Happy days

Well, I have great great news to report… Carli Crying Countdown is retired, hopefully forever. I know you all have been in suspense, so I’ll report on this and then move on to other things.

Last night after over 35 minutes of crying I decided enough was enough. I picked Carli up, wrapped her up tight in my arms, and looked her straight in the eye and said in my best stern father voice, “You are done crying! No more, that’s it.” Well, she had stopped crying when I picked her up, but I laid her right back down into bed, tucked her in again, kissed her good night, and that was it, she went to sleep.

So, today at nap time, the story started playing out again. Once we started getting ready for a nap she started whimpering and getting sad. When I told her it was time for a nap and asked her to climb into her bed she started crying. I picked her up, used my hand to shut her mouth, and told her again that there was no crying. She stopped! Carli Crying Time = 10 seconds!!! She went down for a nap.

Then, this evening, after a bath, we got them dressed, teeth brushed, and pajamas on. We came into the room and without prompting she climbed into bed. We tucked her in and no fussing, nothing! She played with her dolls a bit, just like the first few nights she was with us. Seriously amazing. Incidentally, she is really cute in her bed. When she lays down she has two dolls – one that she had in the orphanage and a stuffed animal we brought – and she lays them down on her pillow very carefully and pats them tenderly to make sure they are tucked in. It is very sweet to watch.

But, just to give you an idea of her extremes… we had her health check today. This is just a process we go through to get basics checked before getting her visa. They check temperature, weight, height, sight, hearing, etc. Carli threw a fit at every station and was in a general bad mood there. When it came time to the hearing (the last station) the doctor had several squeaky toys and instruments to get the babies attention and get their head to turn to the sound. Well, Carli was in such a mood that she wouldn’t look at them or move her head for the sound. She just looks away from anyone or anything when she’s mad. So, the doctors didn’t think she could hear… we had 4 doctors in there at one point and Jophy, our guide, and I were working to convince them she could hear and speak fine. Finally we did, but Carli was so stubborn she would not respond to any of the noises… they were squeaking and banging everything as loud as they could all around her head and ears and she just stared off in to space, stone faced.

Today we took a taxi to Cloud Mountain, the highest mountain in Guangzhou. We took a gondola ride to the top and then walked down, at least a couple miles. It is really amazing but all over this mountain there are hundreds of people out, mostly seniors, exercising – walking, playing hackey sack, ping pong, Tai Chi, everything. It is really really cool to see how much they value physical activity and having fun together.

This evening we went for a tour of Guangzhou at night. This is neat because the buildings are lit up, the boats on the river are lit up, and the city is very beautiful. At one point we were walking along the river. Amanda had Carli ahead of us and Megan and I were walking with Jenna, holding each hand. Carli was in a real good mood and talking the whole time. Megan and I were swinging Jenna and she was laughing loudly. Carli was watching and yelling. Our guide translated for us – Carli was saying “Mei mei (little sister), what are you doing?” Carli was laughing with Jenna and yelling this. It was great!

Carli loves looking at pictures and so we show her pictures of Connor and Andrew all the time and tell her those are her big brothers (pronounced guh-guh). We also have a book that has pictures of everyone, and so we all talk about all our other family, also. Connor and Andrew have also been able to see Carli over the web and say hello to her so hopefully everyone is ready to meet and be siblings together. I know we’re ready to be whole as a family. Although, Amanda has made me swear, cross my heart, hope to die, stick a finger in my eye that this is our last one. I’m in agreement, and the next time we come back to China it’ll be as a family of 6 to do some real touring.

Tomorrow is a shopping day. We walk to the jade and pearl market nearby, have lunch at Pizza Hut, and spend some time at a mall. Then, tomorrow afternoon, we have our consulate appointment and we’re done with any paperwork. Just another day to enjoy Guangzhou… I’ll be ready to leave but I’m already thinking about our next trip back!

Some pictures… (you can click on a picture to see a bigger version of it)