Mom -- If you want to meet us in Toronto, that's great. But you really don't need to. We are planning to send one of our suitcases with C and M from Vancouver to Ottawa, so we should be able to fit everything else in our car. But, as you said, if you want to help with the luggage in Toronto, and give us a lift to our car, that would be great. I'll call if we miss the flight in Vancouver, so you don't make a wasted trip.
Bonnie -- thanks for the comment. And wow, I'm not sure I've ever been called "feisty" before (at least not to my face). I like it!!
jag -- hmmm, hopelessly in love, eh? Well, I kind of feel that way when they're sleeping. And sometimes when they're laughing and smiling. But I'm not sure I'd say we're 'hopelessly in love' when they're cranky and screaming. So, I guess we fell kinda-sorta-hopelessly-in-love after about 3 or 4 days. For the first 3 or 4 days there was too much screaming, crying, and sleep deprivation to feel anything but shell-shock and fear. :-)
Marion -- ha! My shopping abilities will never compare to yours. If I can't haggle, it's just not worth it to me. :-) (Actually, I'm looking forward to getting back to shopping places where the price actually is the price, and I don't need to wonder afterwards if I've paid too much.)
SP -- fever is gone as of this afternoon. I think it was related to teething. We think A's popped out another tooth (making it 5 now), and E is drooling enough to make me think she's not far behind.
Auntie Em (love that name!) -- I'm glad so many people are lining up to get their hands on the girls. Babysitting will probably be limited for the first little bit (much as I'd like to have a break sometime soon, they do still tend to get quite upset if we are out of sight), but I look forward to the day(s) we can leave the girls with you.
PF -- yeah, I too hope nothing gets passed to A. They both have runny noses this evening, and are somewhat congested. But if that's the worst of it, I'm fine with it. Also, we're anxious to see J & M at the cottage too. (And you guys, too, of course.)
So, today we took a hutong tour. It was very interesting. We drove in rickshaws down very narrow alleyways, which we occasionally shared with a small car. I think the rickshaw drivers, in order to make it more interesting for themselves, like to race each other. It was kind of fun. And today was the first time in my life that we've had someone on a bicycle pedalling along beside us trying to sell us something. As part of the tour we visited in the home of one of the inhabitants in the hutong. This was a wealthier family, and it was amazing to me to enter what looked, from the outside, like a small, somewhat run-down one-room building, only to find a very nice living space inside with many rooms and a gorgeous courtyard in the middle with lots of greenery. And it turns out the couple who lives there (Mr. and Mrs. Jin) have a son who went to university and who is now living in Halifax and runs a bed and breakfast there. Heh.
Here are a couple of pictures from the hutong tour. Many of the photos I took are a bit blurry because there was a lot of bumping along in the rickshaw and I was trying to balance A and the camera at the same time. So, for most of the shots the camera was moving. (In fact, one of the clearest pictures I got was a great close up of the plain blue shirt DoT dad was wearing.)
Also, as part of the hutong tour, we visited what is called "Opium street". This is a famous street where Cixi (one of the Emporer's concubines) used to come to smoke opium. Cixi is famous in China because she was basically the power behind the Emporer for three generations (through less than law-abiding practices, including poisonings, etc.) Lots has been written in China about Cixi, none of it with anything positive to say about her. Anyhow, we visited Opium street which had a lot of vendors on it selling all kinds of things. Well, as we were going through, two of the vendors got into a fight over something. There was a lot of yelling (and although my Mandarin is a bit rusty, I'm going to say it wasn't the most polite choices of words), and in the end other vendors, or related people, were holding the two vendors apart. It was hilarious -- like something you'd see on a sit-com. And of course, I had to snap some pictures. So, here's one...
(Bonnie -- now there's a feisty woman for you. If that guy hadn't held her back, I'm sure she would have clawed the other guy to within an inch of his life.)
As we passed, our guide told us the two angry vendors were from Tibet. I'm not sure if that was a racist comment - and he was suggesting that as an explanation for their behaviour -- but I was thinking about going up to them and reminding them of the Dali Lama, but then I decided I'd rather stay out of reach of the two of them.
Tonight the group of families went out to dinner for Beijing Duck. It was very good. We had a private room in the restaurant. It was quite hot in the room, though, and both our girls got a bit impatient mid-way through the meal. So, I did a bit of pacing around. After dinner, all the babies were put on a bench together for group shots. (Actually, the bench wasn't long enough for all the babies, so they were split into two groups -- the Wanzai babies and the Leping babies). The Wanzai babies went first and there was a whole lot of crying involved. Then the Leping babies were placed on the bench and none of them cried and people took lots of pictures. But, alas, one of the babies was missing. When her mom placed her in the middle of the group she started to bawl. She was seated next to E, who then got scared and started to bawl. So, turns out the Leping babies weren't all that much better afterall.
I better end here, since I still have a lot of packing to do tonight. (I need to figure out how to pack all our stuff into the suitcases we have, and make sure none of them weigh more than 32 kg.) I want to correct one thing I said earlier though -- I got a photocopy of the medical charts today, and it turns out E is not 5 cm taller than A. She is one centimeter taller. I'm not sure why I had the wrong info to begin with. So, all of you can now stop picturing A as this fat little dwarf child. :-)
Take care, all. See you soon, back in Canada!
2 comments:
Have not commented until now but have also enjoyed immensely your blogs as well as the running comments. I am currently reading through journals written by my grandmother starting back around 1910 and spanning about 50 years (not as meaty always as yours have been so far)and I agree with the suggestion that K you are a natural and should keep it up-- they are a wonderful gift for the future (along with the other treasures you are collecting along the way for the girls). I admire you so much and am very moved by what you and E's Dad et al are doing (and I said it before -- the universe unfolds as it should)! And if you need care packages when you get back and are too pooped to think of cooking, you just cannot look at another cracker or sandwiche and take-out has lost its appeal.....feel free to call!! (I am thinking I should start making mac & cheese etc etc for the freezer now perhaps?!). Have kept my M&D in the loop too and they send their best wishes as well. Looking forward to meeting E & A and seeing you and E's Dad sometime soon. NR
Hi K&C, E&A,
Was thinking a bit more about the poor sleeping. Everything I've read states that kids get a bit unsettled around their birthdays and half-birthdays, as the 6 month marks are when they tend to experience developmental spurts. Then there's the fact that besides the "regular" developmetnal stuff, they've been making leaps and bounds (well, sitting and standing) with you in the past 10 days, and major developmental gains also tend to unsettle kids somewhat. Then there's the fact that their world has been turned upside down, with a new mom & dad to get used to and the loss of their former caregivers. And finally the fact that you're marchign to the tourgroups drums so can't necessarily adjust your schedules to suit. All of this contributes to tension in the poor kiddos, and tension contributes to poor sleep.
As I said before, once you get home and settle in to your own schedule, and they get used to you, and get further past their birthday, and catch up dvelopmentally... sleep should get better. At least to the point where it won't be a battle ground.
Though they say sleep issues are one of the most common issues for adopted kids.
I still find T settles better if I sit with her until she falls asleep. Not just settles better, but sleeps deeper and is more likely to stay in her own bed rather than join me at some point in the night.
Let us know how it goes in Vancouver. Hope you'll keep up the blog while in Southern Ontario, for all of us waiting here in Ottawa.
Q (T's mom)
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