the island again, my first time being in 2004 when Dan and I were here with Jolene.  It is funny how little things have changed, but the overall island looks pretty much just the same.

Well, after a couple hours of walking and shopping we decided it was time to eat lunch.  Being that we were feeling quite touristy we decided to eat at Lucy’s a small diner specializing in American food.  This turned out to be a good choice as my sandwich was quite good and Jack had his first hamburger – which he loved.   Once we were finished eating we headed over to the White Swan Hotel to visit their red couches, watch the fish and use their restroom since Jack is apparently already westernized enough to refuse the usage of any public squatty potty.  Along the way we stopped to listen to a recital in the park as an elderly woman was performing with what we suppose was her "band".  Jack seemed to enjoy this, but I'm still not quite sure what the actual event really was.  It was an entertaining stop on the way over to look at the boats on the river though so all was well.

Visiting the White Swan also turned out to be a good decision.  Jack was completely enamored with the fish in their lobby and would have spent the rest of the day just sitting and watching them I think.  He wasn’t so much a fan of the red couches, but I’m pretty sure that was just because he really wanted to stand at the window and watch the boats go by on the river.  Needless to say, this child should absolutely enjoy our November trip to Florida given the way he responds to all things water and fish.  Yeah!

After spending some time enjoying the fish, the birds and the view provided by the White Swan we headed back outside to do a little more shopping.  (We tried to get a good picture of Jack on a red couch, but he really wasn't into it, looking at the river was far more what he had in mind.)  At this point Jack had pretty much had enough and we had our first bit of a meltdown when Mom repeatedly said “no” to touching things in the store.   That inspired us to go ahead and call it a day so after stopping at 7-Eleven to get some cold water to drink we headed back to the White Swan to catch a cab to our own hotel.  I figured Jack would fall asleep on the way, but he surprised me by toughing it out.  

When we got back to our hotel room he surprised me again.  I came in and laid down on the bed hoping that he would come join me.  He did.  And as soon as he got up on the bed he wanted to get under the covers.  Then he wanted me to get under the covers too.  Then he wanted me to turn on the TV.  Then he wanted to watch car racing.  Ugh!  This was definitely not my choice of relaxing television, but it sure seemed to work for him.  After about 10 minutes he thankfully had pity on me and we switched over to the National Geographic channel to watch Tiger Man of South Africa, which as weird at is sounds was simply a documentary type show about a man who lives with tigers…  okay, that just made it sound even weirder…  But Jack really enjoyed it and I’m always game for some big cat viewing so we had a nice peaceful 20 minutes or so before it was time to head out to dinner.

Dinner tonight was a “Group dinner” which was really fun.  We walked a couple blocks from our hotel and ate at the Macau Street Restaurant which strangely enough specializes in Cantonese and Portuguese food.  I’m not exactly sure how those two things go together, but I do know that the food was really good and the company was great. (Be sure to check out the Cheesy Beef in the forefront of the picture below.)   Jack packed away quite a bit of food as always and we all left quite happy and with big smiles on our faces.  That said, we did feel the need to stop for dessert at McDonald’s on the way home so Jack not only had his first hamburger today he also had his first strawberry sundae which he ate with a great pleasure.

And that is about it.  Bedtime was a bit rough tonight as Jack has now had two really long days in a row, but we powered through and he has been sleeping peacefully for quite a while now.  One thing I don’t think I’ve mentioned is Jack’s love of the bathtub.  He is quite fond of bathtime and it will be great fun to see his face when we get home and he realizes that sponges, water bottles and shower caps are not the only bath toys that exist in the world.  I’m fairly certain as well that he will be loving himself some bubbles when we have actual real bubble bath and not just hotel soap to create foam.  But for now he is content and I’m hoping he’ll sleep in a bit tomorrow.  We’ll have to see though.  My girls are hopefully going to Skype at 7:30 a.m. and Jack has already decided that the phone ringing sounds of Skype are his invitation to get out of bed be it day or night.  That said, I am going to post this and go to bed.  Someday I will actually fill in the missing days and give Stanley a chance to blog again, but it won’t be tonight and I’m going to stop promising about tomorrow.   A girl can always dream though.