Sunday Funday

Today we went to Shamian Island, which is where we stayed when we adopted Kate.

It brought back a lot of memories, and we even ran into another family adopting a little girl with albinism there.  That was a lot of fun.

We bought a few souvenirs and ate at Lucy's, an American restaurant full of adoptive families. Charlie was very excited to get a new toy that makes noise and has batteries.  He enjoys playing with batteries almost as much as toys.

Some of our friends from Duke came all the way from Hong Kong for a visit, and we were glad to be able to visit with them.  They also came up to Guangzhou to visit us 6 years ago when we adopted Kate, and it was great to visit with old friends when we're far from home.

Charlie is stringing longer sentences together, and always adds his manners in.  For example, when he is shivering at the pool with purple lips and says, "May we go to room for hot water now please, Mama?" I know he has had enough and wants a warm bath.

His "security blanket" today has been our room key, which he calls "Kiwi."  He has had it in his hand all day long, and only agrees to put it his his pocket if he is in the pool or using the bathroom.

We have found out the hard way that he is fine if he leaves us, but we are not permitted to leave him. The other day I left the pool to go to the room with Kate to get something and he had a complete meltdown when he realized I was gone.  And today at lunch, Stephen went to meet his friends and it took Charlie several minutes to realize he was no longer at the table. He was NOT okay when he realized it and recovered immediately when Baba returned. Today at lunch he ordered "orange Coke" which made his former-Fanta-marketing-baba happy.

He still has unbelievable energy, but is able to sit still for 5 mins or so play Talking Tom or Dumb Ways to Die (his favorites) on the iPad.

He is very generous with food, and loves to share his food and drinks by feeding us.  He goes around the table and makes sure he doesn't miss anyone.  But he is not so good at sharing the iPad or toys. Obviously Sam and Kate are very ready for him to work on those sharing skills and lay off on feeding them all of the time.

This boy can put away a bowl of noodles in 15 seconds flat.  Hotdog eating contests may be in his future.

Yesterday at the supermarket we told the kids they could each pick out a drink. Charlie pointed to a drink with a blue label and said he wanted a blue drink.  I picked it up and saw that it was a coffee drink.  I said, "This is not for Charlie. This is coffee."  And he said, "For Mama. Mama drink coffee."  So we bought it and every time he opens the fridge he points out "Mama's drink." "This MAMA's drink.  Coffee.  For Mama."  By the way, if you think your kid says Mom or Mama all the time, you should hang out with a blind kid who is worried you might disappear!