Charming Charlie

We think Charlie understands about 20% of what we say, and he is actually easier to understand than I expected.  He says 2 phrases in Chinese all the time that we know:  “What is that?” and “Where are we going?”  And he says a lot of simple English phrases.  He can tell us when he is hungry, sleepy, thirsty and when he has to go pee-pee or poo-poo.   When he wants a snack he’ll say, “I hungry Mama.  Snack please?”  When he wants candy he’ll say, “Candy Shop!”

He likes to press the button for the elevator and then we get in he sits on the floor and says, “Wheeee!”  

He gets around great, but he feels and smells everything.  His vision is significantly worse than Kate’s, but he is very confident when getting around and tough when he falls or bumps into things.  He hasn’t had any cane training yet, but that will be in his future. 

He devoured congee at breakfast yesterday morning and was very clear what fruit he likes and what he doesn’t.  Then he went around to all of our plates and picked up and sampled almost everything.  Eating in public is going to be a challenge.

He has the bladder the size of a peanut and has to pee all the time.  Yesterday we had to go to Luoyang, the city where he was born and spent the first 2 years of his life.  We went to meet a member of his orphanage staff at the passport office and applied for his passport.  It is 2 hours one way and we stopped once on the side of the road, once at a service station and finally decided to just let him pee in an empty bottle.  He and Sam were laughing so hard they could hardly breathe.  It was pretty hilarious and much easier than trying to stop anywhere.  Something tells me we may be doing this again.  Amazingly, he hasn’t wet the bed.

He LOVES things that make noise.   He has a personal fan that he takes everywhere and he even slept with it last night.  He thinks Bop It is hilarious and quotes the lines when we are out and about.  “Bop It!  Twist it!  Pass It!  Oh, so close!”

For the most part he is very affectionate.  He just likes to dictate when he shares his affections.  Sometimes Sam will say, “Can I give you a hug?” and he’ll say, “No hug, Sam.”  And other times he will lean in to hug and say, “and kiss?” 

He got to take a long bath in the bathtub last night.  He was soooo happy.  He had so much fun and used a hundred gallons of water.  After a while, I got him out, dried him off and helped him pick out some pajamas.  Then he said, “No pajamas.” And jumped back in the tub, where he stayed about 30 more minutes.  Since he was taking so long, Sam decided to just take a shower.  When Charlie eventually got out, and realized Sam was in the shower, he jumped in there with him and danced around and squealed with delight.  Again, Sam thought it was equally hilarious.  

Last night when we were going to bed, he did not want to sleep and finally agreed that he would lay on the couch.  He wanted to make sure we were all going to sleep, so he did roll call over and over about 20 times:  “Mama?  Baba?  Saaam?  Kaaate?”  Yes, Charlie.  We’re all here.  Then 2 seconds later:  “Kate?  Sam?  Sam?  Sam?  Mama?  Baba?”  It took about 30 minutes, but he finally went to sleep and slept all night.