Ultraman and other stories

Carter is a great boy. We have had two meltdown moments which both of them involved being woke up from a nap while out. Today we were able to calm him down quicker since we were in a store near the toy section.



Yesterday Carter put Todd's sunglasses on and looked in the mirror. He laughed then said "Ultraman". Then on our way to dinner he saw some toy robots in a store window and again "Ultraman". We have since learned about Ultraman and Carter is now a very proud owner of Ultraman toys. In fact he is currently napping with Ultraman. Yes, we were able to get a real nap in this afternoon, yay!



Carter is a typically active boy and knows how to keep himself busy so as to not fall asleep. He seems to be very talented at this. Maybe more talented than Hunter when it comes to avoiding sleep. We have to turn everything off, make the room dark and lay down ourselves to get Carter to settle down. Todd is now napping too and I probably shouldn't mention anything about snoring. Carter also is very slow to wake up.



Carter is proud of the clothes we brought him and is especially found of green. Yesterday the first shirt he picked out to wear was a green monkey shirt. This morning he wasn't fully awake so I put a yellow shirt on him for breakfast. After breakfast we came back to our room and he put the monkey shirt back on until he found another green shirt. He changed more times than me today.



He seems just as comfortable with Todd as he is with me. He loves to be carried and has found that we are here to spoil him by doing so. Today we bought a stroller so that may give our arms a break. Carter gets to be pretty heavy after carrying him for several minutes. He eats well, but may prove to be a little pickier of an eater than reports first suggested. Vegetables are not really his thing, hmmm good thing I've learned to be sneaky with Todd and Hunter. He will do as he is told and try things though. Our guide asked him to try the broccoli and he did until he spit it back out after a couple of chews. Watermelon is his favorite thing and he eats chicken well.



Speaking of food we tried a corn cake yesterday. This was corn lightly fried in a batter that covered a plate in a single layer. Then powdered sugar and sprinkles were on top. This may not sound good, but it tasted very close to a funnel cake. It was good. Unfortunately I didn't take a picture or time to enjoy because about the time we tried the corn cake is when Carter woke up screaming. If we didn't have a lot of stares before the screaming started all eyes were on us when it did. We survived and there will still be more of that in our future until he finishes grieving his foster parents.

What a wonderful boy!

Carter is so precious. When we first meet him he was busy eating chips, then candy, then lots of milk. They told us his nickname is xiao pang zi which means little fat checks. And boy does he have the cutest little fat checks! When we got to the hotel we brought out the toys and he has started to open up as we play. I brought a puzzle with animals on it and so far he keeps coming back to it, it seems to be his favorite. We have been playing together for just a couple of hours and he is already repeating some English words (not that he understands them). We have now seen many smiles and a couple of giggles. We have also learned that the pee pee dance does not need to be translated.

A taste of home.

Well, we could hold out no longer, we ate at Pizza Hut tonight. We both have really been enjoying all the food, but Chinese foods for breakfast, lunch, and dinner was starting to all taste the same. We had a pizza and garlic bread and it really hit the spot.

There is another couple that arrived today that are also adopting and meeting their new child tomorrow. This is their third adoption and fifth child. Hmmm, sounds somewhat familiar to someone we know, but the Neals are in Guangzhou now. There is also a family that will be arriving later this week that are returning to Hangzhou with their daughter who was born here. She wants to see the city and her beginning.

In a matter of hours we will have Carter with us. I have a large range of emotions all happening at once. Nervousness and excitement are the biggest things. I am going to try to relax and sleep tonight. I will definitely be posting tomorrow and with pictures of Carter!

One step closer.

We arrived in Hangzhou this afternoon around 2. When we walked into our hotel room they already have a portable crib (pack n play) set up. Not sure if he will fit, but that certainly made reality set in. Our room is nice and it is a good thing because we will be spending alot of time here in the next week. Tomorrow morning at 9 we will meet our guide to take us to the government building where we will meet Carter and begin one more step of paperwork. After that we will go to lunch and then hang out at the hotel until the next day when we finalize the adoption. Our guide has been talking to the CWI director who says Carter has a wonderful personality. It may take some time to see it, but it is always great to hear someone brag on your child.

It is 97 degrees here in Hangzhou, feels like late August with high humidity. The sun is shinning today and there is a little less haze than Beijing. It appears I will not be having the same Internet issues I was having in Beijing, so I should now be able to post pictures!

Update from Beijing

Well I have had many issues with the server each time I try to post pictures on the blog. I was able to set up a slide show and will continue to try to post the link if I can't get pictures on the post. Hopefully the issues I'm having will only be in Beijing. Enough whining.

 

We are having a great time. Yesterday we went to the Great Wall and it was nothing short of amazing. I did get a little too ambitious and climbed too many inclines and steps. I am feeling all the walking and climbing in my legs, I guess I need to do this more often. We did some shopping yesterday afternoon and got to see the Olympic buildings. You can really tell the city is getting excited about hosting the games next month. They call the stadium for track & field events the bird nest and the building for swimming the water cube. Pretty matter of fact in how the buildings look. The office building is shaped like a torch which is pretty impressive in itself. For dinner last night Max took us to a restaurant where I could have spicy food. I mentioned I liked spicy food the day before and he made sure to work that in. We are being very well taken care of. Our driver Mr. Sui (not sure of spelling) likes to sing and has done so occasionally. Apparently he likes American music even though he does not speak any English. The first night we arrived Max told us we had a very good driver and he was right. There is no way I could drive here. The drivers squeeze into spots I wouldn't think we could possibly fit into. There are many alley ways that cars can go either direction even though only one can fit through at a time. Cars come first, then motor bikes, then bikes, then people. That seems to be the case when we are walking, but not necessarily when we are in the car.

 

We have this morning to rest and then this afternoon we are headed to the Summer Palace. Max is taking us to lunch someplace where we will have very spicy food (that's what I get for opening my big mouth). Tomorrow we are headed to Hangzhou.

Our Marathon Beijing Tour

Our guide Max picked us up yesterday morning at 9a for what ended up being a 12 hour tour. We saw alot, we walked alot, and we sweat alot. The heat is not unbearable but we were outside all day walking in the sun which is what got uncomfortable. Max is 28 and has a great personality. Dad - you would like Max, he pulled the sun dial joke on us (looking at his cell phone). Apparently Todd is the cool one, he has been told his Chinese pronunciation is perfect and he is a pig (the year of the pig that is). Pigs are very lucky, it is very good to be a pig. Last year many babies were born because it was the year of the golden pig. When Max found out Todd was a policeman the American movie references started. He also made sure to point out the police station when we drove by it. Today we are headed to the Great Wall and more walking outside in the sun. Amy I talked about you yesterday, I forgot to put on sunscreen at the beginning of the day and started to burn. Luckily Todd remembered to bring some in our camera bag so I was fortunate. I told Todd you would be lecturing me later for it. We enjoyed all the food we tried yesterday. Todd was surprised that the chicken dish we had for dinner last night tasted almost identical to the Sweet and Sour Chicken we can get at home. The thing that has really hit the spot for me is watermelon. There is something so wonderful about watermelon when you've been in the heat and sun all day. Todd had a Chinese beer yesterday, I tried it too, we both liked it. Kim - this is where I thought of you, LOL. The beer had a much lighter taste then even our American light beers, or at least I thought so. We also had Chrysanthemum tea. Max had to look up the name for Chrysanthemum and then was unsure how to say. I told him to call it Mum and he really liked that.

We Made It

After a long drawn out trip we made it to Beijing. We had good flights with surprisingly good food. The flight from Minneapolis to Tokyo has to be one of the longest 12 hours ever. We are going to get some well deserved rest then explore the city in the morning.