Mondays

Mondays are our "Sign Language class" day.

More for something to do really, but fun nonetheless.

The first time (last week) he didn't want to leave me. We sit on the floor on what, I presume, are yoga mats. It was the first time he'd been in a room with lots of other kids since he left the orphanage, he wasn't sure what was going on so wouldn't relax his vice-like grip on my fingers, which makes it somewhat difficult to sign for both me and him.

He relaxed towards the end of the class but never went more than an arms length away.

This week, a little fella came over and poked Tanner in the eye which encouraged T. to move around. I think more because he was an easy target sitting stationary than anything else.

I'm hoping that he will make some friends so that we have other kids to hang out with, we'll see how that goes.

This afternoon we went to Costco, only because he likes it sooooo much. I'm getting reasonably good with remembering all the stuff I need for him but unfortunately not so good with me.




He really doesn't like the car seat and starts to complain after the first ten minutes. So he was pretty miserable by the time we got to Costco. Loaded him into a cart and off we go.

For those of you that have never been to Costco (if you've never been to Costco you must be living in a cave, would not have a computer and, therefore, would not be reading this) you have to have a membership card which you show at the door.

Bugger, no wallet.

Well I'm not putting him back in the car seat now. So we window shopped for 45 minutes. We were both okay with that.

A week of firsts.

Everyday, it seems, has a "first". It is an overwhelming concept really that this young lad is experiencing all of these new experiences and we're responsible for them.

Thought I might list some of this weeks firsts.

First trip to the pub.

First time he drank from a sippy cup (baby beaker for the brits).

First time he drank Cow's milk (albeit with some sugar in the mix)

First time he slept for 10 and a half hours with no interruptions (I leapt from the bed at 5 to 7 to make sure he was breathing)

First time he's (I should write this down when it happens) eaten toast.

First time he's been to the dentist

First time he's had his teeth brushed (all ten of them)

First time I've picked up a turd.

It happened so fast I didn't have time to think about it. Before I knew what I was doing, I had a piece of poo between my fingers.

I was changing his bum this morning (always takes his constitutionals right after breakfast) on the sofa.

He was squirming a bit and I should've been paying more attention, but when I looked in the diaper (nappy) there was no poo?

Blimey. That's odd, must have been a really good fart.

Put a new diaper on and was about to do up his pants when I noticed the dog sniffing and rising from his slumbering state at the other end of the sofa.

As my eyes turned back towards Tanner, there it was, a turd, slightly larger than a grape, in fact like a walnut in size and appearance. I hadn't, thankfully, closed up the used diaper and before you could say "good grief there's a chunk of crap on the settee" I'd picked up it up and put it in the diaper.

I suppose the good thing was I got to it before the dog.

Tonight was also the first time he said "mum". I had brought him into the living room to give him a bottle of milk before bed and Tracy followed me into the living room. He watched her walk bback to the kitrchen and as she disappeared from view, he yelled "MUM".

Now that's a great first.

Farleys Rusks

I think I mentioned these in an earlier post.

They're awesome! I grew up eating these. When I say "I grew up" I mean that we never stop growing up, we're all kids at heart. To be truthful, I haven't had them for...... well, as long as it's been since there were baby bowls in my kitchen. But I still love 'em, oh yeah, they're gooood.

I have a friend (Annabel) whose family moved here some years ago from Ol' Blighty. She once told me that her dad, Ray, decided, probably at the behest of Annabel's mum, to import Farley Rusks for his kids.

I tried at the earliest opportunity to give Tanner F.R. but with no success. I realized that he didn't like milk. So I gave him a dry one. I should explain that there are big biscuits that melt readily into any liquid and also the gummy mouth of a 15 month old.

Tanner discovered today that chewed up FR on his hands becomes, well, a sort of cheerio velcro. Chew the rusk, get all the crap stuck to your hand and then place said hand into the conveniently placed pile of Cheerios. All that's left to do is suck the cheerios of your hand. Not helping his fine motor skills but what does he care?

just another wednesday, except

We all went to the doctors today, Tanners first check up.

Same as the check up in Beijing, really. Nothing to report.

Dropped Tracy at the Skytrain station and then off home.

And then.......... the dentist.

(insert foreboding music here)

Very nice lady, was pleased that I thought to bring him early, she showed me how we should brush his teeth. Turns out, the poor little sod is REALLY teething and as soon as the toothbrush touched his gum's he started to scream.

On the bright side, when he's screaming, it's easier to brush his teeth. Not long before he figures that out.

Tonight was, by far, the easiest night I've had putting him to bed. As I was walking him around the living room he pointed to the door that leads to his bedroom (memories of Joseph right there). I was back downstairs at 8:30. I'm going to pay for that tomorrow.

Cheese

Here's a funny thing.

Not many people don't like cheese, of those people, not many like cooked cheese. I, am one of those people. Raw cheese, yuck, cheese on toast, pizza, nachos, those doughnuts with beef and cheese inside that they sold at Costco 15 years ago, no problem.

Tanner, it would seem, is another one of those people. Won't eat raw cheese but feasted on cheese on toast this morning. There's me, eating a slice and so was me boy. Warms the cockles of me heart, it does.

Stuffed his face full of water melon too. Should have got the video camera out for that first experience! Luckily it was also the first time I put a bib on him.

So that was a fun morning, full of "firsts" then it all went sideways.

Kid, they're just teeth.

P.S. Maybe one day Costco will get the beef and cheese doughnuts back (hey, even my Jewish ex-sister-in-law liked them and they are sooooo not Kosher).

Observations (#1)

Yams - Come out looking the same as when they went in. They just smell worse.

Fake crying - His attempts at fake crying work impeccably. But if he really wants me to lift him off the floor/out of the highchair/out of the crib (cot) all he has to do is lift his arms in the air, smile and say Dad. Get's me every time.
Too bad he prefers to go with the fake crying mostly.

Cheerios - see previous post. Thanks here go to Maelin, for it was her that taught him how to eat them.

http://ourmiraclemaelin.blogspot.com/

Jet lag - worried too much about it. He was over it way before me.

Being a Mum - is waaay tougher than you'd think. I wonder every day how something so small could possibly take up so much of your time. Of course most mums don't cook for 5 grown-ups as well. Yeah, what are they complaining about?

Cheerios

They are a wonderful thing.

Put the young master (For anyone that doesn't know who Darth Vader is, that's a Star Wars reference) in the high chair, throw some Cheerios in front of him, all is good for 15 minutes.

He throws a lot on the ground and I have, apparently, the only Labrador that is not a food vacuum cleaner.

I bought a little cordless vacuum cleaner today but it turns out that not all Cheerios are created equal. Some are more substantial than others and remain on the floor even after several passes with the new machine. So the dustpan and brush are not completely retired.

Breaking News:

The longer a Cheerio sits on the floor the more edible it becomes. Tanner just cleaned up those which neither the dog nor the vacuum cleaner could.

Friday the 4th (Part 2)

So off we sauntered, well I sauntered, Tanner just kind of laid there.

Our gate was the one at the end of the terminal (which I would later come to regret).

I had already looked at the “map” and figured out that there was a coffee shop 3 gates before ours, so we stopped for fluids. I wanted water, but the beer was cheaper, so I asked the girls for 250 mls of hot water, 2 Heinekens and a bottle of Evian. I mixed up a batch of formula and rice cereal for the young master and we were good to go.

I knew that we would be the first to board so I didn’t have to worry about the
”free for all” at the gate. We got there just before boarding and the big guy in charge told everybody that was trying to push in front of us to “line up behind the baby”. That was really funny, I’d put up with 2 weeks of (from my perspective) rudeness, and was delighted to see some decorum.

Now don’t get me wrong, it’s a different culture, I’m okay with that. I was just fed up with it. The plane is NOT going to take off until we are all on board and YOU, the guy that gave his bags to his parents when he was checking in and is now trying to get on the plane with 5 bags, are not going to use up all of the overhead bin space.

I had noticed, after leaving the coffee shop, whilst walking to the plane. That there were a lot of fellas in the front wheelwell of the plane. With flashlights, notepads, stuff. Stuff, that, well, you don’t need for routine maintenance.

We got on the plane first. I was still sweating rivers, I went to the wrong side of the plane. After putting all of our stuff in the bins I had to move to the opposite wall. Bollocks.

It all looked so different online.

We sat and watched everyone else get on. Tanner was somewhat enthralled by all the people. The girls were quick with a smile and a “cootchycoo”.

I was giving the “yes, I’m a 285lb white guy and yes, he’s with me” look to all the fellas.

Did I mention that I was really fed up with the staring?

“Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your Captain speaking”

I should’ve known.

The pricks never “speak” that early.

3 hours later, the commandant said “the ground crew have asked us to turn the plane off and then turn it on again”

There was a bunch of guys with flashlights and notepads and now we’re just going to “reboot”? Not a happy camper in 14A.

I was relaying this story later and Faith said “I do that all the time to my computer” I said “your computer isn’t flying at 37,000 feet doing 600mph”.

Anyway 2 hours after the first 3 hours we were getting off the plane because now the crew had been “in the air” too long. If they’d have got up 3 hours later we’d have been okay.

I waited until everyone else had got off and then made our way to the exit.

“Yes, I need the stroller”

“No, I can’t carry all this to the bus”

“Are we on the same plane tomorrow?”

“Okay, then I really need to take all of this”

“Then yes, I reeeaaallly need the stroller”

It appeared that the flight crew had already pre-ordered their martinis and the ice was melting and were exiting stage left as fast as their legs would carry them..

Turned out a whole bunch of people had to wait for me and junior and another kid that was traveling alone.

There was a bus waiting and the usual scrum ensued. The driver launched my backpack into the belly of the bus (with the laptop inside) and me and the lad made our way onto the bus (coach, for the Brits).
There was a big white guy sitting next to an empty seat that had a bag on it.

“’scuse me pal can you move that bag?”

“It’s not mine” he said

With that, an old Chinese guy started yelling “my wife! my wife!” Whatever, I’ve got this culture sorted out, I threw the bag down the aisle towards him (presuming his wife wasn’t inside it).

His wife soon appeared, and the old git didn’t give her his seat, nor did any of the 20 year old students that the bus was packed with.

I could hear my nan telling me to give her my seat “sod off nan, I got a miserable kid in me arms” she understood.

The worst part was that Tanner had fallen asleep at about 6 (2 and a half hours into the big sit). If the plane had taken off, he would have slept the whole way. Bastards.

We go to the slum that they called a hotel and after waiting in line with a screaming kid for an hour (it turned out that everybody else on the plane was stone deaf! Even the wankers in business class) we were given a room and a meal voucher.

Meal voucher, thanks.......... I can’t wait to get in another line up with a screaming kid. I ordered room service.

I called Trace once teeny T. was asleep and said “Don’t ask any questions, get a pen”

She took down the number of the hotel and called Air Canada.

She called me back and told me that we would be flying out at 10:30 the next morning.

They had already allocated seats for the next morning and I was in 15 a and Tanner was in 37 f. Thank Christ, I won’t have to deal with him for 11 hours, phew!

She changed the seat allocations. She’s evil I tell ya.

We left the room early determined to get a good seat on the bus. Met a really nice Chinese/Canadian out front who told me “don’t take any prisoners man, grab a seat, I’ll look after your bags” that was greatly appreciated.

Some equally nice people helped me off of the bus at the airport. After checking in (again) we meandered through the terminal with just a few hours to kill.

BURGER KING! I saw it the day before and was assured that there was on post security. That wasn’t true. I was famished, I knew I wasn’t likely going to be able to eat much on the plane so I went for the Double Whopper. Like an angel crying on me tongue, it was.

And then on to security…….

Bearing in mind we had already done this the day before and nothing had changed (apart from the Duty Free Vodka) this should be a breeze.

Nope. They dumped the premixed formula (Tanner wasn’t hungry so wouldn’t eat it), sunscreen, bath stuff (Tracy’s) and then they took the vodka. The fella opened it, sniffed it and then dragged us off to a “special” section (the section that Cheryl was oh, so familiar with).

I wasn’t about to argue over a bottle of vodka I was bringing back for Ilya. I just wanted him to write down that he had taken it. I’m really good at conveying stuff to people with very little English (I’ve had homestay students for 14 years) this guy was either thick as a brick or just being a dick.

Anyway, no receipt, he’s not getting my vodka, I poured it into the garbage can.

After all that, it was time to board They hadn’t moved the plane it was still miles away. The moving sidewalks never move when you need them too so we galloped to the gate.

When we got there thay hadn’t started boarding and I assumed my position at the head of the line. Then I saw it. Young fella showing his laptop to one of the people at the gate.

My laptop (and it turned out my wallet) were still with “dick for brains” at security. We were the last to board.

All things considered, we survived the flight pretty well.

He never fell off the sat once, this time. There was only one major meltdown, which got me as nearly upset. There seemed to be nothing I could do to stop him crying. Cold formula did the trick????????????????

Three hours out of Vancouver, he fell asleep. I watched “The boat that rocked” great movie. I was filling up as we were coming into land partly because the ground was approaching in an orderly fashion ( I hate flying). But mainly because he was home.



Nobody at the airport. Tracy overslept. Which she only admitted 3 weeks later.

To be honest a whole bunch of people at the airport waiting for us would have been awful after the previous 36 hours. One person would have been good, but then there wouldn't be a story in it, now, would there?

Friday September 4th - Part 1

I was pretty much packed the night before, which meant that after getting up at 4am there wasn't a lot to do between breakfast and pick up at 12:30. Boy did the time go slow.

I had the usual issues at reception. I had left the cleaning ladies a generous tip and a whole bunch of unopened goodies that we never used. The guy (from Switzerland, the german part, his words not mine)that was checking us out informed me that here was a flannel (face cloth) that couldn't be cleaned and that I would have to pay for it. It was a dollar, whatever, the point was that I had wiped tanners face with it after we, sorry he, had chocolate pudding. Chocolate pudding? You can't clean chocolate pudding from a small towel? It seems that just have to get you for something.

We packed ourselves into Mr Zhou's mini-van and off we went.

As in Guangzhou, we got rushed through the airport and through to the departure lounge. After, of course bidding a fond farewell to our travel guide, Jennifer, who was excellent. She was a fountain of information about the places that we visited and was always concerned for our well being.

I went through first and waited for Mike and Cheryl and Maelin, and waited, and waited. Now one would think, and I know she won't mind me saying this, that after 2 previous failed attempts at bringing liquids onto an airplane, Cheryl would have given up trying. Well, I can say this, she has perseverance. Once she had been stripped of the 4 gallons of liquids she was carrying (exaggeration is always allowed on a blog) they made it through to the other side.

It was really sad. My flight was leaving in 45 minutes and was at one end of the terminal and theirs wasn't leaving for nearly 3 hours and was at the other end.

So we had to say goodbye. I can safely say for all of my family that if we could have hand picked 2 people with which to share the greatest journey of our lives We would not have been able to choose two better people. As it happened we had no say in it, it was just fate. We will not only be forever bonded with Mike and Cheryl but also with their beautiful daughter Maelin. Who, is officially Tanners first girlfriend.

As we live on the West coast and they on the East, we've agreed that in a couple of years we'll all meet in the "middle". We also agreed that Mexico is in the middle.

And now the adventure begins....................

Thursday September 3rd

Same old routine really. I'm now referring to the room as "the cell" we both just want to get the hell out of Dodge.

We went to Sogo and Walmart and Tanner didn't even bother to complain. He's resigned to the fact that he's stuck with me in this room and no amount of whining is going to change that.

We were picked up at 3:30 to be taken to the Canadian Embassy to pick up Tanners Visa.

Picked up the visa, came home.

We're leaving tomorrow.

Wednesday September 2nd

4am now seems to be the preferred wake up time, which leaves us with a lot of time to kill. I'm pretty organized with the bottles so they're all prepared the night before (just like blue Peter:"here's one I prepared earlier") he knows when his bottle is being made when he sees me shaking the living daylights out of the mixing bottle (water jug).

Once he's changed and fed we roll around on the floor of the hotel room playing with his toys. For what seems like an eternity. I've taken to laying out the quilt from my bed to make it more comfortable (for me). The pillows, however, stay on the bed otherwise I'd be out like a light.

6:30 arrives and of to the cafe we go.

Mike came over and asked if we wanted to go to the Forbidden City. You betcha.

We took a cab and had explained to the desk where we wanted to go and to the bell boy as well. Mike also had a card from the hotel with all the tourist destinations preprinted on it. The bell boy told him we wanted to go to the Forbidden City and mike pointed it out on the card.

When we got out of the taxi we were surprised to see how many people were at Tiananmen Square we were not only surprised to see so many people but also surprised at the obvious lack of city, forbidden or otherwise.

Unperturbed we crossed the street, proceeded through the security check point and into the square itself. As I had expected, it is a very large, flat piece of concrete. We walked to the opposite end from where we had been dropped and ventured into the subway to get across the 14 lane road (same one as previously mentioned).

It was in this subway that I saw the only person begging on the whole trip. No need for details.

We made our way through some gardens (50 cents to get in) towards where we thought The Forbidden City might be.

We got to the entrance of a building that was labeled "museum" Yes there were large walls etc but it didn't look like it does in the movies. So we passed on that and decided to keep on walking. It turned out that we chose to walk around the forbidden city. Oh well.

We walked and walked and ended back at the 14 lane street. We headed back to the hotel on foot and it was quite a trek. The kids had been pretty good for their hot and tired dads and wanted to be carried and then would let us put them back for a while in the strollers.

When we got close to home we headed for the nearest mall with a Dairy Queen.

And so endeth the 2nd of September

Tuesday August 32nd. No, September 1st

Another day in Beijing.
Same breakfast and exercise routine.

We had to go to the SOS clinic to get the medicals for their visas.



From there we went to the Embassy where Jennifer (our guide) took the paperwork to a member of staff (we didn't have to get out of the van).
She promptly returned with some corrections/changes and disappeared again.
She promptly returned with some corrections/changes and disappeared again.
She promptly returned with some corrections/changes and disappeared again.

Third times a charm.

Back to the hotel.

Tuesday. Done.

Monday August 31st

When there is only 2 of you things are easier to organize.
We established a routine for the rest of the week.
Tanner woke up whenever the hell he felt like it and I just had to deal with it.

But at 6:30 sharp we were always in the restaurant for breakfast. He would get a jar of baby food and I would have baked beans on toast or a fried egg in some of the freshest baguettes I have ever had. Or both. Oh, and a danish and a doughnut and a yoghurt and juice. C'mon, it's 6:30 Dairy queen doesn't open until 10!

We went for a stroll around the neighbourhood. Stumbled across the beijing swat team, no really, Bomb disposal stuff and everything. Look.



Saw a bunch of guys digging a ditch with a backhoe (JCB for the English) parked across the street. Why use diesel when there are people? Hey, that's almost a slogan.

Mike asked if I wanted to go to the market with them as Cheryl had some shopping to do. I told him I don't go shopping with tracy. I'm not going with someone else's wife :)

A couple more jaunts in the afternoon and that just about wraps up Monday.

Sunday August 30th

Sunday August 30th

Well, today’s the day that trace had to leave us.
But before she left we needed to get some supplies so we toddled off to Walmart to buy some essential goodies and another stroller. As my mum always said “son, you can never have enough strollers”. She never said that really. In England they’re called pushchairs.

Fridge stocked and formula supply replenished we bade Tracy a fond farewell.

It was pretty sad for both of us as the door closed behind her. One of us knew we wouldn’t see her for a week and the other didn’t know if she was ever coming back.

But onward and upward. We soldiered on and went for a walk.
200 yards. I had forgotten the hot water so back we went.
Off again.
400 yards. No blanket in sight (a little white towel that normally is no more than an arms reach away). I thought I’d left it in the room but a bell boy caught me at the elevator. Tanner had launched it from the stroller at the first opportunity.
That’s it here we go.
600 yards. Sod it. He should probably be wearing sunscreen.

Success! 4th attempt but we made it. I hope I fare better for the rest of the week.

He kept checking the door for the rest of the evening.

Saturday August 29th

Saturday 29th

Our bloody alarm clock didn’t go off. That’s what you get for relying on a baby to wake you up. He normally wakes at 2 -2:30 for some grub and then up at 6 - 6:30. Not today, Tracy went to the bathroom and it was 10 to 7.

Woke the little git up and went for breakfast, then off to the Great Wall of China.

Apparently everybody likes to get out of the city on the weekend and they all are going to the Great Wall……

We stopped first at the Jade factory which is run by the government so all of the Jade is guaranteed and it is the best place to buy. Turns out that doesn’t mean the cheapest place to buy : (

According to Jennifer (our tour guide) the profits go to the upkeep of heritage monuments such as the Great Wall, Summer Palace and the Forbidden City. According to Jennifer.

Off we then toddled to the great wall. A 45 minute journey on the Expressway, a journey on which one of the Lobb household decided that it was time to see what a Pamper can really do.

Once the integrity of Pampers had been checked and verified (and a replacement put in it’s place) we ventured on to the Great Wall. The irony of the Great wall is that it was built to keep out the screaming hordes of foreigners. The screaming hordes who now approach from inside the wall and but stuff at the 10 Yuan shop (like a dollar store). Even the beer was 10 Yuan.

It’s not that old, only 600 years, but the scale of the thing is astonishing. We were close to the bottom of a valley and it went, practically, vertically up the walls of the valley. How guys carried all that masonry up there is awe inspiring, to say the least.

Needless to say, I wasn’t inspired enough to venture past the 1st 37 steps to the 1st landing.

Some idiots, however, had climbed all the way to the top of the valley, same morons that do the Grouse Grind I expect.

Moron “I did the Grouse Grind on the weekend”
Me “Did you take 125lb bricks with you and build a wall?”
Moron “No.”
Me “Why did you go up there then moron?”

I wasted my energy really. Before surmounting the steps I went to the gift shop (not the 10 Yuan one) and they had shirts that said “I climbed the Great Wall”. I felt a pang of guilt, not actually having taken one step, so up to the first level I went (there’s pictures).

When I got back to the gift store, there was nobody serving, so I wasted my time.

We stopped for lunch at some kind of ceramic factory where Mike and I tried a thimble full of “Chinese white wine” Holy mother of god! 56%, could’ve stripped the hairs of a donkeys arse.
Food was good though.

We then drove past the Olympic stadiums. The Birds Nest is as equally an impressive feat of engineering as the Great Wall. We drove past because the kids had had enough and it was getting hotter. For some reason, beyond my comprehension, we then stopped at a silk factory. By now Tanner was as miserable as I have ever seen him. Just get us out of here.

Home. Nappy change, clean clothes. He’s back to his little giggling self.
But he’s sacked as an alarm clock.

Friday August 28th

Friday

Tanner woke at 6:30 so I gave him a bottle and we went for a walk. The weather here is way more civilized, clear skies, slight breeze, I would guess 20 degrees C. There is a main road outside which has 4 lanes each way but close to the curb separated by a 3 foot wide boulevard is another 2 lanes one for cars and one for bicycles. There are a lot of bikes, not like you see in news footage from 30 years ago, but still a lot of bikes.

We all went for breakfast and then at 10:30 we left for the Summer Palace and the Pearl factory. We had lunch there too and then..... WalMart.

It’s now 5pm and my family are napping and I’m having a G&T in the Lobby.

Thursday 27th (part 2)

The flight to Beijing

Started out pretty uneventful. The hotel asked if we a stole a glass plate (not their exact words) which we said we didn’t. Then we had to pay 43 Yuan (7 dollars) for water we didn’t drink, then we left.
Once again the traffic was just amazing, 9 lanes down to 2 everybody edging one another out, but it never stopped moving, weird.

Pretty impressive airport to look at as you head down the approach road and they are still building it.

Our tour guide, Jack, took all of Tanners documents and got his ticket and we were good to go.

By this time Tanner was fast asleep in his stroller (actually it’s mine as I bought it, I’m just letting him use it) that was until we went through the security check. Apparently, Al Quada are now using cheap aluminum strollers and miniature suicide bombers so as a precaution I had to wake him up, take him out of the stroller, walk through the scanner thing where he was then taken, screaming, from my arms to have the little wand metal detector thingy passed all over him. He (and I) were given the all clear.

Now you have to bear in mind, the last time he was taken by somebody he didn’t know (just days earlier) it was a very traumatic experience. And now he was reaching out with both arms, screaming for me to get him back.

It got calmer after that.

Until we were boarding.

After being warned about boarding internal Chinese flights, we were prepared, we leapt into action at the first sign of movement at the gate. And Mike and I used our considerable bulks to muscle our way onto the plane first. It was a full flight and a “3 and 3” plane we had the window and centre seats and some other poor sod got the aisle. Obviously being a seasoned traveller the aisle guy spotted the only empty seat on the plane and launched himself towards it at the first opportunity (beating out the other poor sod in Mike and Cheryls aisle seat.).

The flight was delayed and started moving about 45 mins late, by which time Tanner had laughed, cried and screamed his head off. But, as soon as the plane started to taxi, out like a light, stirred a couple of times, didn’t even wake up on touchdown or when the engines go into reverse.

We landed at an airfield, yes airfield, wasn’t grass, but looked like a WW2 aerodrome, apparently used for domestic flights but mainly the military.

Got to the hotel, after a 20 minute drive, which is steps from The Forbidden Palace and Tia nan men Square.

No crib! Had to sleep with the Tanner inbetween us.

PS does anyone want to buy a glass plate?

Thursday 27th (part 1)

Thursday (Part 1)

He seems to change everyday. It’s like he goes to sleep and learns new stuff in the middle of the night. He loves playing with his toys (just the hard ones) and is figuring out how to crawl (they told us he could already do that). He eats everything we give him and is gradually getting that ”baby belly”, he was pretty skinny when we got him and then of course we practically starved him for 24 hours.

I just caught up, I’m now typing in real time. Tracy is upstairs packing and I’m in the lobby bar with my boy ( who is sleeping in the stroller). No beer, just coffee. The internet is free in the lobby and believe it or not the bar is the only place to sit.

Looking out of the window it is really beautiful. Flowers, ponds little bridge over the water. I now know what you would see as you look through the gates of hell “oh, it’s so pretty, it can’t be all that bad”. Oh no, let me tell you how hot it is in there, stay out.

I’m going to research the name of the guy that invented air conditioning and strive to make his birthday a national holiday.

His head is starting to bob, gotta go.

Wednesday August 26th

Wednesday

Today we went to the park across the street. It was 4000 degrees in the shade and I think we were underwater. Even my tongue was sweating. It turned out to be the most stroller unfriendly park on the face of the planet so we ventured in about 200 yards and then headed back out again.

On our way there we used the subway to get to the other side of the road which is by far the best way to cross the street. There was no elevator so we had to carry Tanner and the stroller down the stairs and up the other side. The drivers are nuts, they don’t stop for anyone, not even little old ladies. I could probably get used to driving here, it might even be fun. But despite the mayhem I’ve only seen one accident. Maybe more surprisingly the streets are not littered with dead pedestrians.



On our way back we used the the “crosswalk”. I use the term loosely. Yes, there are black and white stripes on the road. Yes, there is a little green man. No, you can’t cross. In the middle of the road there is a huge piece of steel, like a 10” curb that you have to climb over before you can get to the other side. We had to lift the stroller over it and by then the little green man was flashing. We made it, the 80 year old woman behind us, I’m not so sure.

At 2:30 and 2 T-shirts later (time could be measured in t-shirt changes) we went to another government building to apply for Tanners passport. This was straightforward, they just needed to see us and our passports. Oh, and Tanner.

Tanner crashed at 6 and I had to drink the beer I bought on Tuesday because we are now leaving for Beijing on Thursday. I went to sleep at 9 and Trace went to the pool.

Tuesday August 25th

Tuesday

So Tuesday morning I went and got congee from the restaurant and he wolfed it down.
At 8:30 we went back to the adoption centrre to make it all legal.

We had a short interview with a girl from the centre and then another with the a Notary public.

He is now legally our son!

We then went to Carrefour which is like zellers or Walmart. Bought way too many snacks (I hadn’t eaten for 2 days) and got some baby food and ………….CHOCOLATE PUDDING Wahhooo.

Bought Tanner a little stroller for shoving him around ($16).

GOTCHA DAY!

Monday. Gotcha day.

Starbucks

What can I say? I’m writing this on Wednesday because a lot of web pages are blocked here including Facebook and more importantly our blog. I should’ve took notes, didn’t. I guess because of the excitement on Monday afternoon, Monday morning has become a total blank. Did get Tracy a birthday card though. She didn’t care for the sausage and egg McMuffin as a present (Mcdonalds is closer than Starbucks).

We had to wait until 2:30 for the big moment

Jack, our guide and baby expert, picked us up at 2 and we made our way to the adoption centre where we would meet our babies for the first time.

We were the first families there and could glimpse the children in the next room through the curtain over the door.

There was a lot of paperwork that had to be checked. Our temperatures were taken as an H1N1 precaution.

Tracy spotted a woman walking from the room where the children were towards the entrance she said “that’s him, that’s Tanner!”. I turned to look and she was right. When the woman walked back we knew for sure.



It’s funny how I’ve seen lots of photos of Mike and Cheryl before we met them at the airport, had conversations, but still wasn’t sure if it was them at the airport on Saturday. We only had to see the slightest profile of our son and knew immediately it was him.

Then the moment came with no warning, I kind of hollered at Mike to take my video camera (sorry pal) and they placed him in my arms, why me and not Tracy, who knows. He looked confused, but calm. We got a couple of snaps and I passed him to Tracy, where for a few short minutes he was fine.

A voice, somewhere deep down inside him told him something was up, so you’d better start screaming, which he did. Unfortunately for Trace, I was returning the videoing favour for Mike and Cheryl so she was on her own.

I eventually rescued Trace and tried to calm the little fella down.

I succeeded, I think the whole day had been traumatic for him. He’d never been out of the orphanage let alone on a 4 hour car ride. He went to sleep in my arms.

Now have I mentioned how hot it is here? It is hot, it is humid, it hot and humid like nothing I have experienced before. How my old man survived 2 years in Hong Kong, astounds me. If I had to do National service here I’d be a conscientious objector ( can you do that if you’re not at war?).

After 10 minutes of holding a 24lb sleeping child with one arm, I was starting to perspire. After 10 minutes and 2 seconds, I looked like I had just got out of the shower. Yes, there were tears, lots of them, but they didn’t last for half an hour, that was sweat pouring from my brow and running passed my eyes (which, by the way, hurts).

The sweat was one thing, after 20 minutes my arm started to quiver. I couldn’t help it, it was just shaking bent at 90 degrees holding Tanner in that heat was just too much for my old muscles to take.

There were a bunch of religious people (you know, middle America christian types) who were looking at the 300lb beer bellied lout in strange kind of way. It was almost as if they had already decided that I wasn’t the right type of dad. But here I was apparently crying and shaking uncontrollably, I couldn‘t be all bad, I‘d seen the light……. If only they knew.

We got back to the hotel by about 4:30 and then considered our next move.

The father in me, that has lain dormant for all these years, leapt into action. I’ll go for a beer and Tracy can deal with him. Just Kidding.

We knew that there was a formula/rice cereal mixture and Jack, our guide, told us 4 and 4. Got it.
Okaaaaay, looks like porridge, an elephant couldn’t suck that out of a bucket, let alone a baby from a bottle.

More water. The attempts at mixing went on and on. We came to the conclusion (turned out correctly) that we had the wrong formula.

Tanners caregivers had left us with nothing, no formula, no pictures, nothing.

The poor little sod went to sleep hungry. We called Jack. He told us to give him Congee.

Sunday August 23rd

Sunday.

Woke up after 3 hours, not a lot to do in Guangzhou at 4 am.

Went to Starbucks at 7.

The rest of the day is a blank, we spent some time checking out the restaurants in the hotel and then ordered pizza. I know, I know, I love Chinese food, but should anything you eat look like that?

Mike and I went swimming at 9:45pm.

That was that.

Saturday August 22nd

Saturday.

I think it’s saturday. We got to Shanghai airport earlier than expected and had arranged to meet Mike and Cheryl in one of the 2 bars on the ground floor of the terminal. I had sent Mike a plan of terminal 1of the airport prior to departure, there were only 2 wine glass symbols, what could go wrong?

A quick glance at the map on exiting the customs area and I soon realized we were in terminal 2. Sod it!

Making the best of a bad situation, we had a beer in the bar right outside international arrivals and waitede for their flight to land.

We hooked up without any problems and headed for the other terminal.

It is a bit odd looking for people you’ve only ever seen in photographs. But Mike was the only fella that came through looking like a man that could wear a skirt and get away with it (he’s a bagpiper).

After what seemed like a 3 mile walk, we made it to terminal 1.

Flight to Guangzhou was delayed by about an hour. Which was bad enough for us but M & C had been travelling 8 hours longer than us!

Bed, hard as a rock but a bed (thought of Tanner sleeping on apiece of wood).

Friday, September 4, 2009

Well, I got a phone call at 7am this morning. It was kind of like being in a spy movie about the KGB or something...it was Tony saying "don't ask any questions, just get a pen and write this number down".

That woke me up alright, I didn't know that my husband and or son were possibly enemies of the State.

It turns out it was the number of the hotel Tony was sent to after sitting on a plane for 4 hours, . They determined that the plane was broken.
Long story short, I was speaking to a very upset person...they didn't even give him any info on the next available flight, so I had to deal with Air Canada on this end. Let me tell you, not the most helpful folks. I finally squeezed the flight info and seat details out of them, and wouldn't you know it, the boys were assigned seats 20A and 22K. I sorted that out and got them primo seats nearer the front. I think they should get 1st class seats for their trouble, but that would mean excellent customer service. Wouldn't want to spoil Air Canada's record, would we.

Anyway, the boys should be rolling Saturday AM around 6am. No rest for the wicked.

Giggles

Here is a shot taken on August 26th. He makes me laugh...not at all like the deer-in-the-headlights look he has on his referral photo.

Update

Sorry folks, I just got back from China where blogs are not allowed...big brother. I will try to update later this week. Maybe I can make it a school project or something as I start school Today (Sept 1) yeesh! Talk about when it rains, it pours. Wish me luck.

Tracy