Getting ready

Twelve parents here filling out forms for our babies' U.S. visas.
This is supposed to take three hours!?!? Three families have their
appointments tomorrow because they got their referrals sooner.

Little friends in the park

I'm a Happy Dino

Look at me!

I'm standing on my own in the hotel lobby. We are waiting for friends
to go to the super mall but just found out it doesn't open until
10am. All dressed up with no place to go.

Last day of May

The big events for today are that Pan Pan passed her medical exam and
took her first ride in her new stroller - - - and I managed to do two
loads of laundry.

The medical exam was a minor ordeal because our tour bus was hit by a
car on the way to the exam, and so we had to walk partway across
Shamian Island to get to the location. There is one clinic designates
by the U.S. consulate for the exam required to get a visa. The first
stop was for photos. But the photoshop adjacent to the clinic was
unexpectedly closed, so we had to trek another 10 minutes across the
island to another place and then back to the clinic. There we waited
at least a half hour, and then there was a mad flurry of activity as
12 families were shuttled between three exam rooms. Pan Pan had her
ears nose and throat checked, her height and weight measured, and her
diaper removed to confirm that she is a girl. The doctor said she was
very very pretty and oh so clean. She weighs 8.4 kilograms - about
18.5 pounds - less than the 9 pounds the orphanage told us but .2 kgs
more than we weighed her at in Jiangxi.

It's no wonder - she's had a voracious appetite, squawking and hitting
the table when we don't serve up her food fast enough.

She is still getting used to the stroller. It will help spare our
backs walking around carrying her. Our friend Phuong lent us an ergo
carrier which has been a huge help. The one Andrea lent us turns out
to be too thick for the 80 to 90 degree weather! So we will alternate
the ergo with the stroller.

And as for the laundry, one of the "advantages" of staying in an
apartment is that we get to do our own laundry. Not that I love doing
laundry (Davis is the laundry man at home) but it will save us
hundreds probably. However the single-unit washed-dryer is really
strange. I ran three cycles and the clothes came out wet every time.
Finally I figured out how to run just a dry cycle but it takes 90
minutes - even for baby's clothes.

In general, though, staying here is quite convenient with a kitchen,
crib, desk, dining table, couch etc. Only problem is we were just
told there will be no power all day Friday, which won't work for us in
this weather especially, so we are waiting to see what can be
arranged. Ironically, that is the day we thought we would be able to
leave. Oh well.

Tomorrow our main activities will be filling out visa forms and a
visit from my Shanghai friend. It will be our twelfth day of
activities with the group. I can't believe I've lasted this long.
Fortunately, they are all pretty pleasant people and the babies are
super cute. But I am ready to have a few un-programmed days. That
will start on Wednesday when our waiting period begins.

Pam

Sent from my iPhone

Big Day

Today Pan Pan received a blessing AND stood without help.

She and the other children received a blessing at a Buddhist temple for a good life. We were in front of three Buddhas representing past, present, and future. She and I took a picture in front of the future Buddha. After the blessing, the three of us took a photo by the main altar (which is in front of the present Buddha). We walked around the temple grounds, with Davis carrying Pan Pan most of the way. She loves being held by him, and I think the feeling is mutual.

The gardens at the temples and parks are beautiful and lush, a tribute to the traditional art of Chinese landscaping. When I lived here previously the public spaces were generally in need of a good paint job and the landscaping was sparse. Another enormous change from the old China are the stores. We went to another supermarket today -- Park and Shop -- which is located in what we heard is the largest shopping center in the world. We were able to get a $30 umbrella stroller to use while we are here. What they call "supermarkets" are more like department stores with food. And they have many, many more brands of baby formula than we do in the U.S. (I suppose breast feeding is less popular here).

In addition to her blessing, Pan Pan learned how to stand today - holding on to the table, but with no help. She also spent more time on her tummy preparing to crawl, but that will take longer as it's so unfamiliar, but at least she doesn't squeal anymore when we help her flip over. We know we will be starting a new more complicated phase when she starts crawling and walking around, so if that happens after we get home instead of here in this apartment, that's okay. For now her most exciting activity is getting tipped over while being held. A little too exciting perhaps -- we couldn't get her down for her nap today because it was all she wanted to do. I've just insisted to Davis (yes he was the initial instigator) that we shouldn't do this WHILE she is eating.

Speaking of eating, she has a great appetite, though sometimes we discover that she is storing the food in her mouth like a chipmunk instead of swallowing it. So many new things to see, to do, to eat, and she is taking them all in ... almost.

Tomorrow she gets her official medical exam for her U.S. visa.

Sent Sunday May 30 10:00pm from Guangzhou

P.S. I'm attempting to send a bunch of photos with this post, but if that fails, my pinch hitter will help.

Tired in Guangzhou

The trip turned into an eight-hour experience given the delayed flight
and the extra time required to move nine families around. We are
ensconced in our lovely Gusngzhou apartment motel. Pan Pan went right
to sleep while we unpacked and had an excellent $12 delivered dinner.
Just a minute ago she clapped in her sleep. I guess we are all glad
to be here.

Tomorrow we go to a Buddhist temple to bless the babies.

Sent from my iPhone

Just what you want when traveling with nine babies...

Our plane is two hours late because of rainy weather in Guangzhou.

My first plane ride

We are leaving Nanchang and heading to Guangzhou. Pan Pan had a rough
morning. We think she may be teething. Or maybe she is sad to be
leaving her home province. Now the adventure begins, and she's back to
herself. Just waiting for the plane to take off. But now she's in a great mood mimicking
sounds that Davis is making. I hope she likes the ride.

Contortionist

Though she cannot crawl and is just learning to sit up, Pan Pan is a
contortionist in her crib. Last night she slept all night sideways at
the end of her crib with her feet propped up on the side of the crib.
Every time they would fall down, she would move them back up in her
crib. This will be helpful when it's time to clip her toenails. Last
night we did her fingernails after she fell asleep. I was getting
welts on my arms from where she would hold on (even the nannies
commented that she holds on very tight when you carry her). One of
her hands was sticking out, so we tented her crib with a blanket, then
I donned a headlamp and Davis snipped.

She woke up this morning around 5am. I tried to get her back to
sleep, but she kept lying in there moving her legs around and then
clapping. So cute. So right now she's out taking a walk with Davis.
She adores him because of all the silly games he plays.

She's just getting used to being on a bed. She's not used to having
something so soft under her, so gets frustrated when she wants to move
or turn. But we've taken an occasional nap with her in the bed.

We are still calling her Pan Pan but I think Rikki will suit her very
well. In the orphanage, they supposedly speak Mandarin. I say
supposedly because the nannies' mandarin was barely intelligible to
me. But the office workers who also spend some time with the kids all
speak Mandarin. Sometimes I think it helps that I am speaking
Mandarin with her because it's familiar-sounding to her.

Right now she only speaks baby talk. Da-da-da is a favorite, so it
sounds like dada, but we have been calling Davis the Chinese baba. Ne-
ne-ne-ne-ne is what she says when she is not happy about something.

Yesterday she started to be able to sit up partially on her own. We'd
been sitting straddle-legged with her between our legs, and yesterday
all of a sudden she started leaning forward totally unsupported by
me. It's amazing what this much attention can do for a kid.

Sent from my iPhone

She's official!

Most important event of today

This was made so easy I almost forgot to mention that we got Pan Pan's
passport today. This allows her to leave Jiangxi province (and leave
China). We processed everything earlier in the week, but our guide
just picked it up today.

Now we wait a week (okay nine days) to get her visa appointment.

I love to clap...

Where Pan Pan was found

Pan Pan's crib

Friday

We just returned from a visit to a local school. Because it's raining,
our guide was not able to take us to the park as planned, so instead
we saw her daughter's school. I wish the public schools in the U.S.
were comparable.

Pan Pan is starting to practice standing up more. She wants to be
held alot, so we've taught her to first sit up then stand up holding
on to us before we pick her up. This is a huge incentive for her.
Lying on her stomach to crawl is still rather uncomfortable, but we
are told that Chinese kids often walk without crawling first. This
definitely makes sense in the absence of carpeted floors.

My visit to the orphanage added some perspective on her lack of
certain motor skills. Though I was just there a short time, I had the
clear impression from my visit that the kids spend the majority of
their time in the cribs. When you consider that they have two nannies
for every nine or ten kids, they clearly don't find it manageable to
have many of them outside their cribs. That is why Pan Pan is most
comfortable on het back. We think she used the crib bars to scoot
around in.

When they are not in the cribs, the main activity appears to be
playing in baby walkers. We found out that Pan Pan is very good at
this, but unfortunately it doesn't help to develop the core muscles
they need to walk on their own. So we are working on that when she's
on the floor in our hotel. And we are using the hotel high chairs to
practice sitting.

We sent a care package before coming that included a disposable
camera. When we develop those, perhaps we will gain more insight.
The orphanage has three Children's rooms, but only one of them is in
use. There are 19 cribs and most if not all had babies in them, so
they either have new children or the babies were sharing the cribs
previously. (Six of the babies in our group come from the same
orphanage).

I was not allowed to photograph in the room because some of the babies
there have been assigned to families already. But they did let me
photograph her crib when the nannies took out the baby as well as the
baby from the neighboring crib. The room was clean, and though not
bright, it had a window looking out onto the beautiful countryside.

The nannies seemed very fond of Pan Pan and they were disappointed
that I didn't bring her. They talked about her pretty white skin,
about how she likes to dance (for us she usually does this whenever we
change her diaper), and how she cries when she is scolded. (They say
they only scold a child if she hits another child, for example). I
promised to bring her back for a visit in six or seven years.

The nicest room was the play room, because its glass windows gave a
view of the beautiful surroundings, including a small pagoda.

Only about 30 yards away is the medical clinic were Pan Pan was found
early in the morning on March 11, 2009. The orphanage director said
they no longer keep the babies' original clothing, etc. but that
typically the kids are left in a cardboard box with a little bit of
milk powder and with umbilical cords still. People rarely leave notes
these days because it could make it easier to trace the parents.
Abandoning children is illegal.

They think Pan Pan is from the immediate area and that she was left
there because people know there is an orphanage behind the clinic.

Coming from such a quiet environment, I guess her time in Nanchang
and, starting tomorrow, Guangzhou will help her acclimate to city
life. Fortunately the traffic in Chicago is somewhat more orderly.

Sent from my iPhone

Local Eauty Shop

We are heading out to see a local school. It is Friday morning.
Finally figured out how to post some pictures yesterday. I will write
another post later about my excursion.

Happy Families

Naked Snake

Peak-a-Boo

Beauty on a Bunny

Celebrating Year of the Ox

Today we went to the Teng Wang Pavilion for sightseeing. It has
statues for all the zodiac signs. We took a picture in front of the
ox, which is the sign for both Pan Pan and Pam Pam.

I am having trouble sending photos from the computer (they don't show
up). Only the iPhone photos seem to work, so we can't send any photos
that were taken with our new camera. Hope this one will post.

Pan Pan laughed a lot today. She learned that her dad gives fun rides
and plays fun games. We especially enjoy playing with her in front of
the mirror. We don't think she has ever seen one before, and it is
full of surprises. She also enjoys a Chinese percussion toy that we
bought her similar to what they have in her orphanage.

We are trying to get her to try more physical activities. Her sitting
muscles are so weak she doesn't even like to be in a high chair. The
other girls from our orphanage are similar. By contrast, Olive was
already sitting on her own when she was six months, Davis tells me.

Obviously it is much easier for the orphanage workers to get through
their day without a bunch of babies crawling around and getting into
things so they have little incentive to get them moving. Each of the
nannies has six to ten kids to watch. Still, our neighbor Eleanor
from another orphanage is the same age and she sits up rather nicely,
so it can be done.

Tomorrow we are able to visit Pan Pan's orphanage. We don't want to
make her go through that carsick-inducing ride a second time though so
only I will go. I also hope to see the hospital door where she was
left or locate the woman who found her. This will be the longest I've
been away from her, but I think it's important to take home as much
information as I can about her so that when she is older she can find
out about her background.

Will try to send those pictures tomorrow if we break the code.

Nighttime

I woke up with jetlag - on our sixth night here. Pan Pan sometimes
cries in her sleep and we replace her blanket or adjust her in her
crib or change her diaper. Her willingness to do this gives me the
impression that the caretakers in her orhanage were more attentive
than I was expecting. But I won't read too much into the first three
nights.

She sleeps horizontally at the end of the crib, wedged from corner to
corner. (We think she likes to have something to hold onto, but this
crib has mesh sides instead of rails. The hotel also offered another
crib with rails, but they were separated by about six inches so looked
rather dangerous.) But perhaps to your surprise she is sleeping more
than I am.

Last night's dinner was an adventure. We discovered a hot pot place
nearby. Though I've eaten Chinese hotpot, I've never actually ordered
it before. I know the names of most basic Chinese dishes, esp in
Shanghai, my favorite cuisine and where I lived for two years. But
outside my range, things get a little difficult - especially given my
insistence on not (knowingly) eating pork.

The other day before Pan Pam (BP), we walked all around the Teng Wang
Pavilion area searching for a restaurant. Finally we find a food
court type place, and finally I searched out what I thought was a
vegetarian option - leek dumplings - having had them many times at
dimpling places in Beijing. Then I had to line up to buy a food card,
line back up to order the dumplings, then wait for them to be boiled.
Then the hard task of finding a table. Nothing on the first floor
(the mild-mannered Davis cannot believe how aggressive one must be in
a crowd here). We scoured the second floor. Nothing there either, so
finally we just grabbed two chairs and sat down to indulge in our
dumplings. With my first bite I realized my mistake. So Davis got
two orders of dumplings.

At the hot pot place I was much more careful. But it took me a while
to figure out the ordering process - you don't just pick your
ingredients, you have to pick your base and your sauce. But we ended
up with something precisely to my liking - fish, bamboo shoots,
cilantro, and fuzhu (a type of dried tofu).

Okay, going to try to sleep a little more before Jr. P wakes up.

P

P.S. No pictures because it's the middle of the night and the last
few pictures didn't seem to go through.

Sent from my iPhone

A mix of old and new traditions

Typically, many little ones wear split pants by day -- they are partially potty trained -- and diapers by night.  But now that the Chinese are wealthier and have more access to disposable diapers, we've seen quite a few kids wearing diapers under their split pants.  

P1000057.JPG

 

Day Two

We are starting to get into a routine. It helps that we are getting
over jet lag, we are learning our way around Nanchang, and Pan Pan is
getting over her cold. It turns out she is alot of fun, and loves to
laugh and smile. She claps when she's happy, and sits around banging
chopsticks on the table during the adult meals. We swear she's
actually pretty fond of both of us.

She also has a great appetite. She still gets bottles four times a
day, but today she also ate steamed eggs, rice noodles, fish, ou sun
(if someone can tell me what this is called in English I'd be grateful
- lotus shoots?), nian gao (a sticky rice cake). Unlike the other
girls, she's not crazy about watermelon, and much to my disappointment
she didn't like millet porridge, one of my favorites from my old China
days.

We're making games out of learning to pull herself up and lie on her
stomach, both of which are unfamiliar. But she is getting
interested. She also had her first phone call today - to her new
sister Olive. She will be so lucky to have a sister who loves little
kids. We also got nice notes from her cousins Max and Chelsea and so
many others who are looking forward to welcoming her home -- just
sorry we may not be able to answer them all personally.

She's sleeping pretty well - last night woke up only once, though I
was expecting a few more times since she was still rather congested.
She does fuss some times, but true to what the orphanage workers told
me, she doesn't make a lot of trouble, she just fusses when she needs
something and we're starting to be able to figure out what that is.
Usually a clean diaper, something to eat, or to be carried. My arms
almost fell off after yesterday, so Davis did more of the heavy
lifting today.

Today we visited People's Park. A far cry from the one in Berkeley,
it's also actually a gorgeous urban park full of elders exercising and
playing chess and young kids being pushed on swings and strollers.
The parks are nothing like what I remember - the landscaping is lovely
and even exquisite in places, and quite keeping with Chinese
tradition. (I was also happy to see many of the plants in my Berkeley
garden -- daphne odora, fatsia japonica, and lorapetalum japonica --
so my landscape architect did a great job, and my daughter can have
more reminders of home when she is in Berkeley.) And the playgrounds
are very well-equipped with play structures, though we couldn't help
but notice that so many of the children playing in the park were boys.

We also went to a local supermarket that was very well-stocked and
MUCH quieter than Wal-Mart. To those who have inquired, NO I am not a
Wal-Mart shopper, this was where we were taken by our guide (who it
turns out doesn't like Wal-Mart either) because often the families ask
to be taken there.

So it's Tuesday night, and we have four nights and three days left in
Nanchang, and then our 12 days in Guangzhou.

Signing out,

Pam

Sent 8:45pm from Nanchang

My Favorite New Toy Try #2

la

P1000113.JPG

 

Shake, Rattle, and Roll Try # 2

Trying once again.  We thought maybe the censors were blocking this one, but we're giving it another attempt before drawing any conclusions.  

P1000102.JPG

 

Heading to the supermarket...

Our outing for the day

My favorite new toy...

A package of kleenex, and you can't have it!  Don't even try take any kleenex out of here.  

P1000113.JPG

 

Time with Mom

Shake, Rattle, and Roll...

with my daddy-o. 

"Thank you, thank you very much...." 

P1000102.JPG

 

Big Day for Pan Pan

On Sunday, we were told to wait in our rooms for a call around 3pm.
It came about 15 minutes later, but we found out that the babies from
our orphanage, Jianxin Social Welfare Institute, were running an hour
late. Only the three babies coming from other orphanages had arrived,
and we were welcome to go down and watch their arrival. Of course, we
did, as this was much more exciting than sitting in our room trying to
kill time and gave us a chance to see what we would be experiencing.

After their welcoming ceremony, they met with the orphanage directors
to ask about their babies, and around the time that was wrapping up,
we were told that the six Jianxin babies had arrived. My name was
first alphabetically, so Norman asked if I would like to go first or
last. Of course, I picked first. It seemed we were standing there
forever waiting.

And then we were united with a lovely little girl. She came into my
arms willingly, but a little scared. Like all five babies, we
discovered, she had gotten sick on the long ride to Nanchang from the
orphanage. The orphanage is in the countryside, in Fengxin County.
After a few bottles of water and milk, she got some energy back and we
started to see her darling personality. She has a delightful smile,
and even a cute cry.

I think she was well-loved for in the orphanage. First of all, the
orphanage staff who brought her over seemed very fond of her. And she
seems able to let us care for her and engage with her, which is so
important in an adopted child. Today, I would say she downright had
fun, especially with her playful dad.

And other than a rash and a cold, she appears quite healthy. As we
expected, though, she is developmentally not like a 14-month-old child
who grew up in a family. In the orphanage, each nanny takes care of
somewhere between six and ten children, so they don't get the direct
attention and encouragement to do things like sit up, crawl, and
walk. She and the other girls are behind in all of these areas, and
we know from many other families that this is common and that the kids
catch up very quickly. Still it is a little surprising given our
expectations for her age to have to help her sit up. But I swear she
has made lots of progress in just one day!

On Monday morning, we went to the county civil affairs office to make
the adoption official, take pictures, and then to a notary office to
get the documents notarized. In both places, I had to swear not to
abandon or abuse her. That was a very easy promise to make. And now
everything is official, as far as China is concerned. I am RPB's mom. We just have 17 days to go until we can get her
U.S. visa. That gives us plenty of time to get to know each other....

Look who's here!

At about 4:15, an hour late, the six babies from the Jianxin orphanage
arrived at the Jin Feng Hotel. One by one we were united with our
little ones, but having waited the longest, and because I'm at the
start of the alphabet, we were first to receive little Pan Pan.
That's what she is called in Chinese. Her English name is Rikki, and
those of you who knew her grandfather will know why. And he would
have been thrilled to know he has such a beautiful granddaughter.

Poor thing, she had gotten car sick on the 2.5 hour drive from the
orphanage, the farthest she'd ever traveled. At first we thought she
was stunned from the experience, but after two bottles of water and a
bottle and a half of formula, we realized that she had simply been
weak and dehydrated. She sparked up quite a bit after that. Then she
fidgeted herself to sleep.

You can see her first smile of the day in her father's arms in the
picture below. We will send more pictures and information tomorrow -
most of them are in the camera and we are too tired right now to start
up the laptop and upload them. Tired but very happy.

Sent 9:45pm from Jin Feng Hotel, Nanchang

The waiting game

Any minute now, we will get the call to go downstairs. The babies are
probably in the hotel already.

Sent 3:00pm from Jinfeng Hotel, Nanchang

Morning walk picture #2

Picture from our morning walk..

View from the Jinfeng

I guess you can say we woke up refreshed after our first full night
sleep since Monday night. Here is the view from our window. Also,
since the rain has stopped, we will be able to explore the
neighborhood before our bundle arrives. But first, to the gym ... a
sort of Soviet-style exhibition hall full of work-out equipment.

Sent 6:23 AM from Nanchang

Highlight of today....

A visit to the Children's department at Walmart. Also not a quiet
place. They have Pampers, Huggies, and more brands of formula than I
knew existed. We bought some Chinese music and baby books. The
strollers here are about a tenth the cost of those at the Friendship
Store.

But our hotel caters to adopting families, so they have strollers
available here. Our room is outfitted with a crib and a baby
bathtub. It even has filtered water.

They also seem to have lots of weddings here. We are across the hall
from a wedding party and when we returned to the hotel from lunch we
were greeted by a barrage of firecrackers in front of the building.

Our room is in the back overlooking a pagoda, will try to send a photo
tomorrow. We skipped the 4:30pm dinner and we are thinking of going
for some dumplings instead.

By this time tomorrow we should have our babies in our arms.

Sent 5:09pm from Nanchang

Rainy Day in Nanchang

Not much to do today except settle in to our new hotel. Thanks to jet
lag, we were even able to nap through the construction noise from
three floors above and the people partying in the hallway.

Arrived in Nanchang

We just got to Nanchang. Pictured are our guides - Norman from LA, and
Grace and Ceci from China. We are in our rooms waiting for the
luggage to be delivered to us. Nine families are here with us, and
three different orphanages will deliver the babies to us tomorrow
afternoon. The Lucky Optimist is part of the largest group, from the
Jianxin Social Welfare Institute, about three hours away. Today we
have some optional sightseeing and then dinner at 4:30. Norman
decided we should have an early dinner. So it's 11am and we want to
get lunch as soon as out bags arrive so that we have time to get
hungry again.

Nanchang looks like a more typical Chinese city, a relief to me after
the quasi-Hong Kong of GZ. When it stops raining, I will be able to
get some photos.

...And the bags just arrived.

Friendship store

Our group

We are with a California group of 12 families in all, including five
families bringing their older Chinese children. Most of those are
between 5 and 7, adopted right around the "golden days" of Chinese
adoption, before the slow down of the last several years. From a peak
of 6,000 adoptions to the U.S. a few years ago, China sent about half
that number last year and will send even less this year. Hence my
four-year wait. It is nice to have some kids with us on the trip, and
they seem very excited about getting baby sisters (and in one case a
brother).

What a difference 24 years makes...

I think that was my last time in Guangzhou. This time we dined at a
sky-high dim sum restaurant with a private room - and private bathroom
with toilet featuring dryer, seat warmer, and multi-directional
bidet. And a fabulous view.

Concrete jungle

8:30AM in China - Having slept five hours, I can now write more than
one or two sentences. We landed in Guangzhou (GZ) and were ready to
leave the airport before midnight. Little did we know we had to wait
another hour or so for another family in our group. Eight people - a
woman and her husband from LA and their two Chinese daughters, her
sister and niece and her parents. They are not part of our original
group, but they are travelling with us to adopt a special needs child.

Got to our hotel room at 2-something. It's an apartment really. Very
well-appointed and comfortable. And, like everywhere in China, plenty
of cranes and construction noise. Will try to attach a picture of our
abode soon. Meantime, here is our view of the neighboring apartment
complex. We are here til tomorrow, but we return a week later for
about 12 days.

Today we fork over a bunch of cash and then get our marching orders
for the rest of the trip.

I cannot read the site from China (blogger is blocker here) but my
back-up blogger is checking in for me.

P

Shanghai Stop

In Shanghai, we just checked in, changed money, and chowed down in a Muslim-style restaurant.

11:30 pm Guangzhou and 80 degrees

We just landed and we have until dim sum breakfast tomorrow (10:30am)
to shower and sleep. Then on to Nanchang the next day (Sat).

Pam

Landed in Shanghai safely and 3.5 hours late

No time to see my friends. But at least we know how sorry United
Airlines is. Since when do they write apologies?