Gus has been in attention deficit the last couple of weeks, what with the new brother and the broken dishwasher, and has been crazy as a result. So last weekend Jim and I each took him out for some special attention, and the weekend was so much better than the previous weekend as a result. Tonight was reasonable too.
Jim and Jed have been doing some extra bonding lately. Yesterday Gus and I went to a puppet show, so the other two sat on the sofa for an hour, watching football and eating pistachios and generally having a great time. Today I went into work in the morning, and although Jed did jump for joy when I returned (it was super cute), he's a lot more comfortable now with Daddy.
Jed definitely understands that he is working on a new language. Today when we left the house he pointed to the step, said "step", and looked up at me to be sure he was right. We've also been teaching him important words like "ear" and "touchdown"!
O'Donnell Olio
olio
\ˈō-lē-ˌō\
- Olla Podrida
- a miscellaneous mixture : hodgepodge
- a miscellaneous collection (as of literary or musical selections)
Monday, September 27, 2010
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Wow, what an interesting murmur!
This quote of the week brought to you by the pediatrician, who says that Jed's heart repair must be good b/c he looks great, but she has no idea what it is from the sound. We'll all be interested in what the cardiologist says in a few weeks.
This week was better. Lots of drama from Gus at drop-off, but that's beginning to ease. Jed loves Gus's preschool and just wanders around playing while I wrangle the bear. Jim and I are starting to balance our time with the kids and to give Gus some one-on-one attention, with the result that Gus did much much better today.
This week Jed and I worked on climbing and jumping and some new words. He's learned that if he points at something I will talk about it. He pointed at a bunch of things on the way to the park (bicycle, sidewalk, fence) and then laughed and threw his arms around my legs. Mommy! He thinks the street is called "Ah-ah-ah!" because that's what I say when he tries to walk into it without me.
Today we played with water out on the deck and then blasted the Music Man with some tambourines and had a blast.
Next week I go into work for a bit to plan for the next few weeks, Jed has his appointment with the international adoption specialists, and Jim has a college fair on Friday.
This week was better. Lots of drama from Gus at drop-off, but that's beginning to ease. Jed loves Gus's preschool and just wanders around playing while I wrangle the bear. Jim and I are starting to balance our time with the kids and to give Gus some one-on-one attention, with the result that Gus did much much better today.
This week Jed and I worked on climbing and jumping and some new words. He's learned that if he points at something I will talk about it. He pointed at a bunch of things on the way to the park (bicycle, sidewalk, fence) and then laughed and threw his arms around my legs. Mommy! He thinks the street is called "Ah-ah-ah!" because that's what I say when he tries to walk into it without me.
Today we played with water out on the deck and then blasted the Music Man with some tambourines and had a blast.
Next week I go into work for a bit to plan for the next few weeks, Jed has his appointment with the international adoption specialists, and Jim has a college fair on Friday.
Monday, September 20, 2010
One Week Home
And boy, it's been a long week. We all got over jetlag really quickly, just a few days, but it felt like milennia. And then Gus got bored (and what else is there to do at home but pick on your new brother?) so we've spent every day out at the park, and I've gotten nothing else accomplished besides unpacking, and we arrived home to a broken dishwasher so Jim's been spending a bunch of his theoretically free time doing dishes.
Sigh.
But tomorrow Gus goes back to preschool, to be challenged and run off his feet and away from his brother. Jed's first doctor's appointment is on Wednesday, and one child is so much more moveable than two, so we'll be able to run errands etc. together for part of the day. There are a lot of things he needs to see (even the farmer's market will be exciting for him. I made muffins today and he was transfixed).
Update on Jed: this child is almost too perfect. I can find no orphanage behaviors or sensory issues, and I've been testing him all week. He can pick up sand, eat yogurt, and roll down a grassy hill. He does like his fingers clean, but his face can be messy. He has no problems with sounds or lights. He is attaching extremely quickly. I'm almost looking over my shoulder...hopefully the person standing there is not the cardiologist (that appointment is in October).
Sigh.
But tomorrow Gus goes back to preschool, to be challenged and run off his feet and away from his brother. Jed's first doctor's appointment is on Wednesday, and one child is so much more moveable than two, so we'll be able to run errands etc. together for part of the day. There are a lot of things he needs to see (even the farmer's market will be exciting for him. I made muffins today and he was transfixed).
Update on Jed: this child is almost too perfect. I can find no orphanage behaviors or sensory issues, and I've been testing him all week. He can pick up sand, eat yogurt, and roll down a grassy hill. He does like his fingers clean, but his face can be messy. He has no problems with sounds or lights. He is attaching extremely quickly. I'm almost looking over my shoulder...hopefully the person standing there is not the cardiologist (that appointment is in October).
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Home again
Sorry for not making clear that we did arrive on schedule, were graciously picked up and delivered home, and are recovering. Jim did make it to work on Monday but on Tuesday morning the boys both woke up at 3 a.m. and so Tuesday was awful. I am not a good mom sleep-deprived. Last night Gus slept well but Jed was up at 4 a.m. Still progress. Jim is now asleep on the sofa. More once steady coherence returns.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
In South Korea for the night
A short post before going to bed. We spent last night packing up our gear; our baggage has apparently been busy reproducing when we weren't around. Left this morning for Baiyun Airport for our departure from the good ol' PRC. There were 4 lines to wade through prior to boarding: checkin, security, customs, and immigration. The checkin procedure was cumbersome, because we are 5 passengers traveling under 2 reservations (one for Jed and one for the rest of us) on 2 airlines (KE and DL) with 7 checked bags through 5 airports in 4 countries (for those keeping score, our return itinerary is CAN -> ICN -> NRT -> ATL -> BOS). It took awhile, and since we're staying overnight here in Seoul, she couldn't even check us in for the second, third, or fourth legs of the trip since it was too early.
Thankfully we were at the airport with plenty of time to spare, and we eventually got to the gate and boarded. Korean Airlines is awesome! They had in-seat entertainment systems with about 100 movies to choose from. I watched The A-Team and enjoyed it very much. The flight was about 4 hours, and we deplaned and discovered that we couldn't go through the transit security checkpoint without boarding passes for our next leg, which we didn't have since we hadn't checked in yet. That proved a little confusing. We eventually found a Korean Air transfer help counter where they printed out a copy of our itinerary for us, and after that the security staff admitted that we belonged there and let us through.
Then we checked in to the Incheon Transit Hotel for the night, which is a hotel dedicated to weary travelers like us with a connecting flight 15 hours away and no desire to leave the secure zone of the airport. The rooms are small and no-frills but the beds work just fine. There's even a couple playgrounds for the kiddies to wear themselves out. Had some dinner and now we're hitting the sack.
"Tomorrow" is our last 3 legs of the trip, and then we'll be home!
Thankfully we were at the airport with plenty of time to spare, and we eventually got to the gate and boarded. Korean Airlines is awesome! They had in-seat entertainment systems with about 100 movies to choose from. I watched The A-Team and enjoyed it very much. The flight was about 4 hours, and we deplaned and discovered that we couldn't go through the transit security checkpoint without boarding passes for our next leg, which we didn't have since we hadn't checked in yet. That proved a little confusing. We eventually found a Korean Air transfer help counter where they printed out a copy of our itinerary for us, and after that the security staff admitted that we belonged there and let us through.
Then we checked in to the Incheon Transit Hotel for the night, which is a hotel dedicated to weary travelers like us with a connecting flight 15 hours away and no desire to leave the secure zone of the airport. The rooms are small and no-frills but the beds work just fine. There's even a couple playgrounds for the kiddies to wear themselves out. Had some dinner and now we're hitting the sack.
"Tomorrow" is our last 3 legs of the trip, and then we'll be home!
Friday, September 10, 2010
Last Day in Guangzhou
Today we wore everyone out at the Chime-Long Safari Park. First we took a thoroughly uneventful subway ride with one transfer. The Guangzhou subways are amazing: air conditioned, not stuffy, bright, and reasonably fast. All of the maps are logical and the announcements for the stops are made in Mandarin, Cantonese, and English. The only trouble we had was figuring out their token system for a couple of minutes. It took about an hour each way, but the people were really nice and gave seats to whichever parent had a small and/or sleeping child. A delightful experience as subways go.
The Chime-Long complex is like Disneyworld. There's the Safari Park, which is basically a zoo, a Crocodile Park, an amusement park, a water park, an international circus, and a big swanky hotel to see it all from. We just went to the Safari Park.
We took a shuttle bus from the Metro stop and wandered our way through, seeing apes (if it doesn't have a tail, it's not a monkey), pelicans, etc. Jim stopped to have his picture taken with a python (mouth taped shut). I helped Gus touch the snake to learn about him a bit. Once we reached the other end, we ate a quick lunch and got in a little train to see the Safari on Wheels part (which is about half the park). It was lunchtime for most of the animals, which was good b/c it was also really hot and the ones not eating were almost all snoozing. We saw lions and tigers and bears, and also giraffes and camels and run-of-the-mill American red deer (a guy actually got out of his car, which is against the rules, to take a picture of a DEER). Lots of animals, great safari. Jed fell asleep right at the end and was installed on my chest in the mei tai.
We then wandered back through the park and found the hold-a-baby-tiger area, which I really wanted to do, but since Jed and the baby tiger were napping it seemed unfair to wake them both up so we didn't. We did go to the giraffe area, and did the coolest thing. The zookeepers sell leafy branches for 10 yuan to feed the giraffes (I used to feed crackers to the giraffes as a kid, and the branches are much healthier for them and more fun). There are around 20 giraffes in the area, and whichever is hungry wanders over to the feeding area and looks for munchies. You pull off a bit of branch and offer it to the giraffe, and they wrap that huge tongue around it and pull it in. It was so much fun. Gus loved it, and Jed woke up in time to help too (he dealt really well with the fact that he woke up to a big giraffe tongue right near his face). One giraffe got the last bit of branch that just had a couple of leaves on each end, and he rolled that stick around and got every last bit of leaf off it and then spat out the stick. Apparently a giraffe's tongue is around 0.5 meters long. What a blast. The title of the area was "Feeding Giraffes with Joy". It was true!
Then Gus really wanted to see koalas, so we saw a bunch of sleeping koalas in the koala house. They only spend around 4 hours a day awake because their food is so un-nutritious. They don't have energy for anything else. And they wedge themselves into crooks of trees that look really uncomfortable, but snooze away anyhow.
Then we went by the giant panda house and saw some pandas eating, some playing, and some asleep in more uncomfortable-looking positions (seriously, I was afraid one of them was dead because no one living would want to wake up from that position). And then it was time to head back. At one point Gus looked at me very seriously and said, "Mommy, I think I'm going to fall asleep on the way back to the hotel." And he did, through about half the Metro ride.
We got back around 4 p.m., picked up the laundry and had a snack, played for a little while in the Swan Room and then started packing. Dinner was pizza delivery and some Chinese dishes from the deli. Jed is warming to pizza. So now that you are all informed, I will finish packing. Tomorrow after breakfast we head to the airport, and arrive at Incheon in South Korea at around 4 p.m. We'll spend the night at Incheon, then start the long trip home on Sunday.
The Chime-Long complex is like Disneyworld. There's the Safari Park, which is basically a zoo, a Crocodile Park, an amusement park, a water park, an international circus, and a big swanky hotel to see it all from. We just went to the Safari Park.
We took a shuttle bus from the Metro stop and wandered our way through, seeing apes (if it doesn't have a tail, it's not a monkey), pelicans, etc. Jim stopped to have his picture taken with a python (mouth taped shut). I helped Gus touch the snake to learn about him a bit. Once we reached the other end, we ate a quick lunch and got in a little train to see the Safari on Wheels part (which is about half the park). It was lunchtime for most of the animals, which was good b/c it was also really hot and the ones not eating were almost all snoozing. We saw lions and tigers and bears, and also giraffes and camels and run-of-the-mill American red deer (a guy actually got out of his car, which is against the rules, to take a picture of a DEER). Lots of animals, great safari. Jed fell asleep right at the end and was installed on my chest in the mei tai.
We then wandered back through the park and found the hold-a-baby-tiger area, which I really wanted to do, but since Jed and the baby tiger were napping it seemed unfair to wake them both up so we didn't. We did go to the giraffe area, and did the coolest thing. The zookeepers sell leafy branches for 10 yuan to feed the giraffes (I used to feed crackers to the giraffes as a kid, and the branches are much healthier for them and more fun). There are around 20 giraffes in the area, and whichever is hungry wanders over to the feeding area and looks for munchies. You pull off a bit of branch and offer it to the giraffe, and they wrap that huge tongue around it and pull it in. It was so much fun. Gus loved it, and Jed woke up in time to help too (he dealt really well with the fact that he woke up to a big giraffe tongue right near his face). One giraffe got the last bit of branch that just had a couple of leaves on each end, and he rolled that stick around and got every last bit of leaf off it and then spat out the stick. Apparently a giraffe's tongue is around 0.5 meters long. What a blast. The title of the area was "Feeding Giraffes with Joy". It was true!
Then Gus really wanted to see koalas, so we saw a bunch of sleeping koalas in the koala house. They only spend around 4 hours a day awake because their food is so un-nutritious. They don't have energy for anything else. And they wedge themselves into crooks of trees that look really uncomfortable, but snooze away anyhow.
Then we went by the giant panda house and saw some pandas eating, some playing, and some asleep in more uncomfortable-looking positions (seriously, I was afraid one of them was dead because no one living would want to wake up from that position). And then it was time to head back. At one point Gus looked at me very seriously and said, "Mommy, I think I'm going to fall asleep on the way back to the hotel." And he did, through about half the Metro ride.
We got back around 4 p.m., picked up the laundry and had a snack, played for a little while in the Swan Room and then started packing. Dinner was pizza delivery and some Chinese dishes from the deli. Jed is warming to pizza. So now that you are all informed, I will finish packing. Tomorrow after breakfast we head to the airport, and arrive at Incheon in South Korea at around 4 p.m. We'll spend the night at Incheon, then start the long trip home on Sunday.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
The visa has landed
Yesterday was a much better day. We had breakfast, then took the boys outside to an actual kids playground (unlike the one in Shenyang, which was an adult's playground plus a slide. We like the idea of an adult playground, just not to the exclusion of munchkin ones). We saw the playground a few days ago but it was roped off; the day before yesterday we saw kids on it, though, so off we went! Just an hour of morning climbing made such a difference for the day. The playground is in Shamian Park, and we saw around a hundred people playing hacky sack, doing tai chi, and that game that we bought in Beijing that looks like tai chi with a racquet.
Then we came back to the hotel and changed the boys into traditional Chinese dress for the obligatory "red couch" picture (now posted on flickr). They both looked great, but it's pretty clear that they'll both outgrow their outfits by Chinese New Year so we bought another one in a bigger size.
Then we spent an hour destroying the playroom and had lunch. While the boys were napping, Jim and I took a quick excursion to case the subway (how far to the Safari Park? How many transfers? Are the signs in English?). All indications were good and a nice subway attendant practiced her English on us so it looks pretty good for today. Then we walked through the QingPing market, an open air market that is what Whole Foods wishes it could be except for the pig knuckles. I have never seen so many mushrooms in one place, and no idea what most of the stuff was. It was the same principle as the Electronics City and the Wholesale Pearl Market; 100 vendors selling exactly the same thing. I don't understand it, but it works.
After nap we went to the pool for a while, where the boys have a love/hate relationship with the waterfall, and then Jim went to pick up Jed's visa (no misprints this time). Then I foisted off the other half of my tablecloth rebozo on another family and we went out to the French place for dinner with them. The boys enjoyed their food, I had some really good fish, and Jim ate the peppers that were served with his quail and instantly decided it was a mistake. They burned for almost an hour.
Bedtime was much easier, but the boys woke up with me at 6:30 this morning so we've already had one timeout, one dirty diaper, and a couple spurts of whining. Today the big plan is for the Safari Park. Tonight I will be doing some serious packing, and then tomorrow we head to Korea.
Then we came back to the hotel and changed the boys into traditional Chinese dress for the obligatory "red couch" picture (now posted on flickr). They both looked great, but it's pretty clear that they'll both outgrow their outfits by Chinese New Year so we bought another one in a bigger size.
Then we spent an hour destroying the playroom and had lunch. While the boys were napping, Jim and I took a quick excursion to case the subway (how far to the Safari Park? How many transfers? Are the signs in English?). All indications were good and a nice subway attendant practiced her English on us so it looks pretty good for today. Then we walked through the QingPing market, an open air market that is what Whole Foods wishes it could be except for the pig knuckles. I have never seen so many mushrooms in one place, and no idea what most of the stuff was. It was the same principle as the Electronics City and the Wholesale Pearl Market; 100 vendors selling exactly the same thing. I don't understand it, but it works.
After nap we went to the pool for a while, where the boys have a love/hate relationship with the waterfall, and then Jim went to pick up Jed's visa (no misprints this time). Then I foisted off the other half of my tablecloth rebozo on another family and we went out to the French place for dinner with them. The boys enjoyed their food, I had some really good fish, and Jim ate the peppers that were served with his quail and instantly decided it was a mistake. They burned for almost an hour.
Bedtime was much easier, but the boys woke up with me at 6:30 this morning so we've already had one timeout, one dirty diaper, and a couple spurts of whining. Today the big plan is for the Safari Park. Tonight I will be doing some serious packing, and then tomorrow we head to Korea.
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