Introducing WeiJ as Goldilocks

I've been trying something new as part of the bedtime ritual, especially during those times when WeiJ is so tired he takes forever flopping around, singing, babbling, and doing everything but sleep. I thought I'd try pretending like I was sleeping - hoping my breathing would lull him into dozing off. I remembered that sound always had that effect on me in China so it was worth a shot. Well, it still works on me. Half the time I really do fall asleep. :) But while I'm awake it's fun to steal peeks at WeiJ lying there practicing his sign language (he is struggling with getting ball right but is determined!) or practicing his words while he plays with his feet (lately I hear a lot of duck, whisper, more, up and down). Yesterday he decided to take the snuggling into his own hands and it was so hard not to laugh! He crawled over, laid down next to me and apparently my arm was in the wrong place. So he sat up, moved my arm and laid down again. It still wasn't right so he started over. And finally on the third try he got it right and had created just the right space between my side and my arm. He relaxed, rolled over on his side and went to sleep with both arms wrapped around mine. Yeah, that was pretty sweet. :)

Muh Booh

Wow. Just yesterday I wrote about WeiJ combining 2 signs to communicate what he wants. I thought that was great progress and wondered what 2 signs he'd put together next. Apparently WeiJ had other plans for where that bar should be set.

Today he signed "sleep" and I asked if he was ready for a nap. He nodded in his one-emphatic-nod way and started running for the bedroom. I grabbed a couple of books that he'd forgotten were in his bag and followed him. We read each of them 5 times or so and I told him we were all finished and it was time to go nightnight. He laid down, then sat back up and looked at me and said over and over, "mah" but he wasn't signing. I asked him if he was asking for milk or mama and he just kept saying "mah." He wasn't whining or getting frustrated - just kept repeating the word. Then he switched to "ba" a few times...but when I asked if he was looking for the ball then he changed to what sounded more like his word for "bonk." That still wasn't working, but he kept trying and watching me intently. FINALLY it clicked and I asked, "more book?" He grinned SO big, nodded emphatically and said "muh booh." He loves signing for more, so I'm not sure why he wasn't doing it so his slow-on-the-uptake mama would understand. Maybe he wasn't signing because he was determined to say it and leave the signs behind? I might have teared up a little, but I'll never tell. :)

My birds have changed to butterflies

All throughout the adoption process, birds have been symbols that have shown up just before or during significant points in the process. Not just "I see a bird in the sky" - that's too easy. More like little birds trying to come in the house, pecking on the window, hovering outside the window while I work, or even in dreams. I did a little research and found they are considered messengers of change. And the timing of these visits were right around WeiJ's birth, the day my letter of approval was issued by China, and about the time I found out about travel.

When we got to China, I started noticing butterflies everywhere we went. Even on top of the Great Wall, butterflies kept me company. In Tianjin at Renmin Park -- beautiful butterflies. In Guangzhou, too. And when we got home, I saw them EVERYWHERE. At home, at the park, on my shopping cart at Target, everywhere. OK so it took a week to dawn on me that the butterflies at home are part of the big monarch migration to Mexico for the winter...but I could either smack myself in the forehead and say "doh!" or I could choose to think that the timing of our arrival coinciding with the migration is a pretty neat thing. Guess which one I choose. :)

WeiJ loves butterflies too, thanks to Mr. Brown Can Moo. He walks around whispering "per" from "whisper, whisper ... like the soft, soft whisper of a butterfly" and whispers "per" every time he sees one. And guess what shower curtain I bought before I left? It's got ducks and butterflies and flowers. Endless entertainment to point to each one and either shout "duh!" or whisper "per."

So we've moved along from a preoccupation with noses to a love of bzzzzzz like the bees in Mr. Brown to a love of "duh!" and "per"...and now he's working on saying "Go Dog Go" but for now it comes out more like Da!Da!Da! We worked on doing Up and Down yesterday and by George he's got it. He's desperately trying to jump up off the ground (even though developmentally that's a skill he's not supposed to have yet) and loooooves playing Ring Around the Rosie for - yes, the falling down part.

Certain words are tricky though - apparently with my accent, Eeyore sounds too much like ear (he points to his ears) and you read it sounds like you eat it (he puts the book in his mouth!) but I'm not sure how to explain that to him just yet. Small hiccups but obviously he's got a good grasp on ear and eat!

Oh! And this week he broke out the sign for bath...and combined the signs for more and eat for the first time. I expected a language regression while his brain absorbed all this English for the first time - but yet again we've been lucky and I can see the progression almost daily. He chatters, he sings, he observes intently and tries so hard to pronounce all these new words. Oh wait, that's right. It's because he's a little genius. :)

OK I Confess

I had a good laugh at myself today. Poor WeiJ would have mentioned it sooner if he could have, but... as it turns out, the Orajel I have been putting on his gums for the last couple of weeks wasn't doing much good. I don't know why but for some reason today I picked up the tube to read the ingredients or something...and that's when I saw it. In smaller print under the label... it's frickin' TOOTH AND GUM CLEANER and not the pain reliever!! Oh my poor boy. And my poor finger - I think he's chomped down every time I've put it on. I figured it was worth it before, since he needed relief from teething pain. But for clean gums? That's what the brush is for!! In my defense though, this was one of those last minute toss-in-the-cart purchases from right before we left for China. My brain wasn't quite focused. And apparently it's just now caught up. Oops!

Anyway, the boy with the sparkly clean gums had a blast at the park today. He decided he was ready to try the spinning tire swing and LOVED it. He went higher on the slide and loved that - whereas last time he seemed really iffy about it. And to make it even better, someone had left their little shovel and plastic bowl there so he got to scoop up rocks, dump them into the bowl and then transfer them by hand back to the scoop. Well, half got transferred. The other half either got thrown a handful at a time, rubbed in his hair, or were part of about a hundred attempts to put one in his mouth. I should just start saying yes to things I know I don't want him to do - then he probably won't want to anymore. He liked the swings again, and laughed when I got on the swing next to him. I think it was about a minute before he realized my swing went higher so he was demanding to get out of that silly baby swing and onto mine. Yes, I see rollercoasters and thrill seeking in this one's future!

On a slightly sentimental sad note, I think the time has come to retire one of my favorite little outfits from the trip. I put on his "Junior Explorer" outit and it pretty much fits like a unitard instead of a shorty... *sigh* He's been napping and eating more this week so I'm sure he's about to sprout another inch or so. No doubt I'll be adding several more to that Outgrown box soon. Didn't he hear the doctor say he can't continue to grow exponentially forever?

Beijing Day 2: Tiananmen Square

Like I mentioned in the previous post, the highway between the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square is huge. And considering we were just an hour or so removed from my eye-opening street crossing incident, I wasn't exactly sure how we were going to manage to get across this one! Fortunately it was a non-issue...there is a pedestrian underpass that even had its own security checkpoint. We just followed the throng through and came out in the Square.

To be honest, there was so much scaffolding up and so many people walking that it was hard to get a feel for how huge the square really is. We stopped to watch workers using a colorful array of plants and flowers to create a display for the Paralympic Games. Even the heiroglyph symbols for the sporting events were modified to include wheelchairs...you can see a few of those in the first photo, set up in track lanes created by different colored flowers. The third photo shows the side view, still in progress. Loved the miniature Bird's Nest!

It could also be that my focus wasn't on the architecture or the scenery ... my eyes were a little lower to the ground. There were kids and babies EVERYWHERE and I was starting to really feel how close I was to WeiJ. I'd be in his city the next day, and in less than 48 hours we'd be together. The kids in the square were all so cute and of course it's hard to beat the cuteness of little tushies hanging out of split pants. No photos of that here, but here are a couple of cuties who were eager to pose for photographer ShuShu.

By the time we got across the square, I think the travel fatigue was starting to catch up with us a bit. We were ready to stop for lunch....and oh was that lunch something else! The menu was selected for us by our guide and was yummy. I can't remember now all that we had, but I think it was kung pao chicken, a fish dish, a veggie dish that was really tasty, a beef dish with an odd texture, soup and rice. It's hard to remember much about the food because that's the lunch where we had 2 girls come in to entertain us. It was a ridiculously small room, with barely enough space for the big table and the 4 of us. But the girls come in to sing and dance something traditional for us...which was nice, except for how uncomfortably close they were! And it was NOT any kind of traditional dance I've ever seen! When the dancer started shimmying her shoulders right towards my mom I think I almost choked on my tea. Not only was she shimmying, she was doing it in an awkward and ... well ... an ungraceful way. And when she dropped to the floor into a backbend right there? So help me I had to close my eyes because if I made eye contact with anyone I was going to bust out laughing BAD. I know, bad American tourists. But they were doing a nervous giggle and making eyes at each other so it was hard to take seriously! In retrospect, how glad am I that I didn't end up sitting there by the door?? That could have been me that had to be smiling politely at her instead of hiding behind my tea cup! Fortunately we behaved ourselves through the performance and made it through lunch without further incident. What makes it more interesting is when we talked to other families who were there, all they got was lunch - no show!

Next stop: Summer Palace

I blinked and a month went by

Yeah, I think my boy is happy. And yeah, I just want to smooch all over that little face every chance I get. :)

I can hardly believe that it was a month ago today that a scared, angry, grieving, inconsolable little boy was placed in my arms. And I can hardly believe this is that same boy. How far we've come in such a short time! Already he's more than I could ever have hoped for or even dared to dream of. The future is going to be something special for this one.

I was going to do a then-and-now comparison but he just looks so sad on that first day so I'll just show the now...and it seems like a good fit, no? (And those who know me would confirm that there's no way I'd voluntarily put a photo of myself out there -- but this one was just too sweet to pass up! Thanks to ShuShu for capturing these moments!)

(And in case anyone's wondering, yes I DO dress him in other outfits besides this one! He just looks so good in red that all the best photos are with this outfit! I may have to go buy new ones in every size up to about 4T or so!)

Beijing Day 2: Forbidden City

**Admin Note: The post from Day 1 is lost, lost, lost. I'll try to recreate it but it may take a couple of naptimes to finish. In the meantime, here is the second post in the series - basically I decided that since every day now is one month since (...) it was a good time to go back and fill in the blanks from our trip.**

After breakfast on Saturday (Day 2 but first full day in Beijing) we went to the front desk to exchange some money. And we see our guide Sean...who is wearing that same crazy outfit from the day before! It's raining outside, so he borrows a couple of umbrellas for us and we head out for our first big day of touring: Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, and the Summer Palace.

FORBIDDEN CITY

My trip was almost a really short one. We were crossing the street outside the Forbidden City - we were on a crosswalk and were following the guide. I'm not sure if it was the rain-slicked streets or the speed of the bus in the middle lane but as I stepped out into the street it seemed to be more and more clear that the bus was NOT stopping for us and I'd better scoot! I think I ran across the rest of the way. If I wasn't awake before, I was definitely awake then!

The Forbidden City has been undergoing a facelift of sorts to get it ready for the exposure during the Olympics. The work will take another couple of years to complete but with this level of detail you can see why it's not a rush job! Here's a close up view of one of many palace roofs. Every color here has a meaning: red for fire, blue for sky, green for water...I'll have to doublecheck the yellow/gold because I'm drawing a blank at the moment.

It turns out I may not have had a chance not to be such a nut about numbers. It's apparently in my blood. Sean explained that you can tell how important a palace was by counting the figures on the rooftops. Nine characters were reserved for the emperor only - since 10 is considered a heavenly number, nine is the highest possible rank. Of course, the emperor somehow managed to build half a room in this complex so he would be just half a room shy of a heavenly number. No ego there. Anyway, from there on out I found myself looking for patterns of 8s and 9s and saw them everywhere!
There are a couple of stairways along the central axis of the Forbidden City that have these amazing marble carvings. This one was so large and heavy that they had to ice down roads to be able to slide it to the palace. It's hard to get a feel for the scale of it in photos, but the whole center of this walkway is carved marble. The intricacy is just incredible.

Our exit from the Forbidden City was an interesting experience too. We noticed a man in a red shirt standing oddly near us as we were listening to Sean explain about the depth of the brick floor in the open area in front of the palace. I can't remember now for sure but it's on video - maybe a hundred bricks deep? Anyway, that large open expanse was designed to prevent potential assassins from making it all the way across without being spotted, and the depth was intended to prevent anyone from digging a tunnel up to the palace. This man - we oh-so-creatively dubbed him "red shirt" - was just standing there with us with a big smile on his face but didn't say anything. It was making us uncomfortable so we started walking...and he was right there with us. All the way out, no matter what speed we walked or if we stopped, he was there just a little bit ahead and would stop and look for us in the crowd. Suspicious, no? We finally lost him just outside - maybe because of the increased military & police presence, who knows. Maybe he just liked Sean's pink shirt. Then in the courtyard near the exit of the Forbidden City is where Ayi was asked for her photo with a Chinese man (dubbed Frederico by ShuShu) who looked sooo thrilled about it in the photo itself. She posted that one on her blog.

All this time I had no idea that the exit from the Forbidden City is where the famous portrait of Chairman Mao hangs. I was so wowed by the size of the highway in between us and Tiananmen Square that I almost missed it behind us. It was also a little disappointing to find that they had already covered most of the red wall with green scaffolding just a matter of days after the Closing Ceremonies.

So that concludes our tour of the Forbidden City. We only walked the central axis of the grounds and our schedule didn't allow for much wandering, but we got a good feel for the beauty and the history and the significance of some of the details. I'm sure this is a place you could spend a day wandering and find all sorts of interesting bits.

Next post: Tiananmen Square!