Nice quiet day so far. Managed to get Luk his first bath. He was petrified and started pooping the minute his feet hit the water. Poor little thing. Eric was the hero of the day amd caught it in his hands while I gave Luk a wash and washed his hair. We didn't actually get him dunked and since we demanded Jia get out immediatly there certainly wasn't any play time. Eric had both kids on the bed wrapped in towels while I washed up and I ended up in a major laughing fit. Got funnier and funnier the more I thought about it and just couldn't stop laughing. The absurdity of the whole thing. His little bottom is just so not as expected and we're trying so hard to be respectful while seeing him naked and standing for the first time and he is so scared. We don't even know if he is uncomfortable but he needed a bath. I think we'll go to good cloth scrubs for a while. Thankfully he has very little hair so it's easy to wash.
Catherine, I thought of you and our crazy laughing fits in the beginning of the insanity while I was having my laughing melt down, which made me laugh even harder. Better than tears. Jia kept asking Eric what was so funny and he had his hands full with a very unhappy baby so he wasn't feeling the funny quite so much.
Fei, Luk is sooooo like you were in so many ways. Maybe you'll be the perfect one to help him through some of his fear. The water in particular.
I love China. I really do. Totally fascinating here. But there are just so many moments that are simply out of this world.
We're surrounded in poverty and filfth but everywhere we look there are gorgeous people dressed to the nines. Cell phone mania here unlike anywhere we've ever seen. Samsung Notes and Megas are everywhere. We hear the sounds of my phone constantly. I've stopped checking every time we hear it.At lunch time today everyone came outside to cook their lunch. The old and the new visable at the same time everywhere that you look.
We were too tired to keep going after the pavilion so came back to the hotel for noodles and apples. Luk is napping. Plannimg to head to the night walking street for dinner later.
Mom, we couldn't find that great restaurant behind the hotel. We did get to the pottery store. Wanted something manly for Luk. Got him a Saki set. Very macho. Winter scene, no flowers. The antique store was there but closed.
The pavilion was the same. No way to take strollers in. A lady cleaning at the bottom took them from us. Very nice lady and just so happy for the kids. Eric had to carry Luk up six stories to get to the music performance. His back is bothering him so it was a trial. So beautiful there and the show was nice, so it was worth it.
We met another adoptive family this morning. They adopted their daughter 8 years ago. They are from BC and they were here from the make a wish foundation. They moved to Vancouver for a year to be at Children. Their daughter wanted to hold a baby panda so they came to do that and combined it with a visit to her foster mother. Her leukemia is in remission. I just sat and cried at breakfast while they shared their story. Holding Luk who is adjusting so well and has basic health and was happily eating everthing in sight. Just a total pure moment of gratefulness for our four kidlets.
Lili, Luk likes dumplings as much as you do.
Jia is doing WAY better with Luk than we expected. She is gentle. I know...wild right. She shares. She includes. She now tells us constantly that Luk tells her things he wants ;) "Dad, Luk just told me he wants to switch strollers and go really fast that way". He has said Mama twice and NO once, no other sounds aside from crying. He can get the tears flowing really fast. His lip pouts and quivers when he is upset. He might be more diva than the girls ;)
All over the place with the writing. I wish there was enough time in a day to actually think through the writing and share some of the moments. It's such a huge experience here.
Mom, you wondered if people would mind a boy being adopted. Not yet. He gets more attention than the girls did. As in both men and women attention him, where with the girls I found it was more women interested. Men actually give his cheeks a little tickle. Luk doesn't mind at all. There is comments 'oh a boy' or 'boy?'. He isn't moving and he's small for his age and when Eric tells people he is two they seem pleased for him. They must assume something is wrong.
Eric is napping now too. Jia is still fighting it. She is being quiet though.
