I must be doing something right.

8.10 - "Louise, go upstairs and get ready for bed."
8.15 - I go up to check, and find her on the throne without the fan on. "Get finished and get ready for bed."
8.30 - Find her and Emily on their floor plotting... "Alright, everyone in their bed."

"But I forgot to brush my teeth!"
"You can do it in the morning."
... burst into tears... "I need to brush my teeth!!!"
... throws herself onto her bed with face into pillow... "I'm going to tell Mommy!"

If my biggest issue with L is having to hold my ground with oral hygiene, then I must be doing something right.

aeb

Certified Lead Free

Unlike many things exported from China, we have found that Garrett is certified Lead Free. He's free of all the other random things they check for in your blood, which of course is a blessing.

You might also mention that he is free of muscle tone, free to almost comprehend what you are trying to communicate (I notice that he understands things he likes a lot more than things he's not interested in hearing... one must wonder). He's free to lie in bed for 45+ minutes each night, not really babbling too loud or causing problems, but just slowly passing into sleep. He's free to get very excited and do what can best be described as the 2-year-old jig. And most importantly, he's free to call me "Momma" no matter how many times I correct him.

God bless America - aeb

Birthday Girl

Eliza turned 2 last Thursday. That day itself passed mostly without event. Sunday afternoon we had family over to open gifts and eat. Of course, she had no idea why the big shebang was going on, but she still basked in the glory.

Revisionist History

Last night Louise got in trouble for hitting Emily. Actually, the hitting occurred around snacktime, but we saved the punishment for when Alan got home. I told her that she would have to fess up to Daddy when he came home, and that was enough to make her upset. Once he got here, she hemmed and hawed (if one can picture Louise doing such a thing?) and danced around the issue..... I left the room and hung by the corner to see how the conversation would go.....

"Do you have something you want to tell me, Louise?"
"Yes... I can't remember... did I hit Emily or did Emily hit me?"
"Be very careful what you say to me, Louise, I will be much more angry if you lie. What happened?"
"I can't remember.... I think Emily hit..... no, wait, I hit Emily."
"Do you think hitting is nice or mean?"
"Mean.... and a little bit nice."
"Why is it mean?"
"It hurts people."
"Mmm-hmmm... and why is it nice?"
silence
"well, I don't really know why it's nice."
"So, it's mean then, right?"
"Well, it's mostly mean.... but a little bit nice."
"Wait, I thought we couldn't think of the nice part."
"Oh, okay, then... it's mean."

I think he was so stunned he forgot to punish her!

Makes Sense to Me.....

A small example of how Louise works the system... (all of us are guilty of falling prey to this, nobody is immune) .... she is suffering from a small cold- very stuffy, tired, bags under the eyes, etc., nothing serious. Today I gave her some medicine after lunch. It's grape-flavored, and she liked the taste of it. After snack she asked me for another dose. A little later she asked for more:

"I can't give you any yet; I have to wait four hours. Come here and tell me how you feel.... are you stuffy?"
*Sniff*
"Are you tired?"
*Sigh*
"Does your throat hurt?"
*swallow* "a little"
"Do you feel warm.... or feel like you need to lie down?"
"I feel.... kind of sick... I actually.... feel as bad as I did just before you gave me the purple medicine earlier today......"

*me laughing* "Oh really?...."
*indignant* "Stop laughing!! It's true!!"

She is a dangerous con artist.

New Stuff She Says

So we just got home from China several days ago, and were gone for 2 weeks. I didn't think 2 weeks was that long, really, but in the life of someone who is less than 2 years old, it's, well... you do the math. Some small percentage, I think. It's significant in her life, anyway, because she now speaks like a 13-year-old boy. Now, we don't HAVE any 13 year old boys, nor do we know any, so where she has picked up this lackadaisical speech pattern, I don't know. But all the sudden she is saying "Yeah", "Uh-huh", "huh?", and my favorite, "Wha?". (as in "Eliza?"- she turns her head toward you- "Wha?") All that's missing is the backwards baseball cap and the Gameboy.

The Funniest Thing We Heard in China:

This quote came to us from a sweet and brave family we met from Iowa. They traveled to China with their 3 biological sons and 3 year old Chinese daughter to adopt a 20 month old Chinese boy. The mom was telling me that the first couple of days, their daughter didn't like her new little brother. "Let's trade him for another one"... she said, and then (here's the kicker): "I don't like Chinese babies." !!!!

Home Again

Hey all!

We have been home for nearly 2 days now. The flight was very long, but our boy was so good it was almost like he wasn't there! Since we've been here, he has done great. He is getting on well with his sisters, and he LOVES the amount of toys compiled here. He has played trains, Legos, tea sets, cars, anything plastic and colored. He sleeps well, loves PBJ sandwiches, and wants to brush his teeth and his hair constantly.
He IS a normal 2 year old... he disobeys, pitches fits, gets punished, doesn't like to share, doesn't like it when other people don't share, makes messes, and gets into everything he's not supposed to touch.

BUT, things have gone as well as they possibly can. Praise God!!
mb

Error in Judgement

14 nights in 4-5 star hotels...

3 major cities...

daily doses of Chinese food...

no windows or fans in the hotel bathrooms.

Lovin' Guangzhou

Those of you that are informed on the China adoption trip (or have done it already) know this, but Guangzhou is the last stop before home because it is where the US Consulate is located. Most CCAI families stay at the White Swan Hotel. What I didn't know is that the WS is located on Shamian Island, a small piece of land in the middle of the Pearl River. The buildings here are French or British Colonial, the streets are shady, there are no cars, and there are shops everywhere. It is really lovely. The place where we eat breakfast overlooks the river and the bank of buildings on the other side. This place is great! The hotel is so nice we almost feel spoiled; we are sharing space with diplomats. We even have a floor attendant who pushes the elevator button for us!! Oh, and the best is that there are tons of Americans with their Chinese kids walking around. It's nice to have people to chat with. There is even a brave family from Iowa with their 3 biological boys, 3 yo Chinese daughter, and new 20 month old Chinese son.

Definitely a Bowling- Part II
Some of you are going to think this a bit stern, but this morning we hit a stubborn bone in little Garrett. As much of a character as he has been, he has been very easygoing and mostly obedient. But this morning he flatly refused to eat part of his breakfast. And by refused, I mean he held it in his mouth under his tongue. No spitting out, but no swallowing either. Our Chinese guide told him repeatedly he should swallow it so he could eat more food, but he just smiled at her. This went on for over 4 HOURS. We went on a tour this morning and everything- still food under the tongue. We went to lunch at a YUMMY Thai restaurant on Shamian Island, and Alan (very stern as you all know) refused to feed Garrett lunch until he swallowed his food. Garrett sat stoically in the high chair the whole time. He didn't fully comprehend that we weren't bluffing until I took him out of the high chair and packed him into the stroller, at which point he wailed all the way back to the hotel (okay, a 4 minute walk... but still....). Finally, back in the room, he swallowed his breakfast and recieved some crackers. He could have had Pad Thai!!!
Let this be a lesson to you all... when eating dinner at our house, be sure you swallow your food or you don't get dessert!!

Internet access is pricey here, so this might be our last post before we leave. We leave the hotel at 6am Wednesday, will return to ATL at 6:20pm Wednesday night.