The Plague descends upon our house . . .

We're all sick or getting sick: Micah's had a miserable cough for more than a week, keeping him (and us) awake at night and just making life hard, especially since he's not eating much. (He is still drinking his bottles of formula and sippy cups of water.) His cough is so harsh, I half expect to hear the wet splat of a lung hitting the wall. He and I finally went to see the doctor yesterday, and he's now on azithromycin - and we'll see how things go over the next few days. Micah is so much better than Thea at taking medicine. Thea started with a cough and runny nose Friday, I've had something lurking in my sinuses on and off for a couple weeks, we just need to get better before Christmas.

I got most of our holiday cards out this week, with a few stragglers here and there. Next year, back to shutterfly.com or kodakgallery.com. Now if I could just get motivated to do the Christmas shopping.

The Bureau of Vital Statistics re-issued Micah's New Jersey birth certificate, so the Bite-Me comment can be rescinded. Despite the screw up with the file number, it still took less time than Thea's birth certificate.

By stock in Kimberly-Clark, the only holiday decor in our house is fluffy drifts of tissues all overthe place.

Potty-less in Princeton

I'm shamelessly riffing off of one of my favorite blogs, http://www.cluelessincarolina.blogspot.com/. If you read the Crayola Factory post, you're aware that on Friday, my dear sweet Micah flushed a small plastic bottle down the powder room commode. This is the potty of first resort when you have a four-year old whose executive planning skills doesn't include making time to use the bathroom. Out of commission for the weekend, hike to the upstairs bathrooms, plan ahead.

The very nice plumber came Monday afternoon, gave the toilet the equivalent of an endoscopy with the snake, pulled the toilet, gave it the equivalent of a colonoscopy and said that there is the perfect place for something this size to wedge itself, beyond the reach of the snake. So the toilet got taken - likely to be replaced on Wednesday. The plumber's boss called and said they'd give it one more try in the shop before declaring it dead.

So right now we have a gaping hole in the powder room floor, stuffed with half a roll of paper towels to prevent sewer gas from making its presence known and morning will bring either the old almond porcelain toilet back to us, or a new white one. For the sake of expense, I hope it's the old one, but since the plumber said that it was likely a lost cause and new toilets do not come with seats, the kids and I went to Home Depot and bought a toilet seat - and a new kitchen faucet.

This was after schlepping for the third trip to UPS in Hamilton/Trenton to try and pick up my prescription pads. They must be signed for and handed to a live person, so what I usually do afte the delivery notice arrives is get on the UPS web site and have them held for pick-up. It's been a fairly routine, every six month occurance since I started working at the family practice in 2001. Wednesday the delivery came, and since we were all at the ophthalmologists' office, the notice was on the door. That night I put the hold notice in the computer. Thursday morning Micah and I go to UPS on our way down to Columbus. Hours have changed, the pick-up/drop-off place now opens at 11:30. Bite me, UPS.

So we stop off on the way home from work/day care on Thursday and the package is out for delivery, whoever is in charge of pulling it FAILED to do her job. Bite the other butt cheek, UPS.
Friday, we bailed and went to Crayola, so another day lost - for a package that allegedly will only be held at UPS until December 5th. Finally on Monday after picking up Thea at school, we went one more time and got the package. Fortunately, my supply of Rx pads is not completely used up so I was only flipping out over the number of trips there in a world where gasoline is almost $3/gallon.

Bite Me, NJ Bureau of Vital Statistics

Back in mid-October, on a Wednesday when Ela wasn't able to come for Micah's session, he and I zipped down to the Bureau of Vital Statistics to apply for his NJ birth certificate. I was thrilled that the person who had helped me with Thea's application had not yet retired, brought all my papers and then some, and we got through the whole process and went home to wait. The wait for Thea's NJ birth certficiate to arrive was around four months, and that was considered very, very fast.

So imagine my utter delight when right around Thanksgiving, Micah's NJ birth certificate arrived in our mailbox. I went to the Yahoo group for NJ parents with children adopted from China and posted my surprise and happiness. . . .

. . . .and then last week a letter arrives from BVS asking me to return those birth certificates because they had the wrong file number on them. And the office sent an envelope but didn't even have the decency to put postage on it, considering it was its error, not mine. So today, after seething quietly about this, I finally copied everything (including the envelope because the person who had written the accompanying letter wrote on it so that it would come back to her) and sent it off.

Maybe obtaining Micah's passport will be trouble-free part of this whole documentation process. . . . I doubt it - and it worries me because when I do apply for it, I have to surrender the one and only copy of his Certificate of Citizenship. It is returned with the passport, but considering even expedited processing isn't really expedited, giving that up, hoping it doesn't get lost in the processing, is more than I can handle right now. And we're not going anywhere anytime soon anyway.

Crayola Factory & National Canal Museum

What do you do when your toddler flushes a four-ounce bottle of his sister's juice down the powder room toilet, flooding the bathroom? You mop up and decamp for greener pastures. Actually we were on our way to going to Easton to the Crayola Factory when Micah found a four-pack of Thea's juice somewhere on its way upstairs and decided to see if the four bottles and his bottle of formula would sink, swim or flush. Thea pulled two out of the toilet, I found one in the foyer, and the fourth is likely lodged somewhere beyond reach. The plumber will be coming on Monday, and his fee will be deducted from a future allowance payment.

Anyway, Crayola is just a bit more than an hours' drive from Princeton, and the route goes right past the drive-thru D-n-D, so coffee was also part of the agenda. Thea warmed up to Crayola pretty quickly - there are just so many little projects to try out: we got modeling clay, made gingerbread puppets, paper-bag puppets, went to this area that projected her movements onto a screen in various colors and speeds. She tried out her Super Spy dance moves and was impressed with the results. Micah liked the area that had lots of plastic balls that you dropped into a bin, the balls rode up on a screw-like device, went on rails over to a series of plastic ramps down into the bin where they could be retrieved and the process repeated, and repeated, and repeated.

An elevator ride above Crayola is the National Canal Museum, which was very cool - very hands on: Thea could take a model of a canal boat and move it through a series of locks up and down, loading coal along the way, until the boat arrived at the other end. She took it very seriously, unlike the three boys on a school field trip who were playing Battleship with their canal boats.

They could also build their own canal using a series of plastic walls and sending bathtub boats through the chutes that they created. Thea got to steer the tiller of a mock-up of a canal boat, which made a platform move and she tried pulleys to lift a 32 pound barrel to see which pulley system made it easier to lift. I almost enjoyed all of this more than Crayola, especially since there were fewer people around.

After we made the obligatory stop at the Crayola Factory Store, we had lunch at Perkins and then drove home. Micah was asleep before we got to the bridge over the Delaware River, and Thea conked out after a few rounds of games on her Leapster.

The Eyes Have It. . . .

Today was ophthalmologist appointment day for the kids. This was on the To-Do list from Micah's ENT, but was a lower priority than the audiograms, the renal ultrasound, EIP evaluation, etc. Thea's got included in the field trip because Steve thought she was having a problem with distance vision because she couldn't (wouldn't?) read a speed limit sign while out on a walk on Thanksgiving. So on Monday, while driving home from Summit Speech School, I called South Jersey Eye Physicians - and got appointments for today. Sort of amazing. . .

And. . . .both of them check out just fine. Thea did well on all parts of the exam, except the second eye drop - the first one didn't thrill her, and she was not pleased about having the process repeated. But Dr. Wexler seems to have a particular talent for prying open small eyelids and getting the job done - and then the whole process was repeated on Micah, except he had to have two drops because of his age. Not quite the meltdown of the ER visit, but he was not pleased at being placed in his second headlock of the week. Then we got to go out to the waiting room to leave another trail of mayhem and destruction while the eye drops worked their magic.

Anyway, Micah's exam was normal and Thea has 20/20 vision and does not need glasses - and she did the "big girl" test with the letters and not the shapes, so she's quite proud of herself.

One more thing crossed off the list, leaving just bloodwork left for Micah. (The ENT also recommended genetic counseling, but I don't really see the point if all his other exams are normal and he's developmentally on track. It wouldn't change what we're doing or plan to do, so why bother just for the privilege of paying another co-pay and seeing another specialist.)

Next week on December 5th we have yet another audiogram at JFK, the second one with the BAHA, then I probably should make another appointment with the ENT to check in with him.

Monday night I went back to Summit School for the reading and book signing. Josh Swiller is even better in person than on the NPR interview. I got my copy of his book signed for Micah. I highly, highly recommend his book The Unheard.

More later.

Baby's 1st ER Visit

We've always told Thea no ER visits until after you're five years old. Somehow I missed out on conveying that important piece of information to Micah - and tonight we went to the ER for the first time and he got a few stitches in his forehead. It all started with his standing on the sofa and trying to jump or walk, and going off the edge and right into the edge of the coffee table - not the first time this has happened, but this time he conked his head just right and there was a little gash on his forehead. It looked tiny enough, but since it kept oozing, I wanted to have it checked out, especially since it was on an area on the forehead where his BAHA band sits.

Fortunately tonight was a quiet night at the University Medical Center ER (I've always hated that name, it's like the hospital is trying to capitalize on a non-existent relationship with Princeton University). No sooner than giving Micah's information to the receptionist and getting an ID bracelet slapped on his ankle were we taken into the triage area, and no sooner did the triage nurse tell us to go out and wait did the trauma tech come along and take us back.

The tech took off Micah's bandaid, told me that it was going to need stitches and went away. Phooey, I was hoping that someone would glue Humpty Dumpty back together and we could get out of there quickly, but it was not to be. And a big fat non-thank you to that trauma tech for not giving me a tissue or a gauze to catch the blood that started to seep out and run down Micah's forehhead yet again after yanking at the bandaid. Fortunately I felt ballsy enough to rummage for what I needed (I really like the vest I had on and didn't feel like getting blood on it).

The rest of the staff we dealt with (Dr. Lee, Nurse Jacqueline, Cecil) was very nice. The doctor and nurse got him numbed up, and then Cecil came in to wrap Micah in a sheet and then put him on the papoose board. Micah had a little snooze after the local anesthetic went in, so he came back full throttle with the wailing and wiggling for Act II. I held his head for the first set of stitches, then the nurse took over for round two - it's hard work to hold a little body still for more than a few minutes and Micah's determination to fight and let us know how pissed off he was did not flag for one single second until he was released from the Velcro.

All in all, with his bonking his head at 7:05, getting to the ER at 8:00, we were home by 9:15 pm which has to be some sort of record. Micah should sleep like a rock after this - but he's fooled us many other times.

Hearing Test w/the BAHA, etc.

Today was going to be a good day; I actually wasn't dreading having to spend 90 minutes in group while Micah was doing his thing at Summit School. Then we spent time in traffic, driving in what Steve said would be 'flurries' and what I would term big, fat, fluffy flakes that were coming down at an amazing rate. The landscape went from just wet in Princeton to something out of a Currier & Ives print up in New Providence. First snow of the season so it completely stymied most of the drivers on I-287 and I-78, making the trek up to Union County that much more pleasant. I chugged most of my coffee en route, which was a bit of a mistake and miscalculation on my part: when the roads are iffy and one is not familier with the choke points, don't opt for the extra large cup at Dunkin Donuts.

Micah is teething, still - more teeth than I care to think about. If I were him, I'd be chugging a Percocet smoothie or two, but he's having to get by on infant Motrin or Tylenol. There are at least five or six bottom teeth emerging, and yesterday when I got a finger in to rub his gums while trying to get a visual, I swear there is an upper molar or two also coming in. He's a little whinier, a little clingier, but still being a trooper through it all.

His trooperishness flagged when I handed him over to the therapist before trotting out to the mommies group. He was ticked, and one starts crying, the whole group usually chimes in. Which makes me feel like crap just walking out of the room.

Then while cleaning my mental sock drawer in group, I realized that instead of accomplishing all the wonderful things I put on the list for today, I would be driving from New Providence to Edison because Micah had another round of audiological testing at JFK Medical Center. And my folder of all information pertinent to Micah, Summit School, JFK, etc. - including directions - was at home.

There were only two other children there this morning, Cormac (bilateral cochlear implants) and Connor (hearing aids) - and the discussion this morning was centered on plans for Thanksgiving and that most families all have their quirky, dysfunctional aspects. Personally, I'd have rather been painting the fingerprint turkey and coloring the acorn (a study in brown Crayola) with Micah. They also brought snow in to the classroom in buckets so the children got to scoop it and mush it.

Micah slept on the way to Edison, which I got to via I-78 and the Garden State, rather than the windy back roads way that http://www.randmcnally.com/ spewed out. He did pretty well on his testing - with a little adjustment of the volume on his BAHA, which was sent between 1 and 2 to closer to the 2, his hearing came in at the 30 dB range. And we have to go back in two weeks for a retest to duplicate the results to make sure they are accurate. Then if all goes well, the next follow-up at JFK will be in three to four months.

Next week, I'm bagging Parent-Infant Group because there is going to be book reading that evening at Summit School by two hearing impaired authors : Josh Swiller, whose book The Unheard I just read about three weeks ago, and Michael Chorost who wrote Rebuilt about his experience getting cochlear implants as an adult. I heard Josh Swiller's interview on NPR, thanks to Janet, bought the book and read it in about two days (a minor miracle given that most of my reading is accomplished while blow-drying my hair or in the middle of the night if I wake up and can't get back to sleep). The Unheard is one of the best books I've read this year so I want Micah to have this as a part of his future library, once he's done with Dr. Seuss and Curious George.

Yesterday Thea and I went out to lunch, Tiger Noodles, again and then did our grocery shopping and shopping shopping. The project for the past few days has been get ready to do holiday cards. I bought photo cards at the bargain price of eight for $1 at Target, labels and stationery, so now we just needed a picture to put in the cards. Thea was lured into putting on a dress, tights and patent leather shoes; Micah got thrown into a little button down shirt, vest and corduroy pants. I'm glad we didn't take them to The Picture People or whatever, getting one shot of both of them looking decent (smiling would be bonus), Thea not yanking her dress up showing off her pink underwear with the hearts and glow in the dark skulls, and Micah not stuffing two fingers into his mouth while putting a headlock on his rhinoceros would have taken intervention from a higher power.

Then Thea decided that she wanted to put the address labels that we had purchased that afternoon on the envelopes (all 144 of them) so that meant going to the manufacturer's web page and finding the template and printing them. Something I had planned to do in the peace and solitude that comes after both are asleep, but was not to be. She did not tire of this task, but thought she was the most fabulous az-IST-ent (her pronounciation) in the world, standing at my elbow, handing me labels, wearing only the aforementioned pink underwear with red hearts and glow in the dark skulls for that warm, fuzzy love, death and fluorescence look (purchased from Gymboree, not some baby biker shop.)

All I wanted to do was get the cards ready for the eight or nine relatives who live overseas so I could finally, for the first year ever, get them on their way well in advance of Christmas. So Thea's determination to do the whole lot turned a fifteen minute task into a two hour long project. Then she wanted to sign all the cards - which was negotiated down to the nine overseas cards, which she diligently attacked with her blue magic marker, printing a giant T H E A on most of them.

Micah's iPod

On Wednesday Micah and I dropped Thea off at school and made a quick stop to pick up drycleaning and get a cup of coffee (for me,he has plenty of energy w/o caffeine) before heading home for oursession with Ela, his teacher from Summit Speech School. We were in line at Dunkin Donuts with two people behind us, a lady behind me and a man behind her. The guy starts talking to the lady, commenting on it's a shame that children are using iPods that young.

It absolutely floored me that he was within four or five feet of me and felt it was appropriate to make comments, not to me, but to some random person in line - and all within my hearing, and before I got my coffee which would greatly enhance my ability to answer civilly. Instead of verbally eviscerating this twit, I screwed on my best smile and turned to him and said that the band on Micah's head was NOT an iPod, it was a hearing aid and if he looked just a little closer he could see that Micah's ears are not quite normal and thereis no ear canal. Then I turned back and placed my coffee order. I could have almost steamed my own latte.

What annoyed me is that if he would have spoken to me directly instead of just running off at the mouth, I would have been more than happy to explain. Why couldn't he just wait and talk behind my back and beyond the range of my hearing like a civilized person? Who in the world would think a parent would put an iPod-like device on a 20-month old anyway? What did he think Micah was listening to? Baby Mozart? Pink? Yanni? No apology offered by the motor mouth, BTW.

Still no photos of Micah with his BAHA, the one I took last weekend was a little blurred. Eventually. . .


Lydia

The trip to BAHA. . . .

We have arrived, at long last, in the land of BAHA, Micah's soft-band, bone-oscillating hearing aid. Two weeks short of four months home.

Last night, Micah had a horrible night: up several times at midnight, 3:00 am, and 5:45 am. I was up late getting stuff organized, a once every few weeks task, so I answered the 3:00 am wail, changed him and after not getting him on his way back to sleep, I just threw him in bed between me and Thea, figuring he'd either fall asleep or get smothered by one of us, and at that point, either was a viable option in my book. Only to be woken at 5:45 by the sensation of a twenty-plus pound someone crawling around on my side of the bed. Steve drew that one, and finally resorted to putting him in his crib and letting him voice his annoyance for a half hour. Our day was not off to a good start.

After taking Thea to school, Micah and I went to the post office and then raced home to be back in time for Ela, Micah's teacher from Summit School who comes to the house 10:00 am to 12 noon every Wednesday. He always seems to enjoy her activities, but started flaking out around 11:15 or so. Right after Ela left he had a bottle and took a two-hour nap.

JFK's Audiology Department confirmed our appointment yesterday, so I took that as a positive sign that the BAHA that the audiologist had ordered for Micah had arrived from Cochlear (which is located in Colorado). Micah had a good time in the waiting area, playing with his firetruck and rearranging furniture; he made friends with a gentleman who had a family member who adopted from China, so that helped kill some time explaining microtia/atresia to him and that Micah was a boy. (He was a nice man, but he also had the overly simplistic view of adoption from China: "they don't want girls there, right?" Fortunately Dr. Toth came out to get us before having to get too deep into that whole discussion.)

For the technically un-savvy (me), the BAHA seems surprisingly easy to use. There is an elastic band with Velcro, and on the band is a plastic square that the digital sound amplifier snaps onto. This has to be seated on any of Micah's skull bones; we tried out the mastoid bone (behind the ear) and his temple. When it was first put on and turned on, my boy was not happy and wailed for a few minutes - and it was definitely not the actual headband that was bothering him, it was the sounds he was hearing. After several minutes of displeasure, he settled down and didn't bother with the headband or the processor. Which is good, because it costs $3,000, so imagine what it's like strapping a tiny piece of equipment, about the size of your thumb from the knuckle to the tip, onto a toddler's head and saying, "Go forth, play."

It does have a tiny lanyard that goes through the unit with a clip that can be attached to the neck of Micah's shirt. Even though I'm not really worried about it in the house or in the car, we're using it for now because it may give us the three or four seconds needed to save it from going in the toilet or bathtub. On children older than age four or so, this device is snapped onto a pin that is implanted in the bone behind the ear area. Surgery to implant the pins isn't done on younger children because the bone isn't strong enough, hence the softband holding it onto the child's head.

I'll post pictures later, he looks a little like a hippie or a pirate. After getting home tonight, the most I could manage was getting cleaned up after dinner and getting Thea off to bed. I am happy that the biggest item on our Micah to-do list is checked off. We have to go back to JFK on the 19th for testing in the sound booth - for now we're rotating locations on his head to see where he seems to get the best reception. Testing in the sound booth will check on this.

My only (minor) worries now are that people will think that he's a girl because of the headband or that they will talk to him in that "I must speak slowly because he's mentally impaired" voice. This child is sharp as a tack. I need to get a couple of t-shirts made up for him: I AM NOT A GIRL, and if you don't believe me, feel free to change my diaper, and I HAVE A HEARING IMPAIRMENT, my IQ is probably higher than yours.

Halloween, etc.

This is Thea, International Super Spy with her friend Emily, Super Girl as they were about to start trick-or-treating. This year Thea stayed out much longer and even had to come home to empty her small treat bag. Micah went out in the stroller, but seemed enjoy being part of the fun. He wore his cousin Willi's pumpkin sweatshirt and pumpkin socks. We got a lot of kids - and got rid of about eight or nine bags of candy in the process. By nine o'clock, things had wound down and we closed up shop and pulled in all the decorations and candles. Thea pretty much ignored her candy; she's not quite at that age where every piece must be sorted - I could offer her a Kinder Schokolade bar for the whole bowl and she'd probably trade.


Micah, without even leaving the house, scored big on Halloween by receiving a nap quilt from Eleanor, who gave a similar one to Thea three years ago and who made the quilt for Thea's bed (and the pillow cases, and a doll's quilt and pillow from the same fabric, and a nap quilt, too.) It is perfect because Micah's teacher has been working on using animals to make sounds and his Baby Signs class taught the signs for horse, cow, pig, etc. So I can probably start passing on some of the pink or pastel baby blankets we've recycled from Thea so Micah won't be scarred for life. . . .

We're still in the seemingly endless wait for Micah's hearing aid. I did get a call from the audiologist at JFK - after we had gotten a message that it was now ok to set up an appointment. She said that she didn't know if the hearing aid would arrive in time - and she wanted to check on what type of band: pastel blue or navy with sailboats. WHO GIVES A FIG ABOUT WHAT COLOR BAND? If Micah had a vote, he'd probably pick something in the fuschia with rhinestones category, but since he doesn't I went with the navy.

Then I spoke with the audiologist at Summit Speech School, who seems to have much more experience with bone-conduction hearing aids than the audiologist at JFK. It seems that all soft bands have just one hearing aid, not two, but if Micah were eventually to have a bone-anchored hearing aid then it could be bilateral. Bone-anchoring is not on our agenda until the issue of whether or not surgery is possible to construct ear canal and ear drums is settled. And she said that Cochlear, the company in Colorado who makes this type of hearing aid could definitely get the hearing aid to JFK in time for our appointment on November 7th. And the next time we're up in Summit for Parent-Infant Group, she could take a look at it to check it out.

On Halloween, Micah and I went to Larchmont Imaging for his renal ultrasound. Because the ears and kidneys evolve at about the same time in utero, the ENT recommended getting this done. From watching the screen, I know that Micah has two kidneys, and they seem to have the basic anatomy that is supposed to be there. The technician also checked his bladder as well, which was full - so we had to hang around until he emptied it so it could be rechecked in its post-void state. Fortunately the bladder cooperated pretty quickly. One more thing checked off the list, now onto getting his bloodwork done and getting him to the ophthalmologist (another of the ENT's recommendations.)

Today Micah is 20 months old, four more months until the big 2.0.

The Mind Boggles

Wednesday we got a phone call from our service coordinator at Somerset County Early Intervention letting us know that Micah's application for hearing aids was approved. Since the application went from the county to the state on the 10th, the turnaround time for this is supposedly quite fast (unless you're the parents of the child who needs the hearing aids who are looking at the calendar thinking it's THREE months since we got home from China, what is taking so long?). Yesterday the letter actually arrived from the SCHEIS (Special Child Health and Early Intervention Services - if you know German, you know what letter is missing to make it a very appropriate acronym) informing us that we could call the audiology department at JFK (another of the banes of my existence) to set up an appointment for a hearing aid fitting/distribution. So this morning, with one child occupied on the computer and the other destroying the living room, I got on the phone with JFK.

And the audiology department hasn't gotten its letter from the state yet, so no appointment. Once all of this fall into place and the hearing aids can be ordered, it's about two weeks until they come in, and then the wait for the appointment - so we'll have probably been home with Micah FOUR months by the time he's amplified. But it is boggling my teeny tiny brain that I have a letter telling me to get an appointment and cannot do so.

Then later this afternoon, there was a message in our voice mail for Steve, a woman named Debbie from Mercer County EIP stating that Micah had been enrolled with the state's birth defects registry and she wanted to discuss services available because she had received Micah's packet from the state. Huh? Services we've been receiving through Somerset County, where we live, for the past two months. Our mailing address is Princeton, but we're in this odd little corner of Montgomery Township that is in the southernmost part of Somerset County, so in the real world, the equivalent would be trying to convince people you live in Brigadoon. So whatever documents our Somerset County EIP service coordinator needs to do her part in the adventure of getting hearing aids are now languishing in a Mercer County EIP outbox waiting to be sent on to Jessica or into The Void. And the mind boggle rollercoaster rockets onward.

All of this once more proving that if I was going to be diagnosed with a cerebral aneurysm, it would have already happened because it would have blown wide open after the morning/afternoon I had.

Meanwhile and far away, it was a good day for the kids, other than Micah whacking his sister over the head with a toy wooden rolling pin. Thea survived, but with many tears and a nice goose egg - but the saving grace to pull us out of any post-whacking funk was that we met Steve at Panera's for lunch. Micah's ibuprofen dose kicked in; he's cutting at least four, possibly more, teeth so he's somewhat miserable in his cheerful Micah manner; Thea tried salmon from Steve's lunch. After eating, Thea was game to go to Snip-Its for a bang trim- which was a bonus for me because usually there is cajoling and bribing involved in the haircut process.

While Micah slept this afternoon, we tried on Thea's Halloween costume. She wants to be an international super spy, a la Pablo of The Backyardigans. We put together a child's white (polyester) dinner jacket, dress shirt, black bow tie with a pair of black stretch pants and black patent leather shoes. Add a pair of black glasses - and voila! She was quite pleased with the result. (Pictures to follow.)

Dinner tonight was courtesy of my new NP colleague, Karen. Her husband went tuna fishing and got two tuna so yesterday at work there was a nice chuck of tuna in an airtight, sealed freezer bag. And Thea loved the tuna - eating her entire piece and then some. Even Micah, who is trying out being an ovo-lacto vegetarian on for size, or so it seems, tried a bit.

Now it's 11:30 pm, our neighbors just called awhile ago and dropped off their Emily, one of Thea's absolute favorite friends, on the way to the ER in New Brunswick with their younger child who had a fall at daycare with a nice knot on his head and woke tonight throwing up. Emily scores huge points for her resilience - she just took her blanket and stuffed animal and climbed into Thea's bed. Thea's bed is in a state of shock that someone is actually sleeping in it - we're using it with Thea to read books, but she's still sleeping between us. Which was fine back in the days of a 25 to 30 pound two-year old but is not as wonderful now that she's a 50 pound boulder. Thea will be in for a surprise in the morning if Emily's still here.

So with all that going on, I won't bore you with details of Micah's and my trip up to the Parent-Infant Group at Summit Speech School. (Where, while Micah was engaged in productive activities geared toward enhancing his communication skills, I was sitting in a room of mommies discussing their cats and dogs and other stuff that might have been therapeutic for them, but was an hour or so of my life that I am not going to get back. When the facilitator tried to engage those of us who were reorganizing our mental sock drawers rather than talking about pets by asking, "Lydia, do you have pets at home?" I told her that yes we did, an almost seven year old guinea pig that I wish would die so I could reclaim that corner of the dining room and not have Micah trying to figure out whether he wants to put aspen chips with guinea pig feces in them into his mouth. Sort of a conversation killers, but it was too good to pass up.)

Socially Secure. . . .

Three days before the one month mark, Micah's Social Security card arrived, and it was correct - it didn't have the horrible "Valid for Employment Only with DHS Approval" printed on it (as Thea's first card did). So the score is tied, two trips to SSA for Thea, two for Micah. And now I can move on to his NJ birth certificate and U.S. passport.

We also got the medical clearance slip for the hearing aid, which should be the final piece of that puzzle, which puts us at the beginning of a two to three month wait to see what the state produces in the way of funding for Micah's hearing aid. (A bone-conduction soft-band hearing aid runs about $3,000 to $4,000.)

Tonight Thea and I have a date to assemble her party favors for Saturday's party - I'm hoping her excitement level doesn't burn itself out by the actual time of the party. Our oven is officially dead, so the cupcakes will be catered by ShopRite or Whole Foods - for both her party and for the school field trip to the Von Thun Farm. Micah is going to be doing time in the pre-toddlers room at Lawrence Day School so Thea and I can have a real Mommy-Thea morning.

Stupid is as stupid does. . . .

I got a phone call from our service coordinator at Somerset County's Early Intervention Program. JFK/Johnson Rehabilitation Institute, where Micah had his audiograms, will not release the audiogram reports to her without a signed release.

On the day of his first audiogram, when I checked us in for the appointment, I handed the clerk a sheet of paper with the names, addresses, phone numbers and fax numbers for Micah's primary care provider, Summit Speech School and the county EIP requesting that they be sent copies of any reports in addition to the ENT who ordered the test.

It has been like pulling teeth to get anything out of JFK. They wouldn't send the graph of the first audiogram to Summit Speech School (where Micah had his developmental evaluation) because he was having a second audiogram. They took their sweet time getting the report out and it was only a text report, the charts of the two audiograms were described but not included.

I am SICK of stupid, incompetent people who are delaying my kid from getting the help he needs and is entitled to - and this really makes me wonder what happens to kids whose parents just go with the flow and accept the idiocy.

Fortunately, Micah is a happy little clam who is blissfully unaware of all of this crap, and by the time he gets his hearing aids, I will be done with the screaming and cursing.

Brother Tiger stays home, Micah goes to school

This weekend we had an adventure with Thea's two stuffed white tigers, Regular Tiger and Brother Tiger. These guys have been with her since December 2004 or so, and we took (and returned with) both of them from our trip to China this summer. Thousands of miles, at least a half dozen airport security check points, bus and taxi rides, these guys were in the thick of it. Friday night all of us were going to Maryland to see my mother. My mother graduated from high school 60 years ago and I was escorting her to the reunion luncheon. Past 50 years after graduation, they lump all the alumni together into one large "Golden Techite" group. At this particular lunch classes from 1927 (yes, this is not a typographical error) through 1957 were represented. The group gathers at a luncheon each year, and approximately 600 to 700 people attend.

So we pack the car and head down to La Plata. The only time Thea's car door was open was at the rest stop on Route 301 on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. We arrive after 11:30 pm or so at the hotel - my aunt had the guest room at Mom's booked because she was also coming to the high school reunion luncheon. And the car is unloaded and no Brother Tiger. Anywhere. Regular Tiger made the trip in my suitcase, so I knew we had at least one of them. But one tiger and not two is a disaster of monumental proportions.

Fortunately all parties remained calm. The good thing is that we stopped there around 10 pm or so, so not much time had gone by. And through the auspices of Provigil, I drove back to the rest area to see if there was a tiger in the parking lot, inside (through the kindness of some stranger), on the picnic tables or in the trash cans (if someone decided to be a complete jerk). I got back to the hotel at around 3:30 am empty handed.

Thea passed the weekend in good spirits, not saying too much about Brother Tiger. While I was off at the reunion with Mom, Micah and Thea went to Oma's Special Park with Steve, and thanks to the late night on Friday, both of them took naps. Having had almost three hours retracing our footsteps and deconstructing the evenings events, my guess was that Brother Tiger was sitting at home, having never made it to the car because Thea was too busy minding everyone else's beeswax except her own.

Sunday we went to our cousin Elise's first birthday, and left for home just in time to contend with all the traffic from FedEx Field. Fortunately the back roads weren't too bad and we didn't lose much time. By the time we were about half way back to New Jersey, Thea finally asked, "But was if Brother Tiger isn't at home when we get back?"

But he was, much to everyone's relief. He spent the weekend sitting on the back of the sofa. And I felt like a dolt for driving almost 150 miles to/from the rest area.

Today was Micah's first day in the Parent-Infant Program at Summit Speech School. It's an hour's drive north of Princeton, and after a weekend of going to Maryland to visit Oma he was probably not thrilled at being strapped in his car seat yet again. I was hoping that because it was Columbus Day, the school would be closed. No such luck.

The program has about 30 minutes of playtime, then the children stay in the classroom and the parents (all moms today) went off to a conference room for group. The children rotate through various therapists and volunteers. At 11:40 am we got to go back in to the classroom. Micah did ok, but he did seem relieved to see me. Most of the children have cochlear implants or hearing aids. There is one baby with Down's and hearing impairment. Micah is the only child with atresia/microtia.

Book of the Week: The Unheard by Joshua Swiller. Thank you Janet for the link to his interview on NPR, and thank you half.com for the book for $1 plus media mail shipping.

Rant of the Week: I had to get a prescription for hearing aids for Micah, and got one from his ENT and one from his PCP due to my firm belief in overkill. The county's early intervention program also requires a note from the ENT stating that Micah is "medically cleared" for hearing aids. WHY WOULD HE BE GIVEN A PRESCRIPTION FOR HEARING AIDS IF HE WEREN'T MEDICALLY CLEARED? This is a perfect blend of stupidity and redundancy that has people like me taking medication to control blood pressure.

Previous Rant's Postscript: It is now almost a month since I applied for Micah's Social Security card. Nothing. I see another trip to Trenton in the offing. Ugh. Speaking of stupidity.

Social (In)Security, Part II

We made it to the two week mark, and no Social Security card arrived for Micah. Quelle suprise.

Today Micah and I had a full schedule: we dropped Thea off at school, ran down to Hamilton to the Delcrest Medical Supplies to get a new battery for my oto-ophthamoscope, went to D-n-D for a life-sustaining cup of coffee and then went back to Thea's school at 10:30 for a presentation to the first- and second-graders on health, then running up Route 1 to Gymboree for Micah's first Baby Signs class (he thoroughly enjoyed being there, but so far the signing is more for me than him), and once done there, on to Kennections to get my grey banished. Once I was back to being a brunette, my choice was pick up Thea at school or run down to Social Security to see if there was a problem with Micah's application. Bureaucracy won.

No problem. I got the number, printed on a paper sheet, so I'm semi-happy.

But I was told to give it until October 12th before checking again if the actual card doesn't arrive, and it will take another trip down there since none of this is done via phone or email. And if it's going to take a month, then tell me at the start - the letter given on the day we first applied said two weeks. Thea's card, although needing fixing, arrived in six days or so. Is it any wonder why I have to take medication for my blood pressure?

By October 12th, if the Social Security card hasn't arrived, I am going to be way too busy with preparations for Thea's 4th birthday celebration: cupcakes to be baked and decorated, party bags to be made up, presents to be wrapped. And that day her school is going on a field trip to Von Thun Farm, so even though she's usually home with me that day, we're going on the excursion.

Social (In)Security

Micah and I went to the Social Security Administration office in Trenton yesterday. I was going to try out the one in New Brunswick, but since Thea and I had already been to the one on South Clinton Avenue in Trenton, I decided to stick with the familiar. Fortunately for us, at 10 am on a Monday morning the computer spat out a ticket telling us our number in the queue was 84 and the counters above the windows said that 81 was being helped. We came armed with just about every piece of paperwork that has been accumulated since Micah's adoption: his Chinese passport, our passports, his Certificate of Citizenship, birth certificate translation, adoption certificate (original and translation), you name it.

Once our number was called, we went to the window of a very nice clerk, one who had never in her life processed an application of an internationally adopted child. I am hoping that this works in my favor, because last time for Thea's application, I got a veteran who told me I was the best prepared person she had ever worked with. And then Thea's Social Security card came with "Resident Alien: Ineligible for Employment withouth DHS Approval," and when I read that I thought my head was going to explode. Because SSA does not correct its mistakes over the phone, getting a plain, unannotataed card took another trip into Trenton to mix once again with the cream of society. The clerk asked if Micah had a US passport - which needs a SSN, at least according to the application I picked up while at the post office on Saturday.

Did you know that you are only entitled to ten replacements per lifetime of your Social Security card? I wonder what happens if someone is so unfortunate as to need #11?

While the clerk and I were sorting things out (she actually got her supervisor to check her work and my documents), Micah was busy pushing his umbrella stroller back and forth behind me. This caught the attention of three dingy blond, pork rind snarfing harpies who were sitting together and commenting on everything in voices that could broadcast to foreign countries without amplification. Another suburban-ish mom was there to apply for a SSN for her baby, and the harpies were on her case with "Look, she doesn't even know how to carry a baby carrier." Baby was happy, baby's mother looked like she was managing fine, why can people just put their tongues and dentures in neutral and shut the heck up?

Meanwhile back at our window, the clerk didn't include Steve's SSN on Micah's application even though I had written it on the application so I was trying to get that fixed when Micah pulls the stroller over/on top of him. I didn't even hear him fall - which is a good thing because when his head hits the floor there usually is a sickening thud and he starts crying, neither of which happened. But the harpies had a fit, telling me he could have split his head open, I should watch him, blah, blah, blah. Oh, go bite me on my cellulitic pink tushie. But I was a good person, who merely told them that I didn't comment on how they took care of their children so I would prefer they keep their comments to themselves regarding how I was taking care of mine. Not the brightest thing to do, pissing off three white-trash Trentonians, but their numbers in the queue were in the upper 80s and it was unlikely that they would give up their place in line even for the pleasure of beating the snot out of me, so I figured I could make my exit with nothing to fear - and even with bad knees and pushing a stroller, I could probably out run them, too.

So in two weeks, or so the clerk promised, Micah should have his Social Security card. We'll see if it's done correctly the first time. And then I have to decided which of the next rings of paperwork hell I am going to take on: Micah's passport or the New Jersey birth certificate. I think it will probably be the birth certificate, because the office that processes that makes copies of all the documents; for the passport, I'll have to surrender the one and only original of his Certificate of Citizenship and an original of his Chinese birth certificate and adoption certificate. An article on CNN says the passport crunch is over, but the thought of sending those things off into the void makes me a little nervous. The New Jersey birth certificate will give him a one page birth certificate instead of the six-page booklet of translations, certificates and notarizations.

Audiogram & 3rd Anniversary of Thea's Adoption

I'm adding another post keep those of you who have no cable TV, hobbies or social life, or those who have an extremely low threshold for entertainment, updated. Micah had his audiogram at JFK Rehabilitation Institute in Edison (what a miserable drive, everything I hate about roads in NJ and then some).

The test itself turned out pretty well, after being kept in a sound proof room that was about as warm as Hell's antechamber. He got so warm, I had him stripped down to a t-shirt and diaper by the time the appointment was over. As expected the decibel range covered by air conduction was nil (no ear canals, duh), but once they bypassed the structural abnormality, the bone conduction ranges were fine - so a bone-conduction hearing-aid for starters. I'm inclined to do the least invasive for now, the hearing aid, pending hearing from whatever surgeon is going to deal with the surgery later on - sometimes doing the pins for a BAHA (bone-anchored hearing aid) or cochlear implant will preclude future work on the reconstruction of the auricle. I don't much care for the cosmetic part, but Micah may care about this some day so I don't want to make any decisions that will override what he may want to do in the future.

The downside is we go back again in a week for a repeat audiogram, to make sure their assessment was correct and to see if they can distinguish between the left and right ear in terms of ability. I liked both of the audiologists who worked with him, one of whom has a doctorate. She was very much on the same page as me as far as getting Micah communication skills as opposed to solely focusing on his acquiring speech. The one school that Somerset County's EIP works with is more focused on oral/speech and once upon a time had a director who was opposed to sign language. This kid needs sign language as a temporary measure to express his basic needs: thirst, hunger, tiredness, etc. so anyone who is going to look down their noses at me will eventually be also butting heads. The second audiogram may also be able to put off further testing that would require Micah to go under anesthesia, so there is a plus to it.

Thea is doing ok at YingHua Day School, a Mandarin Chinese-immersion program. She taught one of my mom's neighbors "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" in Chinese a few days ago, but then was mortified when I told her teacher about it. She sort of keeps her Chinese school stuff separate from us, which is so adolescent it's almost scary. Today is the third anniversary of her adoption, so we're celebrating Family Day with dinner and a dessert of her choice (blueberries and strawberries (with whip cream, we're not saints)).

Labor Day weekend I took my little mutants down to visit my mother over Labor Day, proving I could travel solo with two of them. I highly recommend The Who's CD, Who's Next for drowning out any whining or asking are we there yet, Mommy? Mom got Micah to eat yellow squash, pineapple and a few other things that he was spitting out at home. Mom bought Micah a little pinafore/bib thing at the farmers' market. I put it on him and it looks more like a sundress than a bib/coverall, but if one is going to cross-dress, let it be John Deere fabric and Mennonite-made. Fortunately he wasn't into accessorizing with his sister's shoes (loves the sandals with the pink flowers) or one of the purses that she has no use for.

I'm now trying to get invitations out for Thea's birthday party. She turns four on Saturday, October 13th, and this year we're finally doing a children's party instead of just the family parties of the previous two years. She actually walked into My Gym and said, "This is a cool place for a birthday party." Coming from the child who hates to be the center of attention in a lot of ways, I had my checkbook out in about two seconds flat. I've been scouring the dollar section of Target since Spring so I already have most of the stuff for the party favors, if I can find all the places I've squirreled it away.

"Daddy, I want a pony" to "Daddy, I want a Cessna"

Thea is only in school Wednesday and Thursday this week, so in an effort to provide constructive and stimulating activities to occupy our time, we went on the weekly tour of Princeton Airport. Thea was very excited about this, and woke with "Today is our tour of the airport." And then she asked if there was going to be moving sidewalks. The moving sidewalks at the Newark, Beijing and Hong Kong airports were a bit hit with her, so I had to help her scale back her idea of the tour to the size of a small airport.
We got to see a lot of small planes taking off and landing, and two helicopters that also flew in as well. The highlight of the morning was getting to climb into the cockpit of a two-seater Cessna and work the controls.
Micah was just along for the stroller ride, but he was on good behavior thanks to a tiny beach ball given out by a representative of the Princeton Health and Fitness Center.

After lunch and Micah's nap, we remembered that it was the release date of the new Backyardigans book, Super Spies. Backyardigans are very big deal to Thea - a child who doesn't like dolls, isn't 'into' Disney - princesses or otherwise, and who has a passing interest in Dora and Diego. So I got tasked to calling Borders and Barnes & Noble to see if the book was in stock. B&N won, so we set off on our adventure to Princeton Marketfair. After we picked up the book, we went to the ice cream stand in the food court, Thea got her usual, vanilla with rainbow sprinkles. Micah is not a big fan of ultra-cold stuff, no interest in vanilla or the German chocolate cake ice cream that I got. Thea was "still hungry" after that and wanted sushi. Huh? Where this came from, I don't know; I do know that the raw stuff isn't going into my kid. So I got a shrimp and scallion roll - and then had to remove the seaweed wrapper and the scallions before she'd eat it.

By late afternoon Micah was in whacking mode and Thea was getting cranky, so we decided to do a mini backwards day: baths before dinner and pancakes, fruit and o.j. for dinner. Thea was really into the idea, so it was sort of fun.

Jillian's Christening, etc.

We went on a trip to Hackettstown today for Micah's birthday-and-orphanage mate's baptism. It's been about five weeks since we got back from China, but I still can recognize her voice when she cries (and she only fussed while she was having water poured on her.) Micah and Thea were remarkably well-behaved even though we took seats at the back of the group gathered for the baptism, just in case a quick escape for a screaming heathen child (or two) was needed.

Thea did her usual slow to warm up, but not ready to leave when it was time to go home shtick at the party afterward, and Micah chowed down, walked around, and otherwise was Micah. He pretty much goes with the flow unless he's really tired.

Making the trip up there was good practice for going up to the Summit Speech School for Micah's evaluation in mid-September.

My mother got an upgraded computer on Sunday, and my internet connection was used (with my permission) and in the process all the emails in my in-box got downloaded to the hard drive of her new computer. So if you're reading this and you sent an email over the weekend and are wondering why I haven't responded, it will be waiting for me when we get to my mother's house on Friday.

"You have a messy house."

This comment I got from a little playground friend of Thea's who had stopped by to see if she could come out and ride bicycles. I hope tact comes in to his life soon, because if he lets fly with another comment like that around me, he won't live to see his next birthday much less get invited to Thea's birthday party. The house was in total disarray last week from Thursday through Saturday because the living room was rearranged to put up the play yard for Micah. But it was neat piles of stuff, not wading through debris or even anything close.

A victim of reordering our world to incorporate Micah was the chair that matches the sofa. There will be no memorial service for this hideous doesn't-know-if-it's-a-chair-or-loveseat, and the couch should be nervous because it's made out of the same butt-ugly fabric. Once the play yard was up and the living room put back in a little bit of order, the parts of the crib were pulled out from under furniture throughout the house, and while Steve, Micah and Thea were out in the pool, I put the crib back together. Only eight screws, but a pain in my neck. Thank goodness for an old Nordstrom's hatbox that I used to prop the bottom/spring thing to be able to keep it within reach of the screw holes instead of growing an extra set of hands.

Anyway, the bottom line is Micah has a room, even though he's still camping in the Pack-N-Play in our room. I've been rocking him to sleep in there, and once a few more things are exiled to the attic or wherever else we can stash them, and the baby monitor gets plugged in, he'll move.

Micah had his first visit with the local ENT last Wednesday. The guy had the personality of a paper clip, but his office staff was nice. And I met another family with a child with bilateral microtia/atresia. The little girl is now six years old and is entering mainstream first grade. Thanks to surgery, she went from moderate/severe hearing impairment to mild impairment. She also had the plastic surgery to create auricles, and even though I'm not as concerned with the cosmetic aspect as restoring as much of Micah's hearing as possible, the appearance of those ears was amazing. On September 6th, Micah is scheduled for an audiogram to test his hearing.

Update

Today is Micah's first appointment with the ENT, who will be the gateway to the audiologist, which will lead to an evaluation of Micah's hearing that we can send to the Somerset County early intervention program, which will lead to getting speech and hearing services. He's oblivious, and napping upstairs. We're finally getting into a routine - after one week in Wuhan, one week in Guangzhou, a third week in Bethany Beach, he's finally coming to know what being in the same place day in and day out means.

Thea's in school - she's been more balky the past two weeks at going to the Chinese immersion program than she was the first two weeks she attended (prior to the trip to China.) I'm losing my taste for forcing her to go even though she's happy once she gets settled in, I hate the idea of her dreading going to school each day.

I finally ordered actual prints of our pictures - in this same time frame after Thea's adoption I had pictures to send to friends, her album for the trip put together, and all my thank-you cards written. The second time around I feel like a complete slacker.

Micah surveys his empire. . .

We're still sleeping in three to four hour shifts and are out of synch with time. Steve took over at around 3:00 am and was up with Thea and Micah, then I got up at 6:30 am and we fed Micah. Until our trip to ShopRite, the cuisine is rice cereal and prunes - but he's loving it so far. I need to get formula because what I do have on hand, Micah does not like one bit.

After getting online to make sure the grocery store is open, Micah and I set off for ShopRite - the one with the Dunkin Donuts because Mom wanted coffee after two weeks of tea. Micah had his first ride in Mom's car and in a shopping cart. That early in the morning, the store is being restocked, so we were navigating amidst boxes and stock clerks.

Then we took a ride down 295 to see my office and those lucky few working on a Saturday morning. It gave Micah a chance to meet a few new people, and he was a little more clingy than he usually is. In China, he'd go to practically anyone - and he's definitely a Daddy's boy, so it was nice to have him hang onto me a little bit. He did well though and even though he wouldn't go to Maryann and Earla, he was willing to share his Cheerios with them and with Monique. It was so good to see them. We also stopped at the vegetable stand for tomatoes - a Jersey tomato is pure summer to me.

My little man fell asleep on the ride home, so we didn't stop at our neighborhood CVS to see if it still has the little squishy Fisher-Price fire truck he loved in China - of all the things we could misplace or lose on the trip, we're missing three stacking cups and that fire truck. He and Steve were back upstairs having a nap, Thea had her first breakfast which I hope will start getting her back into real time. I need a nap, but Thea wants company, so I'll fold laundry instead.

Off to the beach tomorrow, packing later tonight.

Photos Added - Micah Unveiled

I've put a few photos into the various posts and will upload them to www.kodakgallery.com as well. It's 11:30 pm Friday, Thea's eating pasta, I'm on the computer and working on laundry, Steve's trying to get Micah to sleep. I hope jet lag passes faster than it did last time. . . .

It is so good to be home, mostly for our own bed. Mattresses in China are rock hard and the beds seem lower (especially with our pillow top mattress). It's also nice to be able to go to the sink to brush my teeth without thinking about having a bottle of water handy. Minor complaints in the grand scheme of things.

We're home!

Our Continental flight had great tailwinds (70+ miles per hour) so we were slightly more than an hour early. Steve was in the center section and had an empty seat next to him, so we had five seats to use, which was very, very nice. Even with being the last in line at immigration, things moved quickly - and even the car service was at the airport waiting for us. The children won't be riding in a limo again until they go to their proms.

The flight was long, but uneventful. The same three episodes of CSI, CSI: Miami and CSI: NY were playing on the video - all total they ran about 150 minutes, so after two thirteen to fifteen hour flights, I could almost recite dialogue.

Micah's immigration officer was Charles Olah - I picked his station because the one next to him with a short line had an officer who looked about twelve years old. I thought the officer we met at the San Francisco airport actually went through the sealed brown enveloped we brought home for Thea in 2004, but this guy just took the packet and said Micah's Certificate of Citizenship should arrived in about six weeks. (The brown envelope is given to each family the same day the child's visa is issued and the Chinese passport is returned to parents; the instructions are to hand carry it, don't open it on pain of death and hand it to the immigration officer at whatever port of entry into the US families return to.)

Last night we were in Hong Kong, but way out on Lantau Island at the Regal Hotel at the airport. We could walk from customs to hotel, and could take the baggage cart with us. The hotel was something out of a neo-, techno-, disco-ain't-dead decor. Dieter from the old SNL skit "Sprockets" would be quite at home there. A nice clerk with the unlikely name of Angus (he's Chinese) at the check-in desk upgraded our room, so we were down the hall from the Cash family instead of in the other tower. On our way back from dinner I was pushing the double stroller and oblivious to the world, but a classmate of Thea's from YingHua was calling out "Thea, Thea..." She and her mother and grandmother had just arrived and were leaving the following day for Wuhan on an Our Chinese Daughters Foundation tour. Small world. Thea was also sort of oblivious due to tiredness.

Micah's first act as a newly-minted American citizen was to poop and stink up the limo. Fifteen hours on a plane, and he chose this particular moment. Thea and Micah were wonderful on the plane; both slept well - Micah with three naps and Thea with one long one. She missed the plane landing at Newark because she was fast asleep.

Pictures will be uploaded soon - Steve ran off to Princeton to register Micah on his health insurance. Micah is discovering the toybox with Thea's old baby toys, but until we get the play pit up, this kid needs to be watched like a hawk. I've got to get to the store to stock up on baby food and diapers; I didn't buy much ahead of time because I wasn't sure of his size and what he'd be eating.

We survived, no illnesses, no glitches. Everyone's starting to crash (it's 6:30 am according to their internal clocks). It's going to be a few days of being out of sync with real time.

My most pressing question right now is: where in the world did all the dirty laundry come from? We sent out laundry once in Wuhan and once in Guangzhou and I still have a mountain of stuff to be washed.

Micah has his visa!

He's street-legal for entry into the US! Micah must have known it was a big day because he gave us a six a.m. wake-up call. For all those who know Steve and his utter dislike of getting up early in the morning, he was at breakfast at 7:30 a.m. today, which occurs on the same timetable as Haley's comet at best and virgin births at worst.

We went to the American consulate visa unit in the TianHe section of GuangZhou, about 30+ minutes from the hotel in traffic. It's in a non-descript office building, a five-floor escalator ride from street level. It is the only immigration visa unit in all of Asia according to the consular officer who did the swearing in, so this is the gateway through which everyone passes. It is about as dull and butt-ugly looking as any US government office space in Washington, DC - though there was a bunch of toys and things for children to play with in the waiting area.

The consular officer who did the oath actually had a personality, quite the opposite of the American ex-pat toad/drone who did the oath for Thea's visa - somewhere in the emails I've saved from our 2004 trip I have a bit of a rant about him that I'll throw in after I'm home and can edit the blog a little. Her name is Kathleen Yu, and although the last name seems Chinese, she's Caucasian. Since we were in the first row, I went to thank her after everything was finished, and she spoke to Micah in Mandarin - which was probably a refreshing change for him from Steve and I yelling "Bu yao" to him ten thousand times a day.

During her little speech prior to the oath, she said that she personally reviewed and signed off on all the children's applications - and there were enough families from the White Swan alone to fill one large motor coach and a minibus, she had her work cut out for her. The 'interview' at the visa window was only a review of our faces and photographs, no words were exchanged so the word used to describe what transpired was a complete misnomer.

After we all got back to the White Swan, we did the usual red coach photos - Thea and Jillian were about equally grouchy about having pictures taken. Then we all met at Lucy's for dinner. Today was Jim Cash's birthday - so Mary wanted a candle in a slice of apple pie a la mode so we could sing "Happy Birthday" to him. No way this could have been a surprise, the waitresses kept coming and asking if we wanted the apple pie with candle. No subtlety there whatsoever.

One interesting thing we saw on the way to and from the Consulate was guys swimming in the Pearl River. On the way there it was just a few, and they were pretty close to the riverbank. Once were were back in our room, looking down from the 10th floor we could see three or four men out in the middle of the main channel, right in the middle of the ferries that are constantly running back and forth and the shipping lanes. I question their sanity on several fronts: getting whacked by the hull a boat might smart a bit and the pollution level in the river has to be ridiculously high. Wednesday must be the day for this activity because it hasn't happened before. I tried to get a picture, but the zoom on my camera wasn't getting a good lock on them.

Tomorrow Ashleah's family is leaving to return to Des Moines. They are going to the airport at seven a.m. so we said good-byes and got their email address tonight. Micah and I took off a little early from the restaurant because I had to go pick up his chop. I got it at the same store where I bought Thea's chop in 2004. It has his name, MICAH and the two Chinese characters for his former name, Zhong Ji carved into it.

I'm toast, there's nothing more to write about. Our luggage has to be out in the hall at 11:20 am Thursday, the minibus will pick us up at noon. One night at the airport hotel in HK and we're on our way back.

Since this will probably be our last trip to China for a long, long while, I am going to miss it in many ways. I want to get back to our room to watch the light show on the Pearl River before the blue lights on the bridge get turned off at ten pm - though I hope that they turn the music down from wherever, we were treated to everything from Chinese songs to Roll Out the Barrel while trying to get Thea and Micah to sleep, which must come from a CD of the background music in Hell.

Good night all, good night GuangZhou, hello jet lag.

Just another day in GuangZhou

No obligations today, other than one of us being in our hotel room between 10:30 and 11:30 for a call from Lucy to let us know everything as ok (or not) with our visa paperwork. It wasn't much past 10:45 when the phone rang and we had the 'all clear'. Steve and children already were at the pool - Thea is now extremely enthusiastic about going to the pool and since her one suit was still damp, she even agreed to wear her two piece tankini suit, oh miracle of miracles. We puttered around the baby pool and the steps of the bigger section of the pool for about an hour before heading in to get showered and dressed to go out shopping.

I'm not into the high pressure sales and bargaining scene, it is just not my thing, so we headed to A Gift from China. We were the only people in the shop, which is a charity-run store that benefits orphans and disabled children in China, and there was a corner with toys for the the children to play with - which kept Steve distracted as well so I could shop in relative peace. We then went to the small park down the street, where Thea was undeterred by the heat and the fact her parents were turning into puddles. She tried out some of the exercise equipment and the slides, then we went to Lucy's Cafe for a late lunch.

Before sitting down to lunch we had to make a bathroom stop for Thea - the bathrooms in the park adjacent to Lucy's are all squat potties. I usually take Thea's shorts and underwear off and let her have at it - this time she planted her feet on either side of the hole and looked up at me and said, "How do I use this thing?" even though she's a veteran of at least three previous visits to bathrooms with no toilets.

After lunch we went back to the hotel, and since naps were not part of anyone's game plan, anyone under 48" tall, that is, Steve and Thea headed back to the pool. Micah and I hung out playing for a bit. He got his poop face on, but the phone rang and it was one of our group checking in about dinner plans. This gave me enough time to forget about changing Micah's diaper, so he let me know by going over to the table where the wipes, changing mat and diapers were, pulling them one by one on the floor and then sitting on the changing pad. At first it just seemed like he was in his usual investigate and destroy mode, but then it started looking like he was deliberately doing something, and he was. I told you he was a gastrointestinal genius.

After changing the diaper, Micah and I went for a walk to see if there were postcards available in the hotel shops. I went in for a couple postcards, and came out with two books of Chinese fairy tales and five postcards. The saleslady was still following me after I paid trying to see if I was interested in books about Hubei or ChongQing, postcards of Hubei. . .fortunately Micah was squirming and wanted to keep moving so we said thank you, but now thanks and moved on to the pool.

Thea and Steve were in the big pool, and she'd been brave enough to go with him to the waterfall - I got that advance report from the Cash family as we passed in the hall leading to the pool area. She is so proud of herself - and Steve was so happy to be out of the baby pool. Micah and I hung out for a few minutes and then went back into the hotel. He was doing a lot of walking - I walk backwards, encourage him to come forward and then keep moving out of reach. He'll take it up with his therapist later if this is somehow damaging to his little psyche. On the way back, right near the fish pond, he just plopped down and wouldn't budge. By the time I had him picked up and on the elevator, he was asleep so Steve and Thea went to Lucy's Cafe to see our group, but Thea fell asleep at dinner so Steve had it packed up and brought it back to the room. Micah shared her spaghetti and then Steve and Thea went out to retrieve our laundry. Dirty clothes for four people, accumulated over about a week, returned clean for under $18. I don't know what I am going to do when I have to cook, do laundry, and grocery shop again.

Tomorrow I've got to get a few more things done before starting to get organized for the trip home. I don't know if we get the passports and adoption certificates back tomorrow - since the Consulate appointment is late in the day, I'm hoping the stuff isn't returned on Thursday or I'll be shopping at the 7-11 for Tums.

Visa Paperwork, Etc. Finished

Today we went out at 9:45 to have the babies photos taken for their visas. We met the third LaVida family who adopted an eight-year old girl from Fuling, ChongQing. Ashleah is visually impaired, and learned quite a bit of English while in foster care. Her new mother is also legally blind and works with visually-impaired and blind students in the Des Moines, IA school system. The shop where the photos were done was right down the street from the International Medical Clinic - but without the clinic's lovely air-conditioning. So much for the shower, I was doing pretty well walking the tree-lined central street but within minutes of hanging out in that shop I was damp and sweating in places I was heretofore unaware I had sweat glands.

The physical went a little differently than Thea's, much more crowded for one - so I now know why our previous facilitators made us get moving by 8:00 am. Micah has gained about 1/2 pound, if the clinic's scale is to be believed - he got weighed and measured AFTER seeing the doctor for his physical, so that was rather useless. The doctor asked what was wrong with his head and idiot that I am, I thought she meant his auditory canal atresia and microtia. No, she meant the bruise on his forehead from last night's collision with the marble floor. Oops, baby mommy.

For what the internet costs here at the White Swan, we should probably go out to the internet cafe down the island a few blocks but the humidity just smacks you over the head like a baseball bat when you walk out the door so wimps like me pay the price to sit in peace and air-conditioning and crab about how much they are looking forward to going home.

Among the miracles of today: Thea went in the pool today. It was akin to the parting of the Red Sea. We have begged, offered bribes, you name it over the past ten days and the stubborn mule that she is, she absolutely refused to go. Once in both kids loved it, and were so tired they passed out at dinner or shortly thereafter. Problematic when dinner is at a restaurant (with no worms or insects on the menu) a block from the hotel and we didn't bring the stroller. Micah is portable, but Thea is dead weight. Fortunately the Cash family had their stroller for Jillian (also portable) so Steve could bring Thea back in that. I left a little ahead of them with Micah, but had to make a trip back down to the front desk because my key card didn't work.

Second miracle: Micah might actually be somewhat trained to use the potty. This morning we were playing on the floor when he got that pinched and serious look that is the international language of defecation in progress. Steve brought out the little purple plastic potty we (fools that we are) brought from Wuhan. Even though there was poop in the diaper, we thought we'd sit him on the potty to refresh his memory. He continued to rock and squint and grunt while playing with his Link-a-Doos, but I thought it was just going through the motions until we uncorked his little behind from the potty and saw the monster offering he put there. So my little man is a genius of a gastrointestinal nature. He's going to get plopped on the seat right after he has his bowl of rice cereal tomorrow morning so he can do a repeat performance.

I just confirmed our reservations on China Southern from GZ to HK. This airlines needs 72 hours for confirmation. Amazing.

All the consulate paperwork was done today. We go to TianHe to the US Consulate Adopted Child Immigration Visa Unit Wednesday to swear we didn't lie on the paperwork and get his IR-3 - which will get him immediate citizenship upon return to the US. Two hours of filling out forms with the other families (in our room at the hotel); Micah slept through it all. The noise level was probably similar to what he knows from the orphanage. This time when we go to the Consulate office we can take a small diaper bag/baby bottles since it's 35 minutes away. Last time when it was within walking distance of the hotel, it was passports and that was it. Period. No cameras, no electronic equipment, no diaper or bottle.

The Going Home Barbie arrived in our room today. It's made by Mattel and is given to guests at the White Swan. Micah's first doll - I'll keep it to show him what I looked like before children came into my life and then see if he would want to donate it to one of the charities working with Chinese orphanages to auction off. You would not believe how much some parents care about this silly plastic doll. This one just looks like a bad fashion decision carrying an Asian baby girl; Thea's looks like Barbie went to Woodstock, smoked a little something and then said, "Like let's go to China to adopt a baby, dude."

Anyway, that's the latest from GuangZhou, where all the (American) men are sweaty, all the (American) women are dripping in perspiration and all the children are looking forward to their next trip to the pool.

Thanks to all those who've emailed or left comments - especially since the phone Steve got from Princeton has been pretty much worthless, it's like a small slice of home arriving each day.

Lydia

GuangZhou - The First Day of Phase II

Any day with a 4:30 am wake-up call is bound to be disastrous, and although our flight on Shenzhen Air went extremely well - Micah was barely aware he was on an airplane much less leaving the province he's lived in his entire 16 months - the rest of the day has been completely downhill.

At the airport in GuangZhou, we were met by a representative of the White Swan Hotel. We were expecting our guide, Lucy, to make an appearance. Fortunately all nine of us and all the luggage fit in the small van. At the hotel, it took a bit to get into our rooms. Worth the wait for us, since we're on a true non-smoking floor, and have been upgraded to a room with a view of the Pearl River. Our guide finally turned up and gave us a brief rundown of tomorrow's plans. Compared to Eric, I'm not impressed thus far.

Steve's Blackberry still does not work, so both of us want to kill the person at Princeton who said that it would work for phone service and for Steve to get work-related email while in China. In Wuhan service was expected to be iffy, but it should have worked in Beijing and here and it doesn't. Rack that one up as a mini-disaster.

We almost got Thea into her bathing suit and to the pool. She's been resisting - and in Wuhan, the indoor pool was so hot and humid, not a big deal. We had her dressed with a minimum of hassle, Micah was in his swim diaper and trunks, and it started thundering and raining, so we decided against going out. It was over in 20 minutes.

Then Thea and I went on an exploring trip around the hotel while Steve and Micah napped. We checked out the pools, went to look at the waterfall and koi pond, took a look at the playroom (too noisy for Thea and the toys were too baby/toddler oriented). While walking around the second-floor part of the hotel, coming out from one side of the waterfall to the other, I missed a step - just a little three-inch high thing that seem to be everywhere in China - and came crashing down, taking Thea down with me onto the marble floor. Fortunately she was ok and I'll see how I wake up tomorrow, probably a little sore. Slight amplification on the disaster-meter.

After we went back to the room, we woke up the boys and I was playing on the bed with Micah and he headbutted me. I never thought that when someone catches you square on the bridge of your nose (with glasses on) that it would be as painful as it was. My eyes teared and it just throbbed. Fortunately Micah was none the worse for the incident and went on playing as if nothing happened. Another notch upward on the D-M.

Lucy suggested a restaurant down the street for Cantonese cuisine. We walked with the Cash family and finally decided on one with fish in the front as the guide as described. Fish swimming in tanks, and sand worms, and water beetles, and fingerling/baby fish, it was a zoologist's wet dream. Mary was in charge of the menu and she said she was hard pressed to find four dishes that didn't come with worms, bugs, jellyfish or the like. (Eric, our Wuhan guide, told us that people in GuangZhou eat everything on the table except for the legs (of the table) and he was not kidding.) This place had all the makings for an episode of "Survivor." I don't know if this was some sort of revenge on her part for our questioning why she wasn't at the airport or an innocent recommendation.

The restaurant put us in our own little room - which was nice, but it also was more humid than the rest of the place. Thea hadn't napped so she was irritable and itchy from a bug bite on her foot, so after I ate I took both Thea and Micah back to the hotel. After showering off, having a box of milk and brushing her teeth, she was dead to the world.

Steve came back a bit later and we were trying to find the few things that got packed and not found - which at the moment is my toothbrush and Thea's. Fortunately the hotel provided two toothbrushes, so I just used those for now. Micah has sort of learned how to slide off the bed without face-planting himself on the floor, but that didn't save him from faceplanting in the marble-floored entry way. I have never heard him cry so loudly, it was just horrible. So that was the final coupe-de-grace of the disaster that was today. Unless this computer crashes, which has happened to me a few times on our 2004 trip.

Anyway, four more days to go, so long as I don't screw up on the visa paperwork. Please keep fingers crossed and offer good thoughts to the deity of your choice.

The Last Full Day in Hubei

Tomorrow our wake-up call is set for 4:30 am. Luggage at the door by 5:30 am. The flight to GuangZhou is at 8 am and should only be a couple of hours. The circus is moving out of town.

Today we went to a Buddhist temple in Wuhan. It was very pretty - and very busy with people coming in to make offerings and pray. Thea and I lit incense sticks and made wishes before entering the grounds. There was also a room with 500 Arhats - women go to the right, men to the left. You pick an Arhat and start counting until you get to your age and then remember the particular number of the Arhat and go outside and buy a card that gives you insights: not quite a fortune, not quite a character analysis. The Arhats are like variations on the Buddha theme: I started counting at one that had a benevolent face, the third Arhat after that one was Thea's - and coincidentally it was a Buddha with a small child standing on its palm. There were ponds with goldfish and turtles. The monks buy turtles from the market, thus saving them from a future as someone's dinner and doing a good deed. We were standing at the wall looking down into the pond and all of a sudden there was a thunk and a splash and another one joined the flock.

After the temple we went to a Bonsai and geology museum. Lots of interesting stones: turquoise, jade, chrysanthemum stones, a few dinosaur skeletons that briefly held Thea's attention.  Afterward we were taken out to eat at another restaurant in the Hankow section of Wuhan. This area was visited by Westerners in the 1860s, the architecture in the areas of the former foreign concessions is much like Shamian Island in Guangzhou. The restaurant was good, two more ways of eating lotus root: pasted with sesame seeds fried into balls and sliced in a really nice sauce. Micah was eating anything I put in his mouth. There were meatballs covered with rice that he really got into.

I took Micah in to the bathroom for a quick standing diaper change, but after eating a huge amount of food for the skinny little person he is, his face got that look of intense concentration so we had to assemble supplies and return to the bathroom. The fold-down changing table has not made its way to China, so I had a throw-away changing pad, diaper and wipes and had to lay him on the counter. By the time I had his outfit unsnapped, the bathroom attendant and two or three other ladies were involved in the process. One was holding his head, two were tapping on him and talking to him, and I was dealing with the reason we were in the bathroom in the first place. I'm sure they were all questioning my intelligence for changing him but the child does not like sitting around with poop on his butt - compared to Thea, who could be in a stinky diaper until flies were text-messaging other flies to come have a whiff - Micah is rather prissy.

After lunch we went to a waterfront park to see the river. The park is near where the Han River flows into the Yangtze River. People were flying kites, hanging out. The weather today was wonderful: grey, dreary with rain threatening - so it was much cooler so the humidity was bearable.

Now we're back at the hotel. Micah, who slept briefly on the bus, was sung back to sleep by his father. Thea is saying she's not napping, so I told her she's in charge, watch over Daddy and Micah. After sending this off to the blog, I've got to start organizing and packing. It's hard to believe the first week is over and that by this time next week we'll be home and on our way to the beach.

"We can keep him." Thea Albin, 07/13/07

Today we made our final trip to the government office to pick up the adoption certificate, the orphanage donation certificate and the babies' passports. As we pulled into the parking lot, Thea said that this was the same office that we got baby Micah - and I told her that this was the day we get his paperwork, or should we give him back. She said we can keep him. Today is her "three years and nine months" birthday.

After the official business, we went to a park on the East Lake and saw lotus plants and walked around the water. It was very pretty, and because it is overcast and drizzling, it was actually bearable outside. On the way home, the driver dropped Jim, Leigh Ann and I off at Carrefour. The baby who was allegedly semi-potty trained is really grooving on wearing his own personal port-a-potty around. He blew through three diapers this morning before we were even out the door. So I bought a bag of disposable diapers and more wipes, apple juice for Thea, another packet of formula and two Snickers for me. While I was checking out, Jim and Leigh Ann went to KFC - and were nice enough to pick up Thea's lunch while I was in an endless line at checkout.

Meanwhile over the past few days a cross between Bam-Bam and the Wild Man of Borneo has emerged. I don't know if Micah was indulged because he's a boy or just was a favorite of his nannies, but he is one spoiled little guy who loves to throw or slam things onto the ground - whether it's a spoon, toys, baby bottles, you name it. He also loves to bang things, the louder the better. So far he has not managed to destroy any of the bread plates at the restaurant. He also likes rolling things, I only brought one truck and wish I had gotten another.

Last night we all went out to a restaurant down the road, recommended by the White Rose's concierge (whose outfit makes him look like a bellboy from a 1940s movie crossed with one of those flying monkeys from the Wizard of Oz). It was called the Portugal Restaurant and was in another hotel. It was a comedy of cross-cultural communication to get the point across that we wanted Chinese food; the menu they gave us was sort of a Chinese spin on European dishes - though the steamed frog oviduct didn't seem to fit in anywhere. Once they got that concept, the waitresses brought out a menu, in Chinese. Fortunately we had Eric's cheatsheet 'chicken', 'pork', 'beef', 'vegetables', 'no innards/organ meat' written out in Chinese - we got four dishes that were all very good. Thea was tired and wasn't even tempted by her own big bowl of rice. The waitresses were infinitely patient considering that between two babies, a few things got spilled.

Leigh Ann, Thea and I went to the restaurant's ladies room together and encountered our first squat potty. Since Thea was the one needing the bathroom, I just took off her bottoms and prayed I aligned her correctly and that my shoes were washable. It was a flushing squat potty so it wasn't quite as awful as I expected. After dinner, Steve, Leigh Ann, Thea and I walked back to the White Rose. Leigh Ann learned how to play Thea's Peanut Butter and Jelly game (she's very patient with Thea, who sometimes lacks the attention span to finish a game, especially when she wants to be three places at once: playing the game, seeing what Daddy is doing to make Micah laugh, showing off another toy.)

After Jim dropped by to pick up Leigh Ann, the kids were still going strong, I don't think we got them to sleep until after 10 pm. Thea slept all the way through until 8 am, Micah was up and didn't really want to go back in the crib, so I just threw him in bed with us and he went back to sleep until a little after 8 am.

Anyway, despite - or maybe because of - the rain, today has been a good day. The only bad news was finding out our flight to GuangZhou is at 6 am on Sunday morning. Offer prayers to the deity of your choice, he's going to need it.

Strange side note about food: Yesterdays lunch buffet at the restaurant had a dish called "Fried Jew's Ear". Steve found it really offensive. I googled Jew's Ear during yesterday's session at the Business Center and it's a mushroom or fungus that grows on decaying wood.

Oscar the Grouch in China

Who needs Big Bird in China, this morning I was Oscar the Grouch in China. Thea was up early, she fell asleep before dinner last night and hadn't had anything to eat or drink. So I got her a juice box of milk and some Cheerios. There was almost no hope of her getting back to sleep so I made a 'clubhouse' for her in the little entry hall in our room by putting her pillow and her Backyardigans blanket on the floor so she could lay down and play games on her Leapster. Micah was the next one up and he had cranked out a present in his Huggies, so he needed sprucing up and feeding.

We had to be downstairs and ready to go to the Yellow Crane Tower by 9:00 am. Going out to the minibus, the humidity just wilted me in a nanosecond. This was a no stroller trip since there were stairs, stairs and more stairs. Micah crashed on the ride there, so I had him the Over-the-Shoulder-Baby-Holder sling - which was probably easier for carrying him upstairs. Sleeping, that is, not the sling. Dead weight is much less squirmy. Today started out overcast, so Eric suggested bringing the umbrellas from our rooms - Steve went up to get that. He didn't manage to think of bringing a bottle of water for us - after packing up the diaper bag, getting two children dressed, bringing the diaper bag, camera, Brother Tiger down to breakfast, I'd hoped that after our last three days of going out he could remember one simple thing, it's hotter than Hades here, bring a bottle of water, dammit. No such luck.

Once we'd climbed the stairs to the Yellow Crane Tower, which is really a 1980s remake, we rode the elevator to the top. Steve presumed we'd take the elevator down as well - thinking he was being kind to me and my knees. I was just cranky enough from the heat, humidity and being gawked at by hordes of people that this really ticked me off. I walked down like everyone else, thank you very much.

While we were up in the tower, it started to rain - not enough to use the stupid umbrella, but enough to make the stone stairs a little slick. Thea got a little fed up with the whole thing about half way down the tower, I was completely fed up when I saw some local tourist photographing Micah and Steve. Their intentions were probably harmless, but when I'm sightseeing in the States, I don't go up to complete strangers and asked to be photographed with them. How much of this was being hot, grouchy and just fed up with being stared at, I don't know. I do know that the ones who are staring who don't have a benign or pleasant expression on their faces are getting stared right back at. So far I've never been the first one to break eye contact.

Once back at the Hotel Nicotine, Thea had a quick cool-down in the tub, Micah hoovered some rice cereal and bananas, and I tried to do a little self-exorcism and we went to lunch with Mary, Leigh Ann, and Olivia. I had my third salad here, despite what the guidebooks say. I don't think the water used to rinse the vegetables is all that bad - it's probably the PCBs and heavy metals that would get you, not the bugs. Unfortunately the hotel chef's interpretation of a Cobb Salad (described as having roast beef and chicken in it) actually has kidney beans, chopped egg whites, chopped tomatoes, crumbled blue cheese, crumbled egg yolks, and black olives. The vinaigrette promised on the menu is actually thousand island dressing.

After lunch Steve went back to Carrefour with a list of stuff, returning with about half of it. How he has managed two trips there without knowing the lay of the land beats me. We have to make a trip back to the Civil Affairs office on Friday, so maybe the minibus can leave me off there. Thea went back in the tub, playing deep-sea rescue mermaid and water salesman. Micah sucked down another bottle, cranked out another smelly diaper, splashed a little on the side of the tub (until Thea said, "Mommy, can you take him out of here?" when she was fed up with his tossing the plastic boats in and splashing her.) Once Steve was back in the room, I got paroled and headed to the hotel's Business Center. My sessions here are getting shorter and shorter as my tolerance for cigarette smoke lessens.

Tomorrow we're getting hauled off on another tour. Eric is at the notary's office today and will supposedly have the babies documents by this evening. Friday is the day we are given their passports, Saturday we're free again and Sunday morning we fly to GuangZhou - where I hope a non-smoking floor is truly a non-smoking floor. Today I found out that there is no non-smoking section at breakfast, we just get seated where there are the fewest people incinerating carcinogens and inhaling them into their lungs.

I need chocolate, I have been deprived but to a good end. If the hotel scale is correct, I've lost about twelve pounds - and that's while still having a Coke or two a day. I need the caffeine, the coffee here is foul and amongst all the American fast food restaurants polluting the local scene, there is not one single Dunkin Donuts. I bought a small container of Chips Ahoy cookies at Carrefour on Sunday. Three years ago the ones I bought at Parkson's in ChongQing were exactly like those from home. This time they looked a bit too much like the vegan chocolate chip cookies served on the flight to Beijing. Anything with 'vegan' and 'chocolate' used in the same sentence does not bode well for a carnivorous consumer.

Oscar the Grouch is going back to the Teahouse of 1,001 Dalmations. I did take a picture of Micah napping on the bed amidst all the spots, so the experience has been preserved for posterity.

Tomorrow will be a better day, I hope.