March 1, 2013
The day started off with a
bang...literally. We awoke to a loud thump...Charlotte hitting the
floor. We had left the side of the crib down so she didn't get scared
by the bars and so far, she hadn't tried to sit up from a lying down
position by herself, or stand from a sitting position- we can
basically put her down somewhere and she doesn't move from it (like
Griffin). Or so we thought. It was so startling and scary- Joey
jumped out of bed calling for her in the dark since he couldn't find
her and she was totally silent. My first thought of the day was “Oh,
God, No! We killed her!” Not a good way to start the day. Once Joey
could find her to pick her up (somehow she was not right near the
crib), he held her and then handed her to me and ran into the
bathroom, thinking he was going to be sick, it was so upsetting. The
weirdest part is that she was so stunned, she didn't make a peep and
for the first time she didn't wake up screaming and crying and
cuddled with me in bed. Maybe we'll think twice about pulling the
side of the crib up afterall...
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Charlotte is stoked to go exploring and she's graduated from a front to a back-pack. |
It seems like Charlotte takes two steps
forward, then one step back. Today she wanted little to do with Joey.
After the big excitement yesterday and progress he had with her, it
was a huge letdown for him. She's acting exactly like she did the day
before when she was afraid of him coming near me- just like yesterday
never happened. It's going to take a lot of patience as she learns to
love and trust us. I can tell she is getting much more comfortable
with us, though, because her 'two-ness' is starting to come out more
and more. She's throwing off her headband, taking off her shoes,
pulling on her socks (they were always barefoot at the orphanage in
every picture we saw of her there)- very picky about what touches her
and feeling uncomfortable. When she's in a stressful situation
(bedtime) she squirms and wiggles like she's itchy, but we've learned
it's just what she does under stress. She's always very excited to
put her shoes on because she's learned it means we are going
somewhere, though she doesn't want to keep them on once we're out the
door. She has the same “myself” attitude Claire has- I tried to
help feed her (since she makes such a mess and then gets upset that
she's messy) and she pushed me away. She wants to get down to walk
herself, but then she gets scared and wants me to hold her again. She
can't seem to make up her mind what she wants, but she does want to
try to run the show! She less concerned today about being messy since
she now knows I am going to clean up after her. Oh boy. Today we made
her a cup of noodles in the room while Joey prepared her bottle (it
feels more like she is an infant than a two year old in many
respects). When she would take too big of a bite and gag I helped dig
it out of her mouth, then every bite after that she would try to
chew, then spit it out on the floor. I don't think she actually
swallowed any of it. So much for her concern about the messy floor.
She doesn't like the food falling on her bib, either- she just takes
it out of the pouch and throws that on the floor, too. I think Flash
has found his new best friend at meal time at our house. At least
I'll have help cleaning it up.
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Oh my gosh, balloons are sooooo exciting!! |
We had hoped to do some sightseeing this morning since we had a free day not going to the
orphanage, but due to both the babies still suffering from colds
(especially Griffin) we decided to stay in our room and let Griffin
nap. We didn't have Charlotte take one because it is such an awful
process and then she would wake up Griffin with her crying. So, she
was up today from 6AM until 8PM. She was pretty happy all day
considering. At 1PM we went across the street to a Chinese 'Fast
Food' place and ate lunch. It's so funny how people here don't seem
to think anything about staring at you and pointing and talking about
you, especially while you're eating. I think every worker in that
place came out of the backroom and there were four of them- three
ladies and a man behind the counter watching us eat and interacting
with the baby. He's very popular here, did I mention that? Yesterday
at lunch one of the chefs from the backroom actually was filming us
and snapping our pictures as we ate. Many places here don't have high
chairs, so I guess seeing Joey carry Griffin in the pouch and eat
with him that way is just quite a sight they don't see everyday. I'm
sure there is a meme circulating China with Joey's and Griffin's
picture in it by now.
Just a random observation: the
restaurants here play the quirkiest music. At the Italian place we
walked in to American rap music, followed up by Eric Clapton's
'Layla', and then some classical Arabic music. At the McDonald's it
was Mariah Carey's “All I Want for Christmas Is You”. So odd.
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I need some Mariah Carey Christmas music. I know,
there's a McDonald's! They will be playing it! |
At 1:30 we met with a local lady (Ann
of Red Threads) to take us wholesale shopping for some souvineers for
the kids and little gifts we can give Charlotte every year on her
'Gotcha Day' from China. As soon as Ann saw us she commented on how
young we looked. Since you have to be over 30 to adopt from China,
and China is more relaxed about the upper age requirement, there are
couples as old as 60 adopting. I took a liking to Ann right off the
bat. She gave us some insight into Chinese culture and ways of life
here. She couldn't get over how Gaige looks more like my brother, she
said, than my son. I told her I had him when I was 16 and she was
astonished- she said that is illegal in China. You have to be over 22
to get married here as a woman, and 24 as a man, and children born
out of wedlock is a disgrace to the family. Girls are forced to leave
school if they are pregnant and are shunned. She about fell over when
we told her we have 7 children. She said that is unheard of in China.
In the city, only one child is permitted, and in the countryside, if
your first child is a girl, you can try one more time for a boy, but
that's it. If you have more than the limit, or if you adopt and then
get pregnant, there are huge fines the government makes them pay that
most people cannot afford. So, that explains the forced abortions and
orphan crisis here- especially for girls and special needs little
boys. Currently China's International adoption program is only for
the special needs children- if you want a “healthy child” the
wait is 4-6 years! Most of this we knew from our reading on China
(especially Xinran's “Message From an Unknown Chinese Mother”),
but it is more interesting and personal to hear it word of mouth on
the street here from a local.
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However, a man carrying a baby is still legal. |
We took the subway to a very
non-touristy area and went to the 'underground shops' she knew about
to get us the best deals on some items we wanted to bring back with
us. Our tour group will take us shopping, too, but only to the most
expensive tourist stops. We've realized that nothing we have been to
around our hotel- including food- is much cheaper than back home. For
$35 US currency this lady takes you shopping and gets it done quickly
and inexpensively. We were able to get traditional Chinese dresses
for each of our girls for $3 each, Chinese fans for $1.50, tea set
for the girls (our hotel sells them for over $100 and we got it for
$8) silk scarves, pearls- things traditional to China for a fraction
of the cost. We bought a Chinese Lego set at the toy store for Corin,
but passed on this:
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A nice gift for Grandma. |
Griffin continued to be the main
attraction on our outing, and having Ann with us to interpret what
people are saying to and about us confirmed that people are indeed,
very fond of him, and that he is indeed, cold and not properly
bundled according to Chinese standards. It helps that he hams it up
when people pay attention to him. In one of the stores, despite my
uncomfortableness with it, a group of ladies passed him around and
adored him. He even got a free gift at one store. A group of Chinese
ladies were telling Ann, and she interpreted for us, that they
couldn't believe how young and beautiful I looked “for having 7
children” (it's always followed by that, but hey, I'll take it!). I
have decided I really do love China!
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Griffin is quite popular in China. |
Oh, and we found out why Charlotte is
giving us blank stares when we try to use some Cantonese words with
her. Ann and some of the ladies in the stores today were trying to
talk to her, and when she didn't respond, they asked where her
orphanage was. I told them Suixi, and they said it is a local dialect
spoken there that even Cantonese speakers cannot understand. They
told us how beautiful Charlotte is and how nice her ears are
(apparently that's a feature that is prized here) and asked what her
special need is. When I told them “developmental delay” they
laughed and said, “I don't think so!” You can tell how smart she
is just by spending a few minutes with her.
It was drizzling outside when we were
finishing up, and it was neat to see Charlotte's reaction to the rain
on her face. Remember the bubbles picture where she was squealing
with delight? She had the same face when the rain splashed her. It's
like she's been locked up in a prison her whole life and is just
seeing the outside world for the first time. She is fascinated!
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Rain just makes the shopping crowds easier. |
When we were done shopping, we decided
to stay and eat at the warehouse mall at a place Ann said was very
good. She walked us there and told the waitresses we would need two
high chairs. However, what she failed to do was order for us. We sat
down to this:
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We can totally read this. |
The waitress came by and asked us
something in Chinese, to which we replied in English that we wanted
the beef noodles and fried rice (what Ann told us to order). She
pretty much ran away with her hands over her face, really embarrassed
and went to another waitress who shook her head like “no way, I'm
not going over there to talk to them! You go!” and they bantered
back and forth. We soon realized we were going to be ignored. We gave
it about 10 minutes while we tried to decide what to do, and then the
first gal came back with a picture menu, featuring this:
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It's - it's smiling at me! |
We were outta there, and the waitresses
couldn't have been happier!!
We were really strangers in a foreign
land in this part of the city- no one spoke English anywhere.
Thankfully Ann had written the name of our hotel down for us in
Chinese so we could get a cab back or we'd still be there. We were
all hungry at this point and when our first dining attempt failed, we
were thrilled to see the glowing golden arches on the horizon. I
really was 'lovin' it' today. There's nothing that can make you feel
at home faster in a strange place than that. Charlotte actually
nibbled on her chicken nuggets this time, but most of the dining
experience, surprisingly, she rubbed her sweet & sour sauce all
over the table like finger paints. We'll work on manners later, for
now I was just shocked that she would actually touch it and seemed
happy to be playing with it! That's not what the textbooks predict
for kids with sensory processing issues. I'm still trying to get her
figured out.
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America!!! |
Getting a cab home was a challenge. It
seemed like people were scared to have to deal with us- or maybe the
cab drivers were just smart in not wanting to ride with two babies in
the car, I don't know. But, several passed us up and it was about
half an hour until we could get one that would take us. I was about
to cry- in the rain with two babies nearing dark in Crazy Town and
far from our hotel. It was rush hour, so it took us 45 minutes to
drive the 6 miles back to our place (and only cost $5!). Joey sat in
the front seat with Griffin and no car seats here. I was a bit
nervous, so say the least. It's certainly not “safety first” like
at home!
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What? We're buckled up! |