"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.