Tonight was a fun bedtime. Kathleen was very patient as Jonathan just would not go to sleep. Our hotel room is a suite with a living room, where Kathleen is sleeping, and a bedroom where Jonathan is sleeping in a cribI came out to Kathleen's bed. I attempted to get Jonathan down to no avail. I put him in the crib to try to get Kathleen to sleep. I held her and sang to her and she was out once before I even got to the second verse of "The Old Rugged Cross" (she requests it now..."The Cross song please, mama."). Jonathan, though was still wide awake and screaming in the other room. Kimmer had gone in there to make sure he didn't climb out of the crib - the boy has absolutely NO fear of anything. Unfortunately, Jonathan, especially at meal times and bed time, wants nothing to do with his father, yet. We know bonding will come. Jonathan has made great strides in just two weeks. Kimmer had pulled him out of the crib and let him play with his night time book. After I came back in, Jonathan sweetly reached to his father, gave him a hug goodnight and a kiss and then leaned back over to go into my arms. The silly boy fought sleep until he was so incredibly tired he couldn't keep his eyes open. That was at 9:30...ugh!
Please pray that we will continue to help Jonathan work through and stop his temper tantrums. It's a culturally accepted thing to allow a child to kick and scream and they give them what the child wants. Not in my house! So, we are trying to curb that behavior before we get home. I'm so glad there is an occupational therapist here, also adopting. She does a lot of behavioral intervention with foster kids and helps them with sensory integration. She has some ideas of things we can do and I am going to pick her brain tomorrow to start doing them with Jonathan right away. She said she had similar issues with her first adopted daughter and things turned around by the second day she had her. So, I'm all over that tomorrow! Just pray that we will be consistent, patient, and gracious with him as he is still grieving the loss of his foster family and his foster home with fellow children.
It was another HOT day in Guangzhou and all the adoptive families headed over to Liwan market today. It's a shopping area in Guangzhou that sells beads of all kinds (and finished jewelry), clothing, shoes, jade, pearls, and DVDs! Now that I have kiddos and don't want to pay $20 for ONE DVD, I gave in and bought a whole slew of them. Yes, they are in English. And YES, they are likely not the real deal, but they are good enough for my kids to watch. In order to get in a little window shopping to kill the rest of our time at the market, I broke down and bribed the kids with candy. I confess it...I gave them sweets to keep them happy! Hey...it worked !When we got back on the bus to return to our hotel, Rebekah (our guide) said, "Let's go back to paradise!" She's right...on a HOT day like today, this place is paradise.
The first words out of Kathleen's mouth when we returned from lunch were, "May I watch the Little Mermaid now?" She was so excited to see it while Jonathan napped. (Of course, she freaks out over several parts, so we fast forward through thunderstorms and anything remotely scary.)
Tonight for dinner we found a little slice of Ireland right here in Guangzhou. Little Paddy's Irish Pub was just around the corner from the hotel and had some pretty good fish and chips. That was a fun departure from rice and noodles! So far, the international cuisine available in the vicinity has been incredible - Thai, Italian, Malaysian, Turkish/Mediterranean, Irish, Japanese, and, of course, Chinese (which is usually less expensive than the international restaurants). Of course they have good old American junk food like KFC, McDonald's, Pizza Hut, and Papa John's. We haven't been to any of those, yet, and don't plan on it (except we need to use their bathroom).
A funny moment came the other day when Kathleen said, "They have a LOT of squatty potties in China, Mama!" So, I asked her which one she liked better - toilet to sit on or squatty potty. "Squatty potty," she said and continued in her high pitched voice, "because it's so teeny weeny!" I'm fine with them for kids. It's so much easier than having to cover the toilet and worry about touching things. She can still do the Chinese squat, so it works well. Jonathan can NOT do the Chinese squat because he's got such a chubby belly.
The other day, Jonathan fell asleep leaning on the bed and it cracked us up. The boy can sleep standing up!!! That's one trick I don't think I ever learned.
Tomorrow is a big day...we go to the consulate in the afternoon to get Jonathan sworn in as an American citizen. Exciting! Sadly, only 2 more days in Guangzhou. I wish we had a little more time to explore the city. It's a great place, but we haven't even gotten to get on the subway to get out and see the city. We hope to some tomorrow. There is a big China Art Exhibit going on until May 25, so we hope to do that either tomorrow morning or Wednesday morning before we leave.
