Ellie's new tricks

Ellie is just a doll. Poor baby has had a second ear infection (but is starting to pull out of it) and has started getting bumps and bruises (including today's shiner!) as she has a chance to explore her world. She's not yet figured out balance, even when sitting and leaning over to grab something.

Her latest new trick is learning to smile. I wonder if smiling is more social than laughing. Most of the time thus far, Ellie has laughed, and the pictures we have are laughing pictures. But in all the photos we had from the orphanage I'd noticed that she never smiled. As we got to know her the last two weeks I've been struck by the fact that she never just smiles, not in response to my smiles, not as a greeting.

Yesterday, she spontaneously started practicing just smiling. She bares her teeth and squints up her eyes. I know it is practice and not "real" because she still doesn't smile in response to anything, or as a greeting. She does it randomly, and often two or three times in a row. She's seen us do it, and is trying it out. She also has tried other facial expressions, but none are as obvious. I had to take about 10 pictures with my slow-shutter digital camera to capture it, but I finally got one! She is utterly hilarious!

Head-Shaking Game

Ellie's new favorite game is to shake her head at someone, and then wait for them to shake back at her. Here is an example! She started by shaking "no" (though of course it is still meaningless; she is just copying gestures she sees us using) and now (about 3 days later) is also doing up-and-down. She seems to be very social, with all this copying of gestures.

Jet Lag

We've been home now for almost 2 days, and one or the other of us has been asleep nearly all of that time. Both boys had unintended naps. Jeremiah mumbled, "sleep is overcoming me" just before he passed out. Ellie is the best sleeper among us. The first night, she'd slept on the last two plane rides, so arrived home and woke right up. The lights were all out and all male beings were asleep, which Ellie did not like at all. She insisted that I carry her at all times. She didn't even want her feet touching the ground in this strange place. I showed her the sleeping men, but she doesn't like seeing people asleep, so that didn't help. I played games with her on our bed, nodding off every few seconds and jerking awake. Finally I fell asleep and woke a couple of hour later to find her asleep next to me on the bed (we've got bedrails, so it isn't as dangerous as it sounds) with my hand still holding onto her. After that, she fell asleep, waking only for bottles. Last night she did the same, getting about the same amount of sleep as she did in China. The boys, however, woke last night between two and three and stayed up until about 4pm...

Home Sweet Home

Jeremiah: Last night we arrived at home. I was sort of glad to be back. The only problem was that it was 12:30 AM (which is the middle of the night). It was a problem because we barely got to play at all. We had to go straight to bed, even though we weren't tired. This is because it was lunchtime in China and we were used to that time. When we got home, we found out that our friends had visited our house and left us some stuff. They also put up a sign that said her name and something in Chinese.

The Return Trip

Leslie: It is about 10pm, and we are packing. Our luggage has to be outside our door at 5am, and we leave the hotel at 5:50am. We fly to Hong Kong with most of our group (a very short hop) and then about 5 families go on the same flight to LA, including little Amelia, who was on the plane out with us, but not with our agency. We lost sight of her in Beijing and we've seen again these last couple of days. The flight is 12 hours, with a three hour layover in LA. We arrive at 10 and leave again at 1:30, for Charlotte. Somehow we don't arrive in Jacksonville until almost midnight, with all the time changes. I think it will turn out to be something like 36 hours, door to door. Yikes! This will be the ordeal. Wish us luck! We might check in at Charlotte, which has free internet, but LA does not.

These pictures were taken on our walk back from the pearl market. The first is a "recycler" at work, taking all the useable bits from an old fridge. The second is the guy carrying a gas cannister on his bike. China!

Red Couch Photos

Leslie: These are the famous "red couch" photos at the White Swan hotel. Our family (the boys and Ellie are in their Chinese traditional clothes), the kids (our kids and their closest friends), and all the babies (crying of course!). Ellie is crying too, not because she was uncomfortable or scared, but because everyone else was, so she thought she'd better cry too. She is reaching for Jeremiah.

Guangzhou Market

Our last day of sightseeing. We walked out of our fantasy-world of Shamian Island and into real Guangzhou. We were warned not to bring much cash and to keep all valuables in our fronts, because there are lots of pick-pockets. We had no trouble with that (it is probably no worse than London or New York)! We walked through a street of spices, beans, mushrooms and other dried food items, (the hanging pile to the left here are dried starfish!), then through a street of live animals (food or pets?) including kittens, puppies, fish, bunnies, and chicks. Finally we were in a big shopping street that looked like nothing so much as.... Chinatown in America. Who knew that the arches and tiny little shops crammed with strange things is exactly like what a shopping street in China looks like?