If any of you are following the blog via the Internet Explorer browser, you may not be seeing all of the posts. For instance I've noticed that the March 2nd post appears to have old content. New entries have been posted Feb 28, March 2, 3, 4, and today. If you are disappointed with what you see, try using another browser such as Firefox, Chrome, or Safari. I've been able to see the posts as I expect them when using Firefox.
And since Mabel enjoyed seeing her name in the blog from the other day, I have to share how excited she is to have a boy cousin. Last night Mabel asked me to print some photos of Tovin to share with her fifth grade class
- Aunt Kay
Well, according to Jen today was a good shopping day. Shamian Island didn’t disappoint, and as far as I was concerned it was nice that we only had three hours to spend there.
Addison was happy to get in some shopping as well. As a matter of fact back home her two favorite stores are Walmart and TJ Maxx; it’s pretty pathetic I know, but what can I say, Jen’s trained her well…Jen loves TJ Maxx but doesn’t really care for Walmart (Addison likes is because they have princesses there)! It didn’t take long for Addison to learn that there are Walmart’s all over China. “Hey mom, can we go to Walmart?” has been asked at least ten times since we’ve been here, but only once has she said, “Mom, does China have TJ Maxx?” She was pretty disappointed to find out that they didn’t, but she hasn’t asked since. Shamian Island isn’t a TJ Maxx, but the shops on the island do have pretty much anything you might want, especially when it comes to souvenirs. So…today was a good day not only for Jen but for Addison as well.
Sherri’s Place, Amy’s Place, Jenny’s Place…they are still on the Island. I’m surprised that they didn’t remember Jen and Addison! Jeremy’s Place is not on the Island anymore, but he is still doing the name paintings. Jen ordered five of them from him. Yes, five of them! At least there were no squeaky shoes being bought today! Addison found a Hello Kitty at the first store that she “loved”. Mom was thinking that she has enough Hello Kitty items, but she wanted that as her treat for the day. So we are bringing it home to add to her collection of stuffed animals. The shop owners all commented how slow business was had been, I’m not sure if that’s their new sales pitch or if it really is slow. One of the pictures shows the hotel we stayed in the last time we were here, the White Swan Hotel, all curtained up for renovation. I’m sure with most of the adoption families no longer staying on the island, business has slowed down since most of the shops sell souvenirs for the likes of Jen, adoptive mothers; such as traditional Chinese outfits/dresses, squeaky shoes, oil paints and chalk drawings they’ll do of your new baby, etc., etc., etc., the list goes on and on. By the sounds of it when they are done renovating the White Swan it is not going to cater to adoption families as in the past, it is going to accommodate the business traveler, good luck selling them little girl dresses! As much as I didn’t mind that we weren’t staying on the island this time around because it was such a shopping tourist trap for adoptive parents, it is sad to think that other families might not get to have this experience in the future.
Tovin continues to bond with and entertain us. Things that used to make him cry or fuss a little aren’t as many, so he’s becoming more comfortable with his new surroundings and some of our nuances and or normal way of doing things, if you can call living in a hotel room normal. He once again showed some frustration today and doesn’t like it much to be corrected or told no when he wants something. He’s pretty strong willed and is quick to look away from Jen or myself when attempting to confront this frustration.
He’s also a stubborn little fellow when he wants to be. Tonight at supper he tasted some Sprite, probably for the first time…bad idea! He wanted to drink the entire can and not eat anything of his food. We took the glass away and tried to convey the fact that he had to eat some of his noodles before he could have any more soda. You could tell that he knew what he had to do to get more Sprite, but he managed to fuss his way to going to bed quite hungry tonight because it wasn’t until the waitress started clearing the table and took his desired treasure away that he willfully and eagerly ate the few noodles that were left on Addison’s plate in the hopes that the waitress was going to bring back the Sprite, she didn’t!
Needless to say we’re really going to have to watch what he eats, or in what order he gets what he gets. We have a feeling that he was able to eat mostly whatever “he” wanted without much of a protest by the adults in his life, probably not wanting to fight to get him to eat. In his information from the orphanage they said that he likes biscuits (Chinese kids biscuits that is, which taste like kettle corn) and other sweets. Boy does he ever! He must have had these quite often! It really hasn’t been too bad and he has been eating pretty well about every other day. However, when he throws a little attitude we’ve found out that he’s a stubborn little guy.
We’ve got a long road ahead of us with a lot of things in his life; add eating habits to the list. We’re not really fighting this too much while we’re over here, wanting to bond with him as much as we can, but when we get home and after surgrey, game on Tovin, let the fight begin!
Good night from China,
Jason, Jen, Addison, and Tovin
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