Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Stir Crazy

Today seemed to go better for Fu Lian when it came time for eating.  He did not gorge himself like he had been, although he will eat absolutely anything put in front of him.  We are certainly learning to communicate much better and he was obeying more today.  We certainly try to set reasonable expectations of him, but when it comes to his safety, we know that boundaries need to be set and today we had some minor breakthroughs.

One, we learned to say a few Mandarin phrases that have helped.  Secondly, we put Ethan's shoes on Fu Lian.  It sounds silly, but Fu Lian's shoes had no traction and are quite worn, and they had Fu Lian slipping and falling on all floors.  With Ethan's shoes, he was much more stable and we had no incidents.  Third, Fu Lian seems to be settling down altogether.  He is not nearly as hyper as the first day and he is better able to understand what we are saying.

We actually ventured out to the mall and took Ethan and Fu Lian to an indoor 'padded' playground.  The boys ran and climbed and giggled for 2 hours, with no injuries.  That was a major accomplishment.  But, other than that outing, we have been cooped up in our hotel room.  The air quality is at the worst level, so it is a risk to our health to go outside.  Some of us already have runny noses and coughs, so we do not want to jeopardize the rest of the trip with being sick.  There is even a layer of smog within the mall!  We are praying that Guangzhou will be nicer and we can play and walk outside more.
View out of hotel room.  Smog is terrible.  Can't wait to see the sky again.

Ethan and Fu Lian releasing some energy!


We have learned that Fu Lian is an organizer.  He loves things to be in order and will organize shoes, cards, books, and balls, into perfect order. He is very affectionate, and craves personal touch and started giving kisses to Brianna and I today.  When he woke up this morning he gave me a big hug and kiss and said 'mama'.  Melted my heart!  He enjoys wrestling with dad (no surprise), and likes to be the leader amongst us all.  He is quick when running, has a strong arm for throwing, and likes the I Spy book and go fish card game we brought.  He does not like to share his favorite toy (a giant balloon we brought) and when he is tired, there is no reasoning with him.  As we all get more comfortable with the safety boundaries, I'm sure we will all relax and be able to get out more. It is fun to learn more about him each day.

Snuggles with Brianna, as he takes many pictures on her iPod.


Dinner at 'Give Me 5' in the mall.  The worst meal we've eaten thus far, even Fu Lian choked down the entire bottle of water because of the taste and saltiness.  Our theories are that the name means 'Give me 5 hundred milligrams of salt per bite' or 'Give me 5 gallons of water to drink after a meal'

What we do with chopsticks

We did have a funny encounter with a grandma today.  I've been warned about how protective they are of their children being warm in the winter months.  Well, today a grandma had her toddler granddaughter at the mall.  She started speaking to us in Mandarin and I apologized for not being able to understand her.  But she kept getting louder and angrier.  She would talk to Fu Lian and I had no idea what was going on.  Then she motioned to our arms and rubbed them.  We caught on then, she couldn't figure out why we were not wearing coats, especially Ethan and Fu Lian.  Her granddaughter had on at least 6 visible layers of jackets and shirts (no exaggeration)!  My boys had on one long sleeve t-shirt.  I tried to tell her that we sleep in the hotel attached to the mall so we don't go outside, but that was not good enough.  We quickly made our way out of there and laughed for a long time!



1 comment:

  1. Glad to hear that you are making progress! Our days in province after Gotcha Day were the hardest part of the trip for us. Once you get to GZ, everything will be better! It's so hard when there are no other families with you to spend time with and when you feel trapped in a hotel room! Amelia ate like crazy at first, too. It wasn't until after we had been home for awhile that she slowed down and eventually began to leave food on her plate that she didn't like. At first she would eat until I put everything away and she couldn't see any more food! It could have been just the variety of foods that she had never had before, or it could have been that she needed to learn that there would always be more food available from us. We didn't have any trouble with smog in GZ, although I don't know if the seasons make a difference. We are praying for you every day! Hang in there!

    ReplyDelete