We left off yesterday anticipating a first bath. We are happy to report that it all went swimmingly. Christopher was unbelievably cute. He sat down in the water with a huge smile, pushing and slamming his two toys in the water with abandon. Washing him was a breeze. Michael of course took the obligatory first bath pictures, which we will use to blackmail him when he’s a teenager.
We made huge progress with bedtime tonight! It still took about an hour to get him to fall asleep tonight but he didn’t cry, scream or wail. Maybe it was the bath that worked wonders. There were only a few experiments with suckering us into playing, then baby talk for about a half an hour while Deborah sang to him. At one point, he gently took Deb’s hand and put it on top of his forehead for her to stroke his hair. Pretty clearly someone had done that for him before. He was showing us what to do. Slowly he passed out, after which we passed out.
The next thing we knew it was 8:10 am. The good news was Christopher slept straight through the entire night and he was happy when he woke up, no crying. After a bit of scrambling we were off to breakfast and then to visit Christopher’s finding spot and orphanage.
First we visited Christopher’s “finding spot,” Kunming Red Cross Hospital. This is where he was found before being taken to the orphanage. It was a big hospital and there were a lot of people inside. Getting on the elevator was quite an event. A big crowd would gather in front of each elevator door and then basically shove their way in the door when it opened. If there were too many people on the elevator, a buzzer would go off. This happened when we got on our first elevator and we were basically told to exit, in Chinese of course with a man tugging on Michael’s shirt, since we were the last to get on.
Christopher got bumped a bit but he didn’t seem to care too much though he did seem a little flustered by it all. Incredibly, our guide told us that there were less people there than usual on that day.
We were really lucky as our guide was able to take us to the room where Christopher was found, a brightly lighted patient’s room in the OB section with two beds. A woman visiting a patient in the room came out and said hi (pronounced Knee How in Chinese) to us and of course Christopher. It was really nice.
After visiting the hospital we headed over to the orphanage where Christopher spent the first six months of his life before being moved to the “foster village.” Apparently this is typical. Unless a child has a special need, he or she is sent to live outside the city with a family until adoption or adulthood (18 like in the States). We were a little apprehensive about taking him there because we thought he might remember the people or the place and we didn’t want to traumatize him. Once again, there was no problem. If anything, it was an extremely positive experience because it showed us how much he has already bonded to both of us. While we were there, one of his “nannies” recognized him and reached out as if to touch him. Christopher’s response was classic for a toddler; he clung to his mommy tightly and turned his head away. He gets a bit shy with strangers.
The orphanage itself was clean and apparently well –staffed. We were taken to several large rooms that included a play room where we discovered Christopher likes to play with balls. Michael was especially thrilled when Christopher got a big kick out of Michael dribbling one of the balls. Christopher took hold of the ball, threw it, kicked it and laughed and laughed. He made us all laugh too.
Communicating with Christopher has also been surprisingly easy given we can’t speak Chinese. It’s amazing what you can communicate with sign language, tone of voice and grunts. Following afternoon nap time today, it’s off to the Chinese Walmart. We heard that it is crazy…lots of stuff and people.
We are having a really great time in China and we both feel so fortunate.
(See pictures below) |
