I carry the digital camera with me all day long, partly just to help me remember things. Tina told me to leave it behind at one point but I refused. We’re coming up on nearly 700 pictures of the trip so far, and that’s after discarding the out-of-focus junk shots. I can’t imagine what it would cost to use real film on a trip like this.
Hui-Hui is beginning to find a routine with us. He is such a sweet little boy. Before we departed from Bellingham, I consciously refused to let myself think too much about what he might be like. It’s impossible not to fantasize, but I was so afraid of setting myself up for disappointment. I didn’t want to be disappointed, or overwhelmed, or I don’t know what. I just didn’t want to have some idyllic model in my head before we got here.
But now that we’re here and we really have Kai-Hui with us, I couldn’t possibly be happier, or more in love with him! I only wish you could see in the pictures what an amazingly beautiful little boy he is! It is truly miraculous!
Not that we don’t have concerns about him; he is very tiny, and weak too. His muscle tone is not good and he’s so scrawny. All the clothes we bought months ago that we started worrying would be too small when we got him are all way too big. And his walk has that drunken sailor quality to it of a much younger child. When we got him out of the bath the other night and he was naked in the room Ben commented that he had a “little old man butt”. He’s just so scrawny!
Having seen the conditions at the S.W.I. he was in, and knowing it’s far from the worst of them, I feel so sad that so many children have such little hope in front of them. He is such a sweet, sweet soul. And I can’t believe how lucky our family is to have him be with us. And there are so many more miracles out there waiting for families to find them.
This time away from everything normal in our lives has been a good way to make this transition. All of our focus has been on Hui-Hui. We still aren’t really parenting yet. I was saying to Tina, that I feel he is like this fine crystal goblet we are trying not to break. There is so little we truly understand about him yet. He is this deep, deep puzzle we are slowly beginning to solve.
Here’s some of what we’ve learned so far…
He will only eat food with a spoon. No hard foods. Many families talk about how Cheerios were THE thing that got them through their initial "Gotcha Day". We brought them along and tried them first thing. He likes to see how many he can hold in his hand but still refuses to eat any.
He won’t eat cookies, or sweets. Any sweets. We tried frozen yogurt at McD’s today (with a spoon) he tasted it but wouldn’t go for it.
He has intense concentration. I think he’s working on a doctoral thesis on the properties of stacking cups. He spends hours testing various theories regarding how they work.
Putting objects in containers is very good too.
Crinkly wrappers are good.
Feeding people is very good.
When he eats he is careful to get the food off his face into his mouth. He actually scoops up the dribbles off his chin and pokes them into his mouth. (I try not to think about the kind of hunger that teaches a child this young to conserve food in this way)
He loves to laugh so much!
He’s ticklish.
He throws things to be naughty and laughs when you tell him “bu” (Mandarin for “no”).
He makes faces at his brothers and mimics them.
If you say “humph!” he’ll cross his arms and tucks his chin.
He waves “zai jain” (Mandarin for Bye Bye) will wave for bye bye too.
Will put his pointer finger to his lip and go shhhh!
Knows that I’m “Babba” and Tina is “Mamma”
Is frighteningly cooperative when you are dressing him.
Is extremely affectionate.
Loves to be held.
Can entertain himself for long spells.
Can go to sleep by himself in his crib. (it took us until last night to discover this, when we finally realized that we were keeping him up by carrying him around singing lullabies to him. He just kept fighting it. After 30 minutes or so, we finally admitted to ourselves that it wouldn’t be a crime to put a former orphan down in his bed. He fell right to sleep once we quit messing with him. Still feels wrong though.)
Tina says I need to sleep more, so I’m going to stop for now.
We fly to Guangzhou tomorrow.
Here are some pictures of our day today…
First things first: Stacking Cups!
Breakfast at the buffet: hard boiled eggs mixed in oatmeal: 2 bowls
after one bowl of congee with pork and "preserved eggs"
Trying to pick out pants that will fit...
Hey, his brother Ben wears 'em like this!
To give you an idea of his size, this is a portable crib, not full size.
He's 33 months old.
Trying to get him to eat frozen yogurt. didn't happen
With his brothers at the park.
Walking with Momma and Brother Ben
The shopping mall across the street. We've spent way to much time here, but have some funny stories...
Cam and Ben meet some of the local people...
Our hotel from the park.
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