Today the plan was to visit a couple of museums, so after
breakfast, we met Grace in the lobby.
We were a teeny bit late because our Little Emperor had his first (but
definitely not the last of the day) full blown fit. He didn’t want me to put his milk in the fridge. He laid down on the floor and kicked the
wall and said a bunch of jibber-jabber, he was so mad! Then he got over it, got in the stroller and
we headed to the elevator. Reese just
watched the whole time with a look like “what in the world are you
doing?”. Ethan continued the same “I
want my mommy” phase. Grace tries to
hold him and help him with stuff and he says no every time. He is better with Tim and will play with
him, but when it comes to carrying or pushing the stroller, he only wants mommy
to do it. I think it is more of a
control thing than that he likes me more.
He does great riding in the stroller.
And Reese is just quiet and reserved.
She doesn’t care who has, holds her or pushes her, but she spends more
time with daddy. 
The museum we went to first was a memorial to a war between
Japan and China. It happened in 1937
and lasted 6 weeks. Over 300,000
Chinese were killed. Apparently Japan
denies it even happened. The pictures,
videos, and displays were interesting, but also very disturbing. I would not have wanted my girls to see some
of the pictures, they were very violent and sad. Ethan had some big time fits, when I wouldn’t carry him. We gave Reese a turn in the stroller and I
carried him for awhile, but wanted him to walk some, too. He gets heavy! He threw himself down and Grace said to just leave him. Which I would totally agree with if I was in
Lebanon! But I kept worrying that some
Chinese person would try to pick him up.
Everyone stares at us anyway, let alone when we have a little fit
thrower that we are trying to ignore.
What seemed to work the best is when I walked away and then turned
around and put my hand out. He would
jump up and come grab my hand and the fit would be over. I think he is testing boundaries. That is the hard part about being here, we
can’t really get into a normal routine with expectations and discipline. Plus I can’t talk to him in Chinese to
explain anything. Grace kept telling
him to look at his little sister, she wasn’t throwing fits. She told him that he should be taking care
of her and hold her hand, so he did and we got a few cute pictures of it. Before we left we visited the gift shop and
bought a book. The ladies working there
started talking to Grace. They must
have been asking about us and why we had 2 Chinese children. They gave us a thumbs up and then Grace said
that they said I am a great mom. I
think that I have great kids! We asked
Grace what she thinks people think about us, because we do attract a lot of
stares. She said people are just
curious. They know nothing about
adoption so they can’t figure us out.
She thinks only 10% of the population knows about adoption.
When we left that museum we walked across the street to
another one. It was a brocade place. It was neat and I could’ve watched the
workers all day long, it was fascinating to me. We walked thru and saw everything there was to see and looked
briefly in the store there. I really
wanted to buy Reese something, but we decided to wait until Guangzhou to do our
serious shopping. Ethan’s orphanage
gave him some combs that were made in this Province, but we don’t have anything
for Reese.
We decided to head back to the hotel while Grace went to try
to find some medicine for Reese. She
still hadn’t pooped. When we got back
to the room she was trying to go and she just cried and cried and tried to push
it out. It was so sad and we felt so
helpless not being able to help her.
She was screaming so hard.
Finally Grace called and said she found this tea for her to drink. We gave it to her and she guzzled it
down. It took about an hour and a half
but then it worked. I have never been
so happy to change a poopy diaper in all my life. It was like 3 poops all at once, poor little thing. She still acted like she didn’t feel good
and didn’t play much. We gave her more
tea at bedtime and can give it to her 3 times a day. We decided to let her drink it at every meal to try to get things
moving regularly! I think she has been
way more reserved than Ethan because she doesn’t feel well and she is also
grieving harder than he is. He has been
moved around so much to different hospitals and places, so he is used to
getting to know new people. She hasn’t
ever experienced anything like this. I
am praying she will perk up today and we will start to see her
personality. She is so sweet and loves
to leave the hotel room. She eats slow
(like Reagan!) and doesn’t explore as much as Ethan. He does not stop talking and when he is free to move around he gets
busy playing. He is super curious and
gets so excited to figure things out.
He colored for the first time and his face just lit up when the crayon
made a mark on the paper! Then he got
in trouble because he colored on a book!
He loves to play in the bathtub and figured out that his stacking cups
will float if they don’t have water and sink when they are full of water. He splashes and plays and has a great
time. Reese isn’t too sure about the
bath. I think she gets cold and then
doesn’t want to have her hair washed.
But again, I think her tummy troubles are preventing her from really
letting loose.
Both kids go right to sleep at naptime and bedtime. Ethan likes to have a drink with him, so I
have been giving him water. Neither one
has made a peep during the night, so we have all been sleeping really
well. I have been exhausted at night
and went to bed at 8:30 with the kids.
Then I wake up at 3:30!
We feel so blessed to be able to skype the girls at
home. Ryleigh is being a little
obsessive about calling us as soon as she sees we are online. I wish she were here with us so she wouldn’t
be missing out. However, I don’t think
any more people or stuff could fit in this hotel room! I am anxious to pack up to leave on Friday
and move on to our next stop. I feel
like we have really bonded with Grace and have enjoyed getting to know her and
having her help. She is an amazing
person with a great big heart.
We are hoping to go to the zoo rather than the tourist place
on the agenda because I really want to do something the kids can enjoy. It’s so different having toddlers! Reagan was so little when we adopted her,
she just went along for the ride, but Ethan and Reese can’t be expected to
enjoy museums and stuff at their ages.
We are so thankful to God for answering so many prayers and
giving us these two precious babies. He
is so good!
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