Footage

I've got great video but can't figure out how to post it! I'm in the lobby again, and all my men are asleep! Too strange that in China the early bird has become the night owl, and vice versa.
So, where did I leave off? Sun Yong slept through the night, no accidents, but boy howdy! He and Owen are tied for restlessness! He was adamant about not sleeping piled in with us, so slept in the roll away bed. I pulled it to within 2 ft of me, and left it at that. He flopped head to tail and side to side, and almost fell out a dozen times. He still sleeps in a crib at the orphanage, so it's a non-issue there. I on the other hand slept in snatches, waking up just in time to catch him as he flopped over and almost flopped out! Needless to say I was needing my java this a.m. Smartest tip I got was to bring my own Starbucks Via packets. Thank you, whomever's blog I read and got that from!
We had to go back to the civil affairs bureau today to register the adoption. We met the other two couples there, and the shrieking girl was all smells and had about a dozen English words under her belt already! The Chinese-speaking, Chinese American couple had a rougher night. However, the mom told me that Sun Yong(Jude) told the shrieking-now-happy little girl that "this was a good place and her mama and baba were good". The mom said Jude was very big-brother sounding and was "so sweet". :)
Jude still likes the electronics, but Jim and I decided to start toning it back a little today, and he did fine. I set the timer and he and Owen took turns on the phones and that went well with no disputes. Jude still prefers Jim to me, but he called me mama twice today, towards bedtime. Jim has been baba since 10 minutes after he met him.:)
We have a driver, in addition to the guide, for the scheduled running around. Here in Hangzhou, it's a woman. Jude asked our guide if she, the guide had a car? Our guide said no, she didn't have the money. Jude told her that she should ask "my parents, they will give you money for a car." Uhm....we have some false impressions to correct, apparently!
A the end of all the paperwork at the civil affairs bureau, we had to stand with Jude and recite a kind of oath...we were happy with Jude, we wanted to keep him, we needs todo China's laws about being his parents, etc. The notary then went to hand us the registration certificate, and Jude reached out and said (in Chinese) "good! Give that to me! I'll keep it!" Which the guide translated to mean he's ok with us as his parents. :)
We have an eater on our hands! He has tried to order milk shakes and ice cream as his entree every meal so far. We've nixed that, but he gets an A for trying! He has had Sprite, however, and that ranks a double fist pump, apparently.:)
I tried to take him to the bathroom today, to give Jim a break, but it was at the department store, and very crowded, so I was going in the women's bathroom, and he ADAMANTLY was NOT going in there. I almost dropped him, he refused so vehemently. He was, however, going to let me take him, until he saw WHERE I was taking him.:)
Jim took the boys back to the room after lunch, and I went with our guide to a nearby store very much like a Walmart, but not an actual Walmart, although they have those here. I needed another pair of pants for Jude and some socks. I'm attaching a pic of the pants I brought and the pants I bought. The khakis are a 3T a d I brought them, the others are an "M" and I bought them here. The only difference is length. Once we get to Guangzhou, where it is already summer, I think e shorts will be fine that I brought.
On that note, our guy is little, make no mistake, but he is like most boys everywhere and DENSE! I thought he'd feel super light after toting Owen around, but because he can't ride on your hip and you have to carry him in front of you, it's not unlike hauling a bowling ball around. So glad for the stroller/wheel chair, Maureen!
When I got back from the store, Jim needed a nap, so I played volley ball with the balloon again with e boys, to burn off some steam. Jude doesn't hesitate to dive for the ballon, and he's got a mean backhand too! I don't know if there is wheel chair volleyball or tennis, but he's got talent! :)
We also played some hide-n-seek in the room. That seems to have been an ice breaker for Jude and Owen. They hid together and giggled. Later, at supper, they had every utensil on the table ( yay, forks!) out and were sword fighting. Then back in the room, Owen wanted to play hide n seek again and we got great footage of Jude giggling and laughing. Tonight I pulled the roll away over right next to the bed, and arranged a chair on the backside, so he wouldn't fall out. Jude patted the edge of the bed that butted his cot and said "Owen". He wanted Owen to sleep beside him. :) however, they got to playing an "I'm going to get you" game which was a riot at first, but the Owen kind of wigged himself out and became afraid something was going to get him for real, so he wanted between Jim and I. Jude let me pat his back for awhile before he rolled over. He also didn't mention asking to call his nanny, although he had asked is morning, and we told him he could. He had a couple of sad moments today, but no tears. That just blows me away, the magnitude of change and loss this little bitty boy has had to endure, and he just puts on a stiff upper lip and gets on with it......our guide has said he is very smart and has made an impression on her. She asked me on our first day, when she discovered Jude's special need, why we were doing this. She was genuinely puzzled, in a very polite way....I gathered from her recent comments that she's being charmed by him....I think it's already begun, he's changing people....or rather, he's changing other people, not just us! :)
We went out looking for a playground, but couldn't find one. There is Wushan Park a few blocks one way, but no playground, then the West Lake is a few blocks the other way, but we couldn't figure out how to get the wheel chair across the last street. They have underground crosswalks at some intersections, but this one had stairs down, and an escalator up? So we just came home. Owen got to stretch his legs but not Jude. S it was another game of indoor volley ball for mama! Did I mention I am sweating like a pig? On the upside, Coming down the ramp at Wushan park, Owen apparently startled Jude with his driving, and Jude reached for Jim's hand. He's held Jim's hand a couple of times since.
Let me see, what else? Oh, it's "Spring" here, so the air conditioning has not been turned on yet. It was 26 degrees Celsius in the hotel in Beijing, and 40% humidity. It's 25C in our room here, and 70% humidity. I've been told that since its "Summer" already in Guangzhou, the air in our room will work there. Praise The Lord. You know I'm not at my best when I'm hot. (Understatement)
We also applied for Jude's passport today. This province is notorious apparently for taking forever to get passports ready. We leave Friday. They said they'd have it ready next Thursday. Our guide asked for an expedited passport, and the receipt she got was stamped that it would be ready May 27th. Yeah, not sure how this is going to play out...:)
I'll close with more pics! The video will have to wait until Jim can figure it out, or until we are home. Thanks to all for your support, prayers, comments, and thoughts! Love you guys!
PS so far Jude signs a lot, we've learned sign and the word for potty, and he's learned to call Jim baba, me mama, and Owen by name. He also calls him di di (little brother). And he knows IPad and Thank You. :)

A little more time

Both boys are asleep, so I made a deal with Jim that I'd rub his shoulders for him when I get back if I could slip down to the lobby and post something to the the blog. The things I do for you people! :)
To back up and recap, we left Beijing and flew to Hangzhou, a 2 hr flight, Saturday night EST. by the time we checked in and situated, it was time to grab a bite to eat. Our hotel is located directly across from the biggest department store I've ever seen. Think Macy's on steroids. It has restaurants, a grocery section, housewares, clothing, makeup....it goes on and on. The only draw back is that you have to cross the street to get to it. But the drivers here seem much saner than the ones in Beijing!
We left this morning to drive to the civil affairs bureau to meet Jude. There were two other families there, one Chinese American family with a 7 year old son, from Berkley, CA, adopting a 3 year old little girl, and a couple from PA, adopting another 3 year old little girl who is for the same orphanage as Jude.
The CA couple received their child first, and she was a complete poker face. Never cracked a smile and never cried. The big brother was so sweet, manning the camera, handing her suckers and blowing bubbles for her.
The PA couple was next, and their little girl wasn't happy, but she was holding it together until the orphanage director brought Jude in. He was sniffing, and had these big, sad tears coming down his face. The little girl took one look at him and lost it. She shrieked the rest of the time, bless her heart.
A nanny had come with both the kiddos, and when the orphanage director introduced us and said Jude would come with us, he said he wanted to go home with "that mommy", the nanny, not me. I totally sympathized! Owen gave him a sucker, and Jim handed him his phone, and that helped a lot. He was able to just block it all out, as he needed to.
He has periodically cried those slow, drippy tears that just kill me, they are so resigned. But he shows tremendous resilience, it amazes me. Our guide told him it was Jim's bday and he sang "happy birthday" in Chinese to him. As he ate his dinner, he offered Jim a piece of his prized sweet and sour pork, "bc it is your bday". He later placed a (much smaller) piece on my plate, for which I thanked him. :)
I messed up ordering Owen something he would like the night before, so I tried really hard to pick something he would like, but let me tell you, this ain't Liu's Garden, folks. I had something in Beijing called fried beef and noodles that was Lo Mein-ish, and I liked it, so last night I ordered "fried meet with noodles" here in Hangzhou, and I kid you not, it was Knox gelatin with ground beef. It actually had a good flavor, but I couldn't get past the texture. Bleh. The noodle was made out of bean? I like bean fine, but not bean that looks and acts like clear jell-o. Oh, and they had no forks, so can you see me trying to eat jell-o wi chop sticks? Good thing I didn't want to eat it!
Ayway, I ordered Owen sweet and sour pork, no rice. Our guide asked Jude what he wanted and he said "meat, with some noodles" but they don't have noodles here, apparently? And when quizzed as to what kind of meet, he said "any but especially fat meat!" So our guide ordered him a dish of bacon and asparagus, with white rice. He ate the bacon, then confiscated Owen's sweet and sour pork! Owen about lost it, because we wouldn't order him another plate of pork, but e situation was salvaged as we quickly made it a buffet, of Jim and my plates as well. So now we have not one, but two kiddos, who don't eat off sir own plates!
Owen has assumed responsibility for pushing Jude around, with the exception being crossing the street, when an adult takes over. I remind Owen that when he's tired I'll do it, but he says "no, I've got it!" Jude even told him thank you for pushing him.
One wants to play with Jude so bad he can't stand it. He's made an In-your-face nuisance of himself from the first minute, but Jude handles it well. He doesn't engage in play with Owen often or long but he tolerates him, and shared a puzzle he brought with him from the orphanage.
Contrary to what the orphanage says, Jude says he goes to bed at 8pm, gets up at 6am, and the nanny wakes all the children up once at night to go pee. I've got my alarm set for MN to wake him to pee, but I don't know if I really will. I'm willing to risk a wet bed, if he can sleep through the dark....things are so much worse in the dark, don't you think?
Jude goes to the potty by himself, and he brushes his teeth by himself. He pulls himself up to the counter to brush , then does an impressive chin up to spit in the sink. He can't turn the water off though, bc he needs both hands for the chin up. This kid's resourcefulness is mind-blowing. He takes a shower by himself, he just needs help with his balance, standing. I'm thinking we'll try the tub once home. Is hotel doesn't have a tub.
We had to go take a passport-type photo of Jim, Jude and I to take to the registration of adoption tomorrow. The whole time we were there, the lady who ran the shop talked in Chinese to our guide. Then our guide turned to us, and said that the woman said we "we're nice people, nicer than 99.9% of Chinese because the Chinese wouldn't adopt a child with Jude's handicap". She said this in front of Jude, who speaks Chinese. I couldn't think of a thing to say, but my heart just broke, again, for my boy. Where do you start, trying to fill in the holes and gaps?
At bedtime. Jude broke down with some pretty heavy, but quiet crying. He wanted to call his "momma", the nanny at the orphanage. We said sure, and our guide called. The nanny spoke for no more than 2 minutes, and the crying dwindled to sniffles, then they said bye. I got out pjs and underwear that we had brought, and asked iur guide if hed take a shower. He told our guide that he only takes a shower every other day, washing only his feet on off days, but today was the day for a shower, so he was ok with it. The guide asked if he wanted Jim or me to help. He chose Jim. He tolerates me, but he seems to genuinely like Jim. It's all good, cause Jim goes back to work the Monday we get back. My turn is coming!:)
The people here stare at Jude, but he seems oblivious. I don't mean get caught staring and glance away type of stare, but gawk and rubber neck and not move out of our way to stare at his legs type of staring. Not everyone, but at half a dozen, in a 10 minute walk. It's sort of surreal.
Owen shows no interest in Jude's legs, nor does he cut him any slack for them. We played keep-the-Balloon-off-the-ground, which Jude shows possible spiker for volley ball team skills, and Owen showed no mercy, nor did Jude act like he expected any. Owen likes to wheel Jude around, but I don't think it's bc he thinks Jude is an invalid. He just likes driving him.
After Jim helped jude with a shower(I was right on the money with my underwear size selection, but might have undershot the shorts/pants size. He's a solid 4T, and I got 3T shorts. He might be able to wear the shorts, but the pants I bought will be too short.), I helped Owen get his shower. I rubbed Owen with lotion on his arms and legs in front of Jude, then held up my hands to Jude. He sat up and held his arms out, then pulled his pants up and let me do his legs. It was EXACTLY like counting your new born baby's fingers and toes for the first time. He is PERFECT. Every inch of him.
The language thing is killing me. I wish I spoke Chinese, but I honestly just couldn't squeeze anything else on my plate over these past couple of years. Anyway, I need to get back upstairs in case he wakes up....and I owe Jim a shoulder rub! Hope these other pics load. We go to finalize the Chinese adoption and file for a passport Tomorrow, then kill time until the passport is ready. We fly to Guangzhou on Friday. I'll try to keep posting, but this wifi in the lobby thing is a drag.

Short but SO sweet

Sorry couldn't post yesterday. Traveled from Beijing to Hangzhou, new room doesn't have wifi! I'm in the lobby under strict orders to hurry up and be quick!
Received Jude this morning! He cried initially, slow quiet tears. Broke my heart. He was told we were his mama and baba, and he said he just wanted to go home with the nanny. Jim busted out the iPhone, and has emerged himself in it off and on since. He comes up for air every once in awhile , to eat, to play with balloons or work a puzzle. Owen showed him his new toothbrush, and Jude promptly took it, went to the bathroom and brushed his teeth. :)
He wants to be called Sub Yong, for now, so we'll roll with it and see how it turns out.
Pics below, gotta go! Owen likes him, but is disappointed that Jude doesn't understand him.
Special shout out to Caleb Hamlin! You prayed for this boy, and The Lord granted you your prayer:) lots of love coming your way!
PS we haven't been able to get the air below 75 degrees in the room, and its super humid....yeah, I'm loving it.

Updates!

Our guide gave us the most recent update on Jude. Not too much new info, but it was still great to receive :) I'm forming a paragraph of the answers to some standard questions our agency asked.
Jude has never been fostered with a family, and they call him Xiao Yong as a nickname. (Xiao= little and Yong = brave) He has breakfast at 0730, lunch at 1130 and dinner at 1700, with snacks in between. He usually has one bowl of rice with vegetables and meat. He likes meat, fish and sea food very much. He doesn't like vegetables. ( another carnivore!)
Jude gets up at 0700 and naps from 1200 to 1400. (Ah, The Nap....those were the days. We just do "quiet time" now, but maybe???) he goes to bed at 2000. (So does Owen!) He sleeps in his own bed and is a good sleeper ( the similarity ends with bedtime, I see.)
Jude is very athletic (agile monkey!) and he likes singing (he and Daddy will get along great!) and his favorite toys include planes and transformers! (We brought a paper plane book to play with in the hotel, and I believe we are golden in the Transformers department. :)
He is outgoing and active. He gets upset when he doesn't get what he wants. (? Don't we all?) he can be cheered up by kisses, hugs and gentle talk. (Sweet baby!)
He can speak plainly and expresses himself clearly. On that note, here's a funny on Owen. He has been completely wrapped up in Chinese cartoons when we are in the room. After trying to get his attention and failing on the first try, when Jim did get Owen's attention he said, "can you understand any of that in Chinese, Owen?" And Owen replied,"No. not a bit." In such a nonchalant way....it was very funny!
We don't have a time yet for receiving Jude, but sometime Monday (Sunday night for you.) will update when I know more!

Day 2 in Beijing

Our adoption agency scheduled us two full days in Beijing before going to Jude's province, in order to account for any jet lag and/ or flight delays. Today was our second and last full day here. We started at 0830 by driving about an hour to a jade store. The jade was beautiful, and if I were financially independent I'd have done some damage there:)
We left there and drove another 20-30 minutes to an access point of the Great Wall. I have to defer you to pictures for that, as I have been unable to tolerate heights for 15 years. I walked up to the first watch tower with Owen and Jim, but then left them to continue on their own, while I made my way back down. Even then, my legs were shaking so badly, I thought I'd have to sit on my rear and scoot down. I don't know why that happens. Rides like a roller coaster don't bother me. It's stairs, edges of cliffs or buildings, etc that cause that reaction. So I people-watched, while they went up. It's amazing the number of people climbing in high heels! Jim and Owen made it to the 3rd tower before they had to come back down due to time constraints. Jim said Owen was a champ, setting the pace the whole way. However, he still refused to pose for pictures. :)
After the Great Wall, we had lunch, then drove to the Summer Palace and took a boat ride across the lake. The weather was lovely. And from there we returned "home" as Owen calls our hotel room.
Tomorrow we catch a plane to Jude's town, Hangzhou! I Don't expect to have much to report since it will be a travel day, but will share when I know anything. Please keep praying, as we've been blessed so far with good travel and good health. :)
Find below pics of our day in order. Tower took most pics of jade store. The ship is carved from three pieces of jade, with the chain being one solid piece. The framed pictures on the Wallace actually embroidery. They are gorgeous! They take a year to do each one. The pics of the Great Wall and summer palace are self explanatory, and the last pic is for my mom. Those are ornamental peach trees, Momma, according to our guide. I thought of you when I saw them all. Kind of reminds me of DC and the cherry blossoms.
Love from China

First day in China

I am completely baffled by blogger and the Internet here, so these are going to be some strange posts.
We arrived to our hotel about 10pm China time on Thursday. They are 12 hrs ahead of EST. the flight went without a hitch, but man, was it long. Very impressed with Korean Air. The flight attendants channeled Audrey Hepburn. They looked fresh and crisp the whole14 hours.
Owen has been a champ. Flew great, slept a total of about 5 hrs on the whole trip, went to bed at MN last night and slept well until about 7am.
Our guide took us to Tiananmen Square, where we walked thru, then on to the Forbidden City. Owen was a celebrity in the Forbidden City. Lots of tourists from more rural parts of China had never seen a blond Caucasian befor, according to our guide. Our guide was asked regularly if we would let them take a picture of Owen posed with their children. Owen was too shy to do it, however.
We go to the Great Wall tomorrow, then on to Jude's province Sunday.
Sorry for the disjointed post, but here are some pics.
There is a pic of men on a roof. The following pic shows the same men with some perspective....tough roofing gig!