Leaving a trail of Cheerios in China

I have named the blog title trail or Cheerios, because it is a staple for Zander, morning, noon and night. He LOVES them and leaves a trail of them wherever we go. Some would say so he can find his way back someday (honey-nut cheerios). This blog was actually started 2 nights ago.....Well, as I sit here now contemplating this post, Tim is snoring to beat the band and little Zanman has kicked, patted, hummed, thrown his pacifier, turned upside down and beat the covers fighting his sleep. He wants nothing to do with his crib, but he's there now after falling asleep upside down, on his belly with legs bent on the headboard.

NOW....The last several days have passed by in a blur of activity. Zander really fits in well with the family, he wakes up happy and within the first 10 minutes is ready to eat. He anxiously watches the adjoining door for the kids to come through each morning and if they aren't up in enough time, he starts banging on their door. He must be getting more used to us because he actually didn't have that puzzled look on his face this morning when he saw us in bed with him.

I'm going to back up to Tuesday (it's Friday here now). Tuesday morning we had to be back at the Civil Affairs Office to sign paperwork and get our thumbs and Zander's foot stamped. The way it works is the first 24 hours is a "guardianship", then you must go back the next day to decide and say "for sure" you do want your child and that's when you get sworn in.

We decided to venture out on our own for dinner that night. We were told by some Americans who were adopting (they live in Beijing) where a few good restaurants could be found. So after swimming, the Verbeke's hit dry land hungry! We walked a few blocks when we found what may do on a side street. We walked in and right away were greeted by the other Americans as they were just finishing. Well, that was our first mistake, letting them leave without helping US order! They gave a menu with pictures, but everything looks the same. We picked 5 dishes, ordered a couple beers and thought we had done great...until...they came to us laughing with the menu and kept trying to tell us things we couldn't understand. Finally the waitress laughed all the way to the kitchen shaking her head.

When dinner was brought we found out why. Four out of the 5 things we ordered were all different forms of egg & onion dishes. So we heartily ate egg & onion and went home to fall into bed.

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Wednesday morning we walked to a local park, about a 5 minute walk from our hotel. It is very interesting and beautiful. There are many local artisans practicing their music, photography sessions, singing, we saw a race with a bunch of men, women playing cards, etc. The park has many sculptures, paddle boats, amusement park rides (slow ones), and a lake with lily pads.

Tim took Richie down to jump boulders and ride in a paddle boat while I took Carmen & Zander to try out the rides. He rode 2 w/Carmen and one w/me. He didn't care if he rode of not, he was more interested in his oh oh's. We came across a couple of people who came and introduced themselves and asked if we minded if they tried their English in conversation. We spent several minutes talking and laughing with people. It was so much fun.

Wednesday afternoon we went to the Natural History Museum here. Although I like the idea of learning about the culture here, I really do not like museums of ANY type and neither does an almost 2 yr. old. I don't even care for them back home.

We did see a few interesting things, but for the most part it was the most fun to sit in the lobby and watch people watch us. Richie & Carmen got their pictures taken several times for the locals and within a couple hours we were done.

That evening we gave up and asked our guide, Celine, along with another family, to take us to a local restaurant. It was delicious. The kids devoured what was like sweet and sour pork (Tim said the sauce tasted like ketchup), but the kids loved it. There were several dishes we liked and left there satisfied with full bellies.

Next was home and bath time. Needless to say, Zander is used to a bath in a small round plastic tub. He was NOT crazy about the bathtub, so it was over quickly. Another evening with his comedy routine and nighty night time. Once he's down, he's out. I put him in his bed and he gets back in ours about 3 am or so.
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Thursday our guide had originally planned to take us to the local zoo, but after talking with our other family, we said we wanted to see what was called the Longmen Grotto see this site:  http://www.orientalarchitecture.com/china/luoyang/longmen.php

This was what true Chinese heritage is about. Although VERY hot, sweating profusely, complaining children, etc., it was an amazing place. All the carved out grottos where the smallest Buddha was 2 mm to the largest of 17 meters. You could see the Buddhist Temple high on the hill, the boats traveling up and down the canal. The grotto is between 2 mountains with the river running between. The largest Buddha is on one side, we cross a bridge to the other side, and that's where you can see the platforms built into the side where Buddhist monks pray to the Buddha. We learned that Buddhism is a religion, but not like Christianity. We believe as God as our creator of all things. We were told by our guide that most people in China are non-believers, not Buddhists. It was very interesting.

Well, by the end of a VERY long day here, we went back to the local restaurant and everyone scarfed, it was one meal Zander actually sat in his high chair for. I did feel very good when I took him and walked around the restaurant while waiting for our food. Many of the waitresses tried to hold him and he told them all "NO"! This made my mommy heart very big.

Another night and time for a bath. Tim took Richie and Carmen downstairs so I could have some along Zander time. He actually LOVED his bath and learned to splash, play with cups, etc. He cried when I took him out. Then the kids came back it was play time and then lights out. Same comedy routine and musical beds for the night.
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This morning we opted for the zoo. It was only 15 minutes away and we would be there less than 3 hours while our guide ran errands to get our children's passports. Well, the zoo was nothing like we expected. Firstly, we got to see Pandas! 2 of them. They were huge and beautiful, but in a very small enclosed area. We were hoping it would get better, but it didn't. It reminds me of how the St. Louis zoo USED to be 30 years ago. Small, dirty, cramped enclosures with unhappy looking lethargic animals. We were very sad when leaving there thinking of the conditions the animals were kept.

We opted out of lunch and decided to just snack in our rooms since we are checking out in 30 minutes to go to the airport. Guangzhou here we come for the almost last leg of our trip!
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I want to say some things about our son. He is the most adorable little boy in the world. Whether we're traveling 15 minutes of hours in a car, he's always in a good mood, laughing, playing and of course eating. He's hilarious and has such a wonderful sense of humor for someone so little, especially when he's trying to communicate that he wants to eat AGAIN! He knows what he wants, when he wants. He loves to go bye-bye so he will fit right into our family. He crawls faster than any child I have ever seen and is working on his walking. He is very partial to his BaBa! So much partial yesterday that Tim was more worn out than I have seen him the whole trip, including jet lag. He's slowly warming up to me, but I figure he's going to be stuck with me as soon as we get home so he can completely hog all the baba time he can get. We adore this little man, all of us! He is smart as a whip. He has learned several sayings already such as uh oh, this way, etc. He is a little mocker. if we cough he coughs, if we laugh he laughs. Right now he just saw Tim trim his nails and is holding up his feet for his nails to be trimmed.

Below are MANY pictures in no particular order from the last several days. ENJOY!