We're Home!
And tired! Too much time sitting on flights, too much time waiting in lines. But it was all worth it!
Evie is smart and funny and beautiful, even with her freshly shaven head. (It's a boy's haircut! That's what everyone tells me, anyway!) She has Daddy wrapped around her finger. Sometimes she plays well with Emily, and sometimes she pinches and pulls hair, which breaks her big sister's heart. She is definitely a Mama's girl, and usually wants only me when she's tired or hungry or cranky or scared.
She is very tiny - You can count her ribs, and each vertebra up her back. I took mostly 18 and 24 month clothes, and she swims in all of them. I had to safety pin the backs of her pants, and put onesies under her dresses. She will probably be able to wear some 12 month sizes. But, she is also a good eater. There have been times that she out-ate the grownups! She loves congee, yogurt, noodles, banana bread, and scrambled or steamed eggs. She started refusing fruit and most veggies toward the end of our stay. She loves pizza and any kind of rice, and wants to drink our tea. When we first met, she was too scared to drink from a bottle or sippy cup, so I spoon fed her formula for a couple days. She is a pro at a bottle now, and getting better at the sippy. I think it's harder because of her cleft palate.
Some of you may know that one of her special needs is scars from ant bites. Well, they are much worse than I had ever feared. My heart breaks for her and what she must have gone through. I refuse to believe that she was left near the ants deliberately, though. It has to have been an accident. Well, we had a scary moment over the bites at the physical for the visa. The doctor grabbed my hand and led me and Evie into a room with all the other docs, and they all were talking very fast in Chinese and grabbing at her arms and looking under her shirt. I thought they were going to refuse to let us have her. Finally, one of our guides came in and started translating for us, and worked everything out. It turns out that they were disagreeing over whether or not we would really want her, and what type of insects would cause bites like that. They seemed surprised that we knew about the bites ahead of time. Some Chinese people we met were surprised that we would want an "unperfect" baby (one very rude shopkeeper on Shamian Island comes to mind, and we never did go back to her shop or purchase anything from her). Most, though, were happy for us and called her a Lucky Baby.
We are so glad to be home. We tried some wonderful (and not-so-wonderful) authentic Chinese and Cantonese dishes, but I'm ashamed to say we ordered pizza from Danny's Bagels way too often. You are reading the words of someone who tried pigeon, goose, eel and squid. Richard also had the fish heads over rice. (yuck) I did find a new favorite Cantonese dish - our guide, Ann, translated it as "Fried Chicken with 3 Glasses of Wine". Let's just say Yum. And yes, McDonald's in China is pretty much the same as here.
We did a lot of shopping. We went to the Pearl market and bought the girls pearl necklaces and earrings for their weddings. We bought squeaky shoes and traditional Chinese outfits, chopsticks sets, tea and tea cups, cloisonne for Evie, an "inside painting" globe for Em, and Richard surprised me with a MahJongg set. (I'll have to learn to play it "offline"!) We went to Jordon's and bought pretty fans and a pair of red silk shoes for Em, and he did calligraphy of the girls' names for us. We borrowed a stroller from the China Doll store and did laundry and bought squeaky shoes and a Chinese dress for Emily there.
We also had time for lots of sightseeing. We saw the Guangzhou Zoo (we liked the panda, but Emily's favorite part was the little dogs in the petting zoo!) and a city park with a farm. We went to the tomb of the NanYue king, the Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall, the Chen Clan Temple/Guangdong Folk Arts Museum, the Temple of the Five Immortals, and the Guangzhou City Museum. We also went to the Six Banyans Temple and were blessed by a monk. One day, our guide Ann took us to a local shopping district - not one for tourists. It was very crowded, but very interesting. I'm glad we experienced it.
We got to visit Evie's orphanage - the Dongguan City CWI. I was imagining something out of Annie, but I was pleasantly surprised. Think hospital plus college dormitory. The Assistant Director told us that 500 children, mostly with special needs, are assigned there, but about 400 of those live in foster homes. All the older kids live in foster care, but they have teachers and a library and computer center at the CWI. He took us on a tour, and we saw lots of babies. There were several that stick in my mind - one beautiful child with bilateral cleft lip/palate, but the most amazing smile. Another was a child with dark birthmarks over most of his or her face and arms. This child and Emily seemed to form a bond - she had trouble leaving him or her behind! There were also two tiny little babies in incubators. The nannies wear pink uniforms, and the babies were all wearing pink that day, too. We got to meet the nanny who was Evie's primary caregiver for most of her stay. After much coaxing, Evie went to her for a couple pictures, but came right back to me. I was impressed by the fact that everyone seemed to know and genuinely care for Evie. We also got to meet Evie's foster father and his grown daughter, Evie's foster JieJie, or big sister. (the daughter works at the CWI, as does the foster mother, but she was not there when we visited.) We found out that Evie's foster sister is responsible for the infamous haircut! We also met CongCong, a little boy from the CWI who was Evie's foster brother. He was a sweetie, and a real ham - blowing kisses for the camera. Evie lived with this family for about 3 months, but was returned to the CWI shortly before we met her. After our tour, we went out to eat with the Assistant Director and Evie's foster sister, and another woman. They were very nice, and laughed at us trying to eat with chopsticks! The foster sister showed me how to feed Evie tea from one of the big Chinese-style spoons.
I'm sure there is so much more of our story to tell, but I am tired and my brain is shutting down. I'll try to write more later and post some pics, too.
Evie is smart and funny and beautiful, even with her freshly shaven head. (It's a boy's haircut! That's what everyone tells me, anyway!) She has Daddy wrapped around her finger. Sometimes she plays well with Emily, and sometimes she pinches and pulls hair, which breaks her big sister's heart. She is definitely a Mama's girl, and usually wants only me when she's tired or hungry or cranky or scared.
She is very tiny - You can count her ribs, and each vertebra up her back. I took mostly 18 and 24 month clothes, and she swims in all of them. I had to safety pin the backs of her pants, and put onesies under her dresses. She will probably be able to wear some 12 month sizes. But, she is also a good eater. There have been times that she out-ate the grownups! She loves congee, yogurt, noodles, banana bread, and scrambled or steamed eggs. She started refusing fruit and most veggies toward the end of our stay. She loves pizza and any kind of rice, and wants to drink our tea. When we first met, she was too scared to drink from a bottle or sippy cup, so I spoon fed her formula for a couple days. She is a pro at a bottle now, and getting better at the sippy. I think it's harder because of her cleft palate.
Some of you may know that one of her special needs is scars from ant bites. Well, they are much worse than I had ever feared. My heart breaks for her and what she must have gone through. I refuse to believe that she was left near the ants deliberately, though. It has to have been an accident. Well, we had a scary moment over the bites at the physical for the visa. The doctor grabbed my hand and led me and Evie into a room with all the other docs, and they all were talking very fast in Chinese and grabbing at her arms and looking under her shirt. I thought they were going to refuse to let us have her. Finally, one of our guides came in and started translating for us, and worked everything out. It turns out that they were disagreeing over whether or not we would really want her, and what type of insects would cause bites like that. They seemed surprised that we knew about the bites ahead of time. Some Chinese people we met were surprised that we would want an "unperfect" baby (one very rude shopkeeper on Shamian Island comes to mind, and we never did go back to her shop or purchase anything from her). Most, though, were happy for us and called her a Lucky Baby.
We are so glad to be home. We tried some wonderful (and not-so-wonderful) authentic Chinese and Cantonese dishes, but I'm ashamed to say we ordered pizza from Danny's Bagels way too often. You are reading the words of someone who tried pigeon, goose, eel and squid. Richard also had the fish heads over rice. (yuck) I did find a new favorite Cantonese dish - our guide, Ann, translated it as "Fried Chicken with 3 Glasses of Wine". Let's just say Yum. And yes, McDonald's in China is pretty much the same as here.
We did a lot of shopping. We went to the Pearl market and bought the girls pearl necklaces and earrings for their weddings. We bought squeaky shoes and traditional Chinese outfits, chopsticks sets, tea and tea cups, cloisonne for Evie, an "inside painting" globe for Em, and Richard surprised me with a MahJongg set. (I'll have to learn to play it "offline"!) We went to Jordon's and bought pretty fans and a pair of red silk shoes for Em, and he did calligraphy of the girls' names for us. We borrowed a stroller from the China Doll store and did laundry and bought squeaky shoes and a Chinese dress for Emily there.
We also had time for lots of sightseeing. We saw the Guangzhou Zoo (we liked the panda, but Emily's favorite part was the little dogs in the petting zoo!) and a city park with a farm. We went to the tomb of the NanYue king, the Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall, the Chen Clan Temple/Guangdong Folk Arts Museum, the Temple of the Five Immortals, and the Guangzhou City Museum. We also went to the Six Banyans Temple and were blessed by a monk. One day, our guide Ann took us to a local shopping district - not one for tourists. It was very crowded, but very interesting. I'm glad we experienced it.
We got to visit Evie's orphanage - the Dongguan City CWI. I was imagining something out of Annie, but I was pleasantly surprised. Think hospital plus college dormitory. The Assistant Director told us that 500 children, mostly with special needs, are assigned there, but about 400 of those live in foster homes. All the older kids live in foster care, but they have teachers and a library and computer center at the CWI. He took us on a tour, and we saw lots of babies. There were several that stick in my mind - one beautiful child with bilateral cleft lip/palate, but the most amazing smile. Another was a child with dark birthmarks over most of his or her face and arms. This child and Emily seemed to form a bond - she had trouble leaving him or her behind! There were also two tiny little babies in incubators. The nannies wear pink uniforms, and the babies were all wearing pink that day, too. We got to meet the nanny who was Evie's primary caregiver for most of her stay. After much coaxing, Evie went to her for a couple pictures, but came right back to me. I was impressed by the fact that everyone seemed to know and genuinely care for Evie. We also got to meet Evie's foster father and his grown daughter, Evie's foster JieJie, or big sister. (the daughter works at the CWI, as does the foster mother, but she was not there when we visited.) We found out that Evie's foster sister is responsible for the infamous haircut! We also met CongCong, a little boy from the CWI who was Evie's foster brother. He was a sweetie, and a real ham - blowing kisses for the camera. Evie lived with this family for about 3 months, but was returned to the CWI shortly before we met her. After our tour, we went out to eat with the Assistant Director and Evie's foster sister, and another woman. They were very nice, and laughed at us trying to eat with chopsticks! The foster sister showed me how to feed Evie tea from one of the big Chinese-style spoons.
I'm sure there is so much more of our story to tell, but I am tired and my brain is shutting down. I'll try to write more later and post some pics, too.
posted by Monie | 7:06 PM
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