Really?

I knew that Lulu might cause a few stares -- partly because she is the cutest/wildest thing ever, but also because she looks so different than the rest of us. And while I hate being looked at, I totally understand. I think adding Perrin in to the mix makes it even more confusing (are they both adopted? different fathers? is she from another family? if they can have biological kids, why would they adopt?). But, I have been surprised by some of the questions people ask.

"Does she look like her father?". "Can I assume she is adopted?". "So where is this cutie from?".  I don't mind any of these questions and kind of find them funny as I know what they are asking and appreciate the attempt to be polite.

But last weekend we had our first truly annoying experience. We were at a car dealership beginning the process of finding a new car. I hate buying cars, so I was already in a foul mood. First there was the saleswoman trying to emphasize the small third row in a competitors car.  "The third row is so small you can only put children or Chinese people back there!" she squealed. I let her know that I have both -- and furthermore my Chinese child could take out her dumb Caucasian toddler. Later that day I brought Lulu in to test drive a few cars -- and perhaps cause a little chaos in the showroom. As I walked through the door carrying my little bundle of joy, a salesman stopped me in my path and said, "Is that your daughter?" After I replied yes, he leaned in for a closer look and said, "Really?".  It would have been an appropriate time for Lulu to reach out and pull his hair or pinch his nose, but she just sat there and smiled. Maybe she saves the pain for those she loves, or maybe she just pitied the man. I was too speechless to react and just stammered, "uh..yeah".

Thankfully the majority of people are lovely and accepting. And, I have noticed that if Lulu is with me I can get away with all sorts of things. I can push to the front of  a ticket line, I can take 30 items through a 15 item express lane at the grocery store, I can even get away with lots of crying in public places (both Lulu and I) without any dirty looks. I just hold Lulu up in front of me like a trophy and most people smile and give me a break. I even rolled down my back car window the other day to show the person that I had honked at a view of Lulu's cute face. Their frown turned upside down and we were all happy.  Next up is robbing a bank -- baby needs a new pair of shoes!

As time goes by...

Lulu is such a happy little girl. But, also a loud little girl. I can't believe she has only been with us a few months as she seems such a big part of our family. She no longer walks anywhere -- she runs full tilt. She always has a few cuts and bruises from the inevitable falls, but I am amazed at how agile she is. I think Perrin was just learning to walk at this age!

She spends HOURS on the slide Kristie gave us. At first it was just learning how to climb the ladder and go down. It has evolved in to balancing on her tip toes at the top and attempting to walk straight down the steep incline. It is hard to watch, and she does fall a lot, but she keeps trying.  At the playgrounds, slides are always her favorite. She will take off at a run and I have to sprint to catch her before she attempts to climb up backwards. I do so much running after her these days that I always wear an exercise bra and sneakers. She wears me out!

Lulu and Perrin have become much closer. She loves to sneak up behind him and climb on his back. The two of them spend a lot of time playing ball and laughing together. I had to tell both Neal and Perrin to use 'real' words and appropriate body motions with Lulu. They spend so much time joking around with her using silly words and patting their bellies that I am starting to worry it could impact her development! She does have a fabulous laugh...

Lulu seems to love most food other than yogurt. She is a fantastic vegetable and fruit eater and may be the only person in the house that truly enjoys kale. I know it might not last, but in the meantime I am having fun stuffing as many vegetables in to her as I can. She especially loves warm tomato based soups. It reminds us of when we were in China at a small local restaurant with Zhou-Feng and Hong Bin. They had ordered tomato fish soup and it was one of the first real foods we gave Lulu. I was overjoyed that she ate most of my portion.

We are working on words, and while Lulu seems to understand quite a bit ('put the ball on the slide', 'can you bring me a book?' and 'put the baby in the stroller"), she isn't saying much. I think I heard her say, "in" one afternoon while we were practicing putting cough drops back in their box. And she says some type of "Hello" with a wave to strangers who don't immediately coo at her. I am not worried as she seems to be coming along very well. She occasionally will repeat a phase immediately after I say it, but not again. Most recently it was, "F**k it!" right after I banged my head really hard. It was clear as day coming out of her mouth, but luckily never again repeated.

All in all she is a joy and fills our hearts and makes us laugh on a daily basis. But, man am I tired at the end of the day!

Almost our 2 month anniversary of arriving home in Seattle

Someone asked me the other day if I thought Lulu was getting used to her new life -- and I honestly had to stop to figure out what they were asking. I forget Lulu is new to us. I almost don't remember what our family felt like before she was added (but,  I remember being a lot less exhausted). For the most part, I think Lulu's personality was apparent on our first day getting her. She was sweet, but fiesty and strong. And, she is still the same way but magnified by a googleplex (I am not sure if this is a real word, but Perrin uses it all the time with confidence). 

We have had glowing reports from our doctor's visists. Her lab tests were all normal and in the two visits she has bounded up the growth chart. And she is strong! If there is a sport that invovles throwing heavy objects over your head behind you, she will rule it. Her nickname of "smack smack run" is proving less and less true, but when she does smack, it packs a wallop. And I am constantly amazed at her ability to climb on to things. She turned a tall soup pot over and was able to wiggle her way atop it, get her feet underneath her and stand up. It kind of reminded me of the seal act at Seaworld.

Lulu doesn't sleep much during the day, but goes to bed early and sleeps 13 hours straight. Which is wonderful, but I am exhausted by the end of her day and have only enough energy to stare at the wall.  We have been working hard to babyproof the house, but she keeps finding ways to show us up. If there is something to be choked on within her reach, it is guarenteed to find its way in to her mouth. Pennies and Legos seem to be her favorite.  She has become very quick to climb stairs, and even quicker once at the top to turn around and proceed to jump down the stairs. We have been able to catch her every time, but I worry about the day we are a little bit slow. But, her favorite activity is to bee-line to the dog's water bowl and splash. She knows her time is limited before we catch her and move it, so she usually starts with a grand act of putting her face straight in to the bowl and blowing bubbles before moving on to dumping the water all over the floor. And, if the water bowl is empty, she will grab the food bowl and start to lick it.

Which brings up how much she and Apple have in common. Aside from the dog bowls:

• They both love to find inappropriate things to put in their mouth (Apple has eaten many of Lulu's baby toys and we are constantly finding Lulu with one of Apple's bones in her mouth).
• They both love to eat food off the floor. We thought Lulu was throwing food on the floor for the dog, but we have since figured out that once she is out of her highchair, she will circle back under it and promptly begin to eat the very food she wasn't interested in when it was on her tray.
• If there is a body of water, they both want in. For Apple it is lakes and rivers, for Lulu it is puddles and baths. If Lulu is awake when Perrin is bathing, she does her best to climb head first in with him. She loves to watch  from the side of the tub as it fills with water. She yells and jogs in place until she is lifted in.
• Both hate to be ignored. When Apple spots a passerby on her walk, she will lie down and wait for the person to approach. If the person does not tell her she is a pretty dog, Apple will leap straight in the air to lick their face. Lulu is much the same and will follow people around yelling at the top of her voice until they turn and smile at her. At which point she will smile back and wave hello like a sweet little girl.

But, while we love Apple, we LOVE Lulu. She brings us a lot of laughs and a lot of joy. She has learned the words 'hug' and 'kiss' and is a champion at giving them. And, even though she is strong and very independent, she knows who her family is and does frequent check-ins and hugs.

So good to be home!

We are still having issues with jet lag. Actually, Perrin has adjusted and Neal never needed any adjustment, so it is just Lulu and I having problems. She is waking up in the middle of the night ready to party - clapping her hands and laughing if I hold her, screaming at the top of her lungs if I don't. My latest strategy is to spend time with her, but to keep the lights low and to be as boring as possible. Which sounds good in theory, but the reality is it means I pat her back for two hours while staring in to space and fuming -- I know I am lucky to be able to pat the back of my new daughter, but at 2am I start to lose sight of the big picture. My remedy has been to wear the Zune and listen to comediennes while patting. I hide the Zune in my pajamas and we all win as long as I don't laugh out loud. I suppose it is not the most nuturing, but it works for us. And, hopefully this will end soon.

The rage in China is squeaky shoes for kids. I bought several pairs for Lulu and finally got her to wear them this morning. The squeaky shoes are kind of annoying and they make Apple crazy, but they make us laugh and Lulu is pretty fun to watch. You can see her squeaking here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tz5ZBdBkOzg

We are home!

I should have blogged that we made it home in one piece, but  1. I can't tell up from down since we are all so jet lagged and 2. I have wanted a little time to pass before I wrote about our trip home.

In hindsight, flying home went really well and Lulu was a doll. In the midst of it all, I silently cried and wished I was still single. So, the good news is that even at the worst moments, it was never Lulu who had my anger, it was the whole family. Is that good news? It was a long trip home that was exacerbated by my not being able to sleep the night before we left (I was too worried we wouldn't get our wake-up call and would be stuck in China for eternity) and my control issues. I was convinced that if we all slept on the nighttime Beijing to Seattle portion of our flight (11 hours), we could just skip the whole jet lag thing all together. Which seemed like a very good plan when I was booking our flights several weeks ago, but wasn't a plan that the whole family bought in to.

And, while it is understandable that Neal would read, eat and sleep on the flights since Lulu would cry if he got near her, it didn't curb my misery at watching him happily enjoy the in-flight entertainment while casually eating his dinner with a complimentary beer while I was stuck with squirmy Lulu on my lap grabbing at everything she could see.  Lulu didn't cry as long as I didn't put her down, and being happy, clapping your hands and squealing for joy is very sweet at 30,000 feet in the middle of night -- even if it didn't seem so cute at the time.

But, we are home! And, so happy to be home. Lulu fell asleep in the car on the way home from the airport (all that partying in the sky wore her out) so there was no issue with strapping her in to a car seat (one of my concerns). And, upon meeting Apple, Lulu gave her a good smack on the nose when Apple put her nose in her face. Now the two of them seem to be getting along just fine (another of my concerns). Apple clearly remembers the joy of sitting under a high chair from when cousin Charlotte visited. And Lulu likes to gnaw on Apple's old chew bones. So, it all works out in the end.

Day 12

Day 12

Today we went to the Chimelong Safari Park just outside of GuangZhou (although it ended up taking us 2 hours between traffic and getting lost, ugh!). The park is enormous and marvelous and due to the cold, rainy weather, completely empty. Total heaven! We saw lots of different animals in very large natural exhibits -- it is truly the best zoo we have ever visited. Perrin's favorite was the Red Panda, Neal loved getting a chance to hold the baby White Tiger and I am torn between the seeing baby Koala bears in their mom's pouches and the multiple Panda bears we saw chillaxing with bamboo. Lulu's favorite (I'm guessing) part was munching on a Ritz cracker while watching the spider monkeys. We only had a few hours, but could have easily spent many more. My least favorite part was towards the end when I needed a bathroom. Neal and Perrin assured me that the toilets were nice and clean so off I went with Lulu strapped to my front (remember, she won't let anyone else hold her without screaming). The bathrooms looked clean, but when I peered in to the first stall, all i saw was a hole in the ground. I am fine with squatter toilets, but not when I have extra weight adjoined to my body off-kiltering my balance. I continued down the line of stalls: squatter, squatter, squatter, squatter, squatter, squatter, squatter, toilet! Saved by the handicap stall.

After the safari park, we headed off to the US Consulate to pick up a Visa for Lulu. The Visa allows us to exit China with Lulu on her Chinese passport. Once we land in the US and clear immigration, Lulu becomes a US Citizen (although we still have a few additional steps to complete the process). The Consulate was not very memorable except for 3 things:

1. We did not recognize our child's Chinese name when it was called -- after repeating multiple times someone had to say, "um, isn't that your child's name they just called"? I guess we had never heard Dong Jia Qing pronounced by a native Chinese person.

2. Neal is phenomenally bad at, "repeat after me". We had to take an oath swearing that everything we said was true. Neal just couldn't get the words out right in the correct order. "I do solemnly swear" became "I swear solemnly do". "Everything I have said or written to the best of my knowledge was truthful" became, "Everything truthful in my knowledge best... said and written". I kept looking over at him in disbelief hoping they wouldn't let his undiagnosed learning disability block us from bringing Lulu to the US. In reality, I think he was daydreaming about the the possibility of raising White Tiger cubs in our home.

3. There was another family at the consulate adopting a 2 year old girl. They approached us and asked about Lulu because she looked remarkably like their daughter. We have often wondered about Lulu's ethnicity as she is much darker and has different shaped eyes than the other 2 girls from her orphanage. Their daughter is from an orphanage in North China, just South of Mongolia. They said that the the other babies at the orphanage also looked similar. Neal now calls Lulu his Mongolian Princess.

Because we spent the entire day out, Lulu had both her naps while I was holding her. I blame this for the looooong time (and lots of patting and rocking) it took for her to fall asleep. I really look forward to getting in to a stable routine once we are back in Seattle.

--
Amanda Myerson
cell: 206.949.7301
amandamyerson@gmail.com

Day 11

Lulu is one of three similarly aged girls adopted from the same orphanage through our agency. The third family arrived on Monday and we were finally able to meet their daughter today. Apparently these three were the Yangdong (name of the orphanage) Princesses and all good friends. It was very fun to get all three girls together, and even though we live far apart (the other families are from Alabama and North Carolina), I hope we are able to stay in touch. In some ways, these two other girls may be as close to a 'birth family' as we will get. Lulu (in the purple shirt with the bird on the front in the pictures) is the youngest of the three by a few weeks.

In the afternoon we went for a long walk in to the actual city of GuangZhou. It was interesting to see the non-touristy parts of the city and some of the local stores. It was a nice afternoon, but after almost 3 hours of walking with 25 pound Lulu strapped to my front, I almost didn't make it up the two levels of stairs we needed to go up in order to cross back on to the island. We need to get that girl into a stroller ASAP!