Our Last Post from China

Well, here it is ... our post from China! We meet our guide at 5:45 tomorrow morning (EEK!) and our flight leaves at 8:20am. Our first flight is from Guangzhou to Tokyo, which should take about four hours. In Tokyo, we switch planes and head to Detroit. That's the 12-hour one that we're so looking forward to - not!! But we are definitely ready to come home and get settled into the routine of normal life again.

Last night we went out to eat at a Cantonese restaurant with Kejing, Weifen and Vivian. Vivian was using chopsticks, so our monkey Maelin had to follow suit, of course. We left for the river cruise shortly after dinner; it was alright, but a bit on the long side. The lights were beautiful, but Jim and i have both caught Maelin's cold, so we're stuffy and snotty and have sore throats. We didn't enjoy the cruise as much as we should have.

This morning Guangzhou is rainy and very foggy (and in the mid 60's, dad). We ate breakfast at the hotel restaurant buffet and then did some shopping in the shops along the street for a couple of hours. Maelin took a very short nap, and now we need to get ready for our trip to the consulate.

Thanks so much to everyone for following along our journey! We've enjoyed having you here with us!!

Love-love-love,

Shonda, Jim and Maelin

Sticky Kisses

Well, we've got them -- our first sticky kisses from Maelin to Mama and Baba!! She imitates virtually everything (which can be good at times, and not so good at others!), but she hasn't reciprocated on the kisses, until today. Just a while ago, the three of us were laying down for nap time, Maelin in the middle, and Baba kissed her on the cheek. Then Mama kissed her on the cheek. The Maelin puckered up and gave us each several kisses on the cheeks! Sticky banana-and-granola-bar kisses ... the absolute best kind!!

Yesterday afternoon, we walked a few blocks to the outdoor children's playground and let Maelin run off some energy. She had a BLAST! The climbing slide structure was her favorite, and she played and played and played. When it was time to go, she refused to come with us, even after Mama and Baba walked away. But when we went back and made her come with us, she did so without too much fuss.

We came back to the hotel room to clean up and then headed back out to get dinner, just the three of us. We went to Lucy's, which serves American quisine, as well. Baba had pork steak, i had a hamburger (which turned into an Atkins burger, because Maelin at the whole bun for me!), and Maelin ate beef and noodles. She LOVED the corn-on-the-cob that Baba shared with her, so we're looking forward to cashing in on some more of that when Grandpa Les and Grandma Pam have sweet corn season! After dinner, Mama needed some ice cream, so we went to the deli shop next door to the hotel, and Maelin and Mama each got a chocolate cone. Yummmmmm!

Today we ate breakfast at the hotel restaurant buffet, then went back to the play ground again, this time with Kejing, Weifen, and Vivian. Maelin was very excited to share her playground with Vivian! We played until it was time to come back and have a nap.

Tonight we go on an hour-and-a-half river cruise; the river is beautiful at night, with all of the buildings lit up along it. We're looking forward to it!

Thanks for sending positive thoughts our way on the paperwork -- we got a phone call from Crystal at 11am today saying that it was all perfect, and we'll have our final consulate appointment tomorrow at 2:40pm.

Another big THANK YOU to our families for cleaning our house while we're gone! It really took a load off us knowing that we didn't need to get that done before we left. We love you, and we can't wait to share our beautiful daughter with you :)

Much love,

Mama, Baba, and Maelin

Happy Easter from the Gleesons!

Maelin is napping (and so is Baba!), so it's blogging time! Yesterday evening we met Kejing, Weifen, and Vivian and walked a few blocks down the street to a Thai restaurant for dinner. We had curry chicken, something squid, pineapple rice, and a couple of other dishes. Baba really liked the food, but it wasn't my favorite. I think we'll go somewhere different tonight.

This morning at 10am, we met Crystal and the others and hopped into our van for a ride to a Buddist temple. It was very busy because this is the holiday (Ching Ming) where everyone goes to temple to remember family members who have passed away. We each threw one Yuan coin into the 'wishing pot' (Mae with Baba in the picture above), burned some insense, and had a buddist monk say a blessing for Maelin (pictured with us above, after the blessing). Then we went to a store that specializes in ivory and other trinkets so we could do some shopping. Last, we went to the Chen family temple/academy, which is now government property so that people can visit it.

Tomorrow our guide will take all of our paperwork to the American Consulate. We will wait in the hotel room for her call between 10am and 11am. She will either tell us that everything is submitted successfully, or that we need to fix something in our paperwork. Obviously we're rooting for the former! Tomorrow evening, we'll take a river boat tour (one and a half hours) of the Pearl River, which runs through the city of Guangzhou. Our hotel is on the river, and our room faces over it -- beautiful view!

Some people have inquired about Maelin's hearing loss. Truthfully, we're not sure. We watched the ENT do a very basic test on her yesterday -- he got her to look at a colorful toy off to the left, and then he snapped his fingers outside of her view on the left. She did not turn to the noise. When he snapped louder and louder, she finally turned to look. We've done some of the same 'home' testing on her; sometimes she responds, and sometimes she doesn't. We know that her hearing loss is not profound - we're guessing that she has a mild or moderate loss, but we just don't know.

Our communication with her is getting better and better. She doesn't say any words in English yet, but we've learned some Chinese so that we can tell what she's saying ('i want more' and 'that's mine' is what she says about 90% of the time!). We're signing a lot of basic signs with her, and she imitates most of them. She has signed 'brush teeth' on her own, and she signs 'milk,' 'eat,' and 'more' quite often. We're also working on 'bed/sleep,' 'water,' 'no,' 'potty,' etc.

Today is Sunday...Happy Easter!!! We'll be home in a few short days -- yeah! :)

Love,
Jim, Shonda, and Maelin

from Chongqing to Guangzhou

Sheeeesh! I take off one measly day and get flamed for it -- even by my own parents!! Hahaha :) Actually, i'm really happy that so many of you are enjoying our adoption adventure. We feel good knowing we have so much support from home :)

Yesterday (Friday), we had breakfast with Kejing, Weifen and Vivian -- our last at the Hilton Hotel in Chongqing. Then the six of us went for a walk to buy some produce (Maelin loves bananas). We also invested in two bibs; probably the best 25 Yuan we've spent so far!! And, along with the bibs, voila!! A mystery solved . . . if you scroll down to the very first entry here, you'll see a picture of Maelin (at about age 2 years) wearing an apron and some unidentifiable things on her arms. A set of them came in the package with each of the bibs i purchased, and the light bulb came on -- they are to put on each arm during eating so the shirt sleeves stay clean!! Lemme tell ya, it's the best invention we've discovered in a long time!! Mae is a MESSY eater, and the bib and arm thingies are a savior to the clothing! I think i'll market them in the states...!

We spent our last day in Chongqing visiting a park which contains the highest point in the city. I'm not sure of the elevation, but there was an overlook from which we could see much of the beautiful city. Maelin has no fear of heights whatsoever; she wanted us to hold her so that she could stand on the rails and look over! (That probably makes Aunt Shelli sick just thinking about it!) We also visited a shop in Chongqing where they showed us how they make silk from cocoons. It was a lovely shop with some very expensive things, and Maelin was like a bull in a China shop! She was SO wound up ... she and Vivian were literally running around the place. I would've liked to buy something, but i didn't want it to be a 'you-break-it-you-bought-it' kind of purchase, so we left.

Then we came back to our room to pack and organize for the next leg of the journey. Our guide and driver picked us up at 4pm, and we were checked in and ready to go at 5pm. Our flight left at 6:40pm, and Maelin was rare form. She ran around the airport from window to window, from chair to chair, laughing and testing every limit set before her. After not obeying one of the rules (stay on this side of the rail near the window), she had a time-out on mommy's lap. When she realized that struggling to get down wasn't going to work, she tapped me and said, "Mama, mama..." and when i looked at her, she gave me a huge cheesy grin, as if to say, "How can you put THIS face in a time-out?" It was hilarious! Finally we got on the plane; Jim and i were both in awe at how brave and trusting she was to just get on a plane with people she met less than a week ago. She did fairly well (one brief meltdown when we wouldn't let her take off her seat belt, but she got over it), but it was only an hour and a half flight ... we are DREADING the 12-hour marathon from Tokyo to Detroit on Wednesday!!!

We arrived in Guangzhou at 10pm and met our newest guide, Crystal. She and the driver took us directly to the airport so we could get checked in and get to our rooms. This morning we ate breakfast at the hotel restaurant buffet and met our party at 9:30am. We walked about five or ten minutes down the street (where Maelin got her first ride on Baba's shoulders) to the place where they take the children's visa photos. When that was done, we went next door to the place where they do the medical exams. The place was incredibly crowded, but we got through things fairly quickly. One doctor examined Maelin's physical health, and then we went in to a different room to see an ENT. That doctor thinks that Maelin may have some hearing loss, but, in his words, "It's not so bad." Haha :) They reminded us that their exam was very informal, and that we need to take her to get more testing at home. We will. :)

That's all for now. MaeMae is waking up from her nap, so it's time for Mama to go.

Love to you all,

Shonda, Jim and Maelin

Zzzz...!

No time for posting pics today ... we're exhausted!! Scratch that -- JIM AND I are exhausted. Maelin's bedtime came and went, and she's going full steam at 10:30pm! We are now in Guangzhou, with our first flight with Maelin successfully behind us. More details tomorrow. Right now, it's off to bed!!

Good night,
Mama, Baba, and MaeMae

The Chongqing Zoo, sucking fingers, and more

No "tissue alert" for this post! Maelin has tested the limits a few times (come on kid, i teach preschool!), but no grieving meltdowns since Tuesday night. Jim is extra careful not to let her hurt herself, because he doesn't want her to start crying again - ha!!

Isn't the restaurant picture hilarious?!? Now we know why Maelin is off the charts for height and weight for her age -- GIRLFRIEND CAN EAT!!! She was literally shoveling food into her mouth at the restaurant last night. We've got some work to do on manners when we get home, but for now, we're just trying to keep her fed - ha :)

On Wednesday afternoon, we went to the Chongqing Zoo and saw the infamous pandas. I think we saw about six total. They were beautiful ... our guide helped us with saying the names of the animals in Chinese, and panda bear is 'shung mao.' ('Shung mao' literally translates to 'bear cat' - our guide said that when pandas were first discovered in China, the people didn't know if they were in the bear family or cat family, so they named them both.) Maelin really enjoyed seeing all of the animals. We don't know if she's ever been to a zoo or not, but she certainly liked this one. She kept saying a couple of phrases over and over: one was 'wo-pah-ah,' which our guide told us means 'i'm scared' ... but she laughed while saying it, so it was just for drama! The other thing she kept saying was 'locked in!,' referring to the animals all being in cages. At the end of the zoo, there's an art gallery where visitors can buy things. Chongqing's claim to fame in the art world is their "leaf vein paintings." They take large leaves from the Banyan tree (with is the city tree of Chongqing) and soak them in a special acid until all that is left is the veins. Then they apply a lacquer on the veins so they last a long time. After that, they hand-paint a scene or picture on the front of the leaf. Very unique and very interesting!

We have been doing a lot of signing with her. It's hard to tell what she can hear and what she can't. Most times that she doesn't respond, i'm not sure if she's ignoring us (because she can't understand what we're saying) or really can't hear it. She talks a lot in Chinese; sometimes our guide can understand her, and sometimes she can't. We, of course, can't understand much of anything, so i don't know how well she talks or how developed her language is. We will know more when we have her hearing tested at home. Either way, the signing has helped to 'bridge' the communication for us. We sign lots of everyday words as we say them in English, and we've also watched the first Signing Time DVD. She copies many signs, and it is soooo adorable to see her little hands signing!!

We knew that locals would look at us because we are somewhat of an oddity - an American couple with a Chinese daughter. What we did not expect is for people to be upset when they see Maelin sucking her fingers. MANY Chinese people (mostly older women, but not always) come up to us on the street and in stores and tell us not to let her do that. When we just nod and shrug our shoulders, they try telling her to stop. One old woman told us to slap her hand when she sucks her fingers!! Listen, lady...we just got this kid a couple of days ago...we're not going to slap her hand now!!

Well, this is getting long, so i'll stop for now. This afternoon we're going to the tallest point in Chongqing, and tomorrow it's on to Guangzhou!

Oh, before i forget ... could someone at home remember to water the hermit crab at our house?? I put the tank on the kitchen table ... i'm pretty sure that his sponge is dryyyyy by now. Thank you!! :)

Love you all,

Shonda, Jim, and Maelin

Some Highs, Some Lows (tissue alert!)

We've had many 'highs' on this trip -- the transition thus far has been much better than we expected. But last night we had one difficult episode: Maelin was goofing around in the hotel room, wearing the hotel (adult-sized) slippers and her big backpack (full of all of her new treasures), and she tripped on the rise between the hallway and bathroom and fell on her bottom. It scared her, and probably hurt her bottom a little bit, and she started crying. And once she started, she couldn't stop. She cried and cried and called for her foster mama over and over and over. It was sooooo heartbreaking; i can't even write about it without tears... i just held her and rocked her, sitting there on the bathroom floor, and i cried and cried with her. After about five minutes, the tears got less and less, and she finally stopped crying. This has by far been the hardest thing for me so far. I have this huge feeling of guilt for taking her away from the only family she has even known; we were told by the woman from the orphanage that they "loved her like their own child," and i know she loved them, too. They have given her priceless gifts -- the love, attachment, and a family, when she otherwise would have spent her first three years in an orphanage. The fact that she has known love and attachment and spent time in a family means that she will grow to love us and attach to us. It's so much better and healthier for her in the long run, but we know that there will be times when she misses them and grieves for them. That, too, is healthy. But watching our sweet little Maelin in such pain was harder than i thought it would be.

Now for some happier topics!! Yesterday afternoon, we went shopping with our guide and the Chinese American couple (Kejing and Wiefen) and their new daughter (Vivian). Our bus dropped us off at a huge shopping complex, and we spent a couple of hours getting new things for the girls. Our first stop was shoes ... Maelin was SO excited to get new shoes, and she kept telling every passerby that she had new shoes! We got a pink pair with velcro closure that she wore out of the store, and another pair of tennis shoes that light up (about $20 US for both pair). Then we went to the clothing section and spent about $55 US on three pair of pants and four shirts for Maelin. Then we went to a bookstore and bought a few childrens books (which were ridiculously inexpensive -- just over $1 US each!!) that were in both Chinese and English. When we got back to the hotel, we were all hungry, so the six of us walked across the street to a restaurant and had a delicious traditional Chinese dinner. Chongqing is known for it's very spicy cuisine, but our friends were kind enough to order everything 'mild' for us!

Today we meet our guide at 2pm for a trip to the zoo!! We can't wait to see the pandas :)

Love-love-love you all,

Shonda, Jim and MaeMae